Palo Duro Canyon Birds

Palo Duro Canyon blue LizardPalo Duro Canyon flower

Palo Duro Canyon Birds Photographs
taken late April early May 2009
Nikon D60 200mm lens.




Blue Grosbeak - picture taken from road in Palo Duro Canyon. Looks to be an adult male, pecking and searching for food on the shoulder of the road. When cars came by, he would fly up into the mesquite and quickly return to his chores.













Cardinal - Adult male in full color - picture taken at a picnic table along the Paseo Del Rio trail, Palo Duro Canyon. He is a cocky little cuss, defending his territory against all comers. Seems to like Lays potato chips. He would steal them off the table right in front of us. Little Red was - Fearless.







Cardinal Female, seemed to be Little Red's girlfriend. Equally cocky when it came to potato chip theft.












Brown Thrasher male - still around the picnic table but farther off. More stand offish than Cardinals. A few feet down from the table was a water tap, which was his main concern. He would get a drink and fly off to the trees and brush.










Blue-Jay male. He got into quite a fight over a pilfered potato chip. The Cardinal lost the battle, but came back for more once the Jay left the area.










Towhee male came up pretty close to the table but was much more interested in stuff on the ground. He'd fly up and back to trees, hop, hop, hop.












Rose-breasted Grosbeak, males - these two guys were swinging from a feeder hung next to an RV in the Hackberry Camping site at Palo Duro Canyon. Very difficult to get a shot as the feeder rotated and swung from birds coming and going.













Rose-breasted and Black-headed Grosbeak, males- same feeder as above in the Sage Brush camping site at Palo Duro Canyon.












Mississippi Kite, this bird and a mate were sighted on a birding hike and program lead by Joe LaFleur, wildlife biologist from Loveland, CO. Picture was taken along the Palo Duro Canyon Paseo Del Rio trail. Hike started about 5:00 pm. We were able to get quite close to get the photo. Graceful flight. These birds nest in the canyon and when they have established young, they will dive bomb the trail hikers. I have experienced this attack several times. It is disconcerting until you know what's happening.








Golden-fronted Woodpecker, this bird was also was sighted on a birding hike and program lead by Joe LaFleur, wildlife biologist from Loveland, CO. Picture was taken along the Palo Duro Canyon Paseo Del Rio trail.










Painted Bunting - male, these pictures were taken at the Bird Blind, constructed by the Panhandle Texas Master Naturalists, behind the Trading Post. The Bird Blind provides a marvelous congregation of birds at just about anytime of day, but early morning and late evening are the best. We saw three to four of these bright painted birds along with Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Sparrows, Turkeys, and many others in thirty to forty minutes, late in the day after the trail hike with Joe LaFleur. About 6:30- 7:00 pm























The Bird Blind at Palo Duro Canyon was built by the Panhandle Chapter of The Texas Master Naturalists
with help from other chapters across the state,

in conjunction with West Texas A&M Professor Raymond S. Matlack, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biology,
and the Boy Scouts of America.
It is a great place for viewing all types of Birds.
It is located right behind the Trading Post.
Ask the rangers at the gate for instructions and map.
Check this link to see the construction of this valuable resource.

Sunday 03-25-2007
Guest speaker: Joseph A. LaFleur http://betterbirdwatching.com/
Aims Community College, Loveland, CO
We took a walking tour on Palo Duro Canyon Paso De Rio Trail
we saw / heard these birds in less than an hour. We were not even 1/2 way up trail.
Presentation started 8:30 Sunday 03-25-2007
These are the birds that we saw/ heard
1 Mourning Dove, 2 Golden fronted Woodpecker, 3 Ladderback Woodpecker
4 Eastern phoebe, 5 Chihuahuan Raven, 6 Bewick's wren, 7 Ruby-crowned wren
8 Yellow-rumped warbler, 9 Northern Cardinal, 10 Brown-headed cowbird
11 Rufus Crowned Sparrow, 12 North American Wild Turkey, 13 American Robin
and probably a few more that I didn't get written down.