January 2

 The second day of the year started close to home again.  I would soon have to pick up my good friend Jeff Shenot at the airport as he would join me for a whirlwind trip across north and west Texas. 

I decided to get a late start and just look for the overwintering Thayer's Gull that was only a few miles from my house.  On the way to the airport I looked for the gull for about 30 minutes with no success, but just as I was about to leave, I spotted the gull flying across the causeway!  A very nice bird to get out of the way for the year!

Around noon, I picked up Jeff at the Corpus Christi airport and we were on our way to west Texas.  A few quick stops were planned along the way, but they would have to be VERY quick to get them all done before dark.  

First stop were some sod farms in Frio county where we picked up Mountain Plovers for the year.  Then it was on to a friend's house in Uvalde for the wintering Allen's Hummingbird that he has had.  Luckily, the hummingbird showed up after about 10 minutes and we were on our way to Del Rio.

The plan was to look for the Rufous-Capped Warbler that was being reported off and on in Del Rio in the evening and then spend the night in Del Rio.  We arrived around 5pm, expecting a long wait to try to find this secretive bird.  Then at 5:30pm, the Rufous-Capped Warbler pops out right in front of both of us!  This was my first review species of the year and was great to get so easily!  

Since we got the warbler so easily, we decided to just make the drive all the way to Alpine.  After driving through several inches of snow on the ground near Sanderson, we made it to Alpine around 11pm.  Tomorrow morning hopefully Red Crossbills will be in our future!  131 species for the year.