The Davis Mountains
& Fort Davis Review

Ready for Davis Mountains and Fort Davis?

The Colleyville Nature Center is a beautiful place to escape into nature. Tucked away in a quiet neighborhood, you will find nine ponds and over three miles of hiking trails. The paved and dirt trails are shaded by the trees allowing for a quiet and peaceful walk. This center is the perfect setting for a hike, fishing, birding and photography.

Amira’s Review

Fort Davis and Davis Mountains

Since we had a 3 day weekend we decided to make the long 8 hour drive to visit the Davis Mountains then drive  into Big Bend! Obviously hoping to capture some amazing birds and also enjoy the scenic views. We took off right at 7:30am and with a few hiccups along the way reached Ft. Davis around 5pm.

Ft. Davis Review

This is a great place to enjoy some culture. The town has a charming historic district with shops, restaurants galleries in museums. You can find everything from antiques and souvenirs to delicious Texas cuisine.

We stayed at the Harvard Hotel and we were super impressed. Clean and quaint room with its own private balcony overlooking the town.

To do next time:

While staying there, I read about the McDonald Observatory. This is one of the worlds leading astronomical research facilities they have several telescopes you can visit and observe. This will be my first stop the next time I am in Fort Davis!

The Davis Mountains are a range of ancient volcanic mountains that rise above the Chihuahuan Desert.

They are part of the Trans-Pecos ecoregion, which is home to a variety of habitats and wildlife. The mountains are mostly covered by pine-oak woodlands, juniper scrub, and grasslands, with some riparian areas and springs. The elevation ranges from about 4,000 to 8,300 feet, creating a cooler and wetter climate than the surrounding desert.

Reviewing the Davis Mountains State Park:

This is a great place to  bird, as it has a variety of trails, camping facilities, and a bird blind where you can watch feeders and water sources. I saw so many birds here, including the Vermillion flycatcher, the Canyon towhee, the chipping sparrow, the Acorn woodpecker, Woodhouse Scrub-jay, and Says Phoebe (all lifers for me!)

My favorite bird found was the vermilion flycatcher. Unlike its relatives which are dull and gray the male flycatcher has a bright red head, chest, and belly. Equally as beautiful is the female vermillion flycatcher. They also chirp a catchy tune sounding like pit pit pit pidddrrreeeedrr.

The hiking here is amazing! We climbed a couple mountains chasing the birds. I’ll admit I was a little nervous going so high up, but once you start hiking it really didn’t seem like you are in any danger or even going up that high. Once you stop and look around it truly is a beautiful sight! I definitely recommend any trail at this park.

To do next time

The Fort Davis National Historic Site: This is a historic military fort that was active from 1854 to 1891. It has a museum, a visitor center, and several buildings that you can explore. It also has some nice birding opportunities, especially along the Limpia Creek Trail that runs behind the fort. Some sightings have been the Montezuma Quail and Crissal Thraser. These two are still on the list.

We loved everything about this area and realize there are many more sites that we didn’t have time to explore, but we will be back! If you’re looking for a birding destination that has it all – scenery, history, culture, and most importantly, birds – then you should definitely check out the Davis Mountains and Fort Davis.

Paul’s Review

The Davis Mountains, Making The Push 

It’s Friday morning, 7am and we are heading out the door, loading up what we need for a long four day weekend. Our first destination the Harvard Hotel in Fort Davis, resting right up to the beautiful Davis Mountains.

Trying to brush off a couple of cocktails we had the night before, excited, packing and dreaming of the birds we might see. I had several birds I really wanted to see, with the top two being the Montezuma and Scaled quail. Needless to say neither of us got much sleep the night before, but here we go seven and half hour drive if we made no stops. 

We decided a couple of things for the trip, keep the gas tank full and if a chance to stop and see a few birds presented itself, make the stop. Making it into Midland, eBird had quite a few sighting that were new to us at the Jenna Welch Nature Center. However, it was noon and the heat was no joke, but we stopped. 

Deciding to only walk the short trail that was covered in shade, with nothing more than a cardinal and a dove sighted, we headed back to the truck, starting up the truck it was struggling to idle, I was hot and cranky at this surprising issue… right then is when Amira spotted the Verdin for the first time, warm yellow head and white body, it was an exciting find. The only problem was the truck and I didn’t care. We needed a mechanic…

Three mechanic shops later, we found someone that could work in the truck, we grabbed another truck from the rental agency and we were back on the road. A little stressed, but we let it go and decided to just enjoy what was in front of us. 

By the time you get to Midland, Texas you can see a noticeable change in the landscape with the tree line getting lower and lower as the flat unforgiving lands take hold as you near Pecos it really is a harsh, dry and rugged region of west Texas. 

Balmorhea Lake …Pass

We dropped south headed down Hwy 17 for our next stop in Balmorhea Lake, this location was boasting quite a few Sandpipers and a few other shore birds. In my opinion the place left a lot to be desired from a management point of view. Cash only to get in, but the doors were closed and no staff to be seen… we drove in anyways. Here we were able to Spot and photograph the Clark’s Grebe a first for us. Other birds included the Double-crested cormorant, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs and funny… a single laughing gall.  

We were excited to add the Clark’s Grebe to our list, but it was time to go…

Fort Davis or the Davis Mountains

Rolling into Fort Davis at 5pm, sitting at the stop sign to the left our hotel and to the right the state park.  The obvious decision, to the state park to bird with about 2 hours of decent sunlight left.  

We pulled in next to the feeders, not much going on there and of course up the mountain was my suggestion. Amira, hesitant, but agreed …

We hadn’t made it 10ft up the trail and there was the Says Phoebe, Scrubjay and Chipping Sparrow all soon followed and all getting added to our life list!  We went a quarter of the way up and the birds grew silent quickly.Amira indulged me and we stayed on the side of the mountain poking around as we lost the last little bit of sunlight. 

Fort Davis and Hotel Review

Heading to the Harvard Hotel, the Main Street is a story book on what you would dream of for a small Texas town. No DGs, No fast food, No corporate America anywhere insight! Love it! The hotel rooms are situated above a closed down bar and grill (unfortunate) but the room was great and met a small town hotel experience perfectly. Wooden walls, slight smell of cedar in the air, old fashioned quilt, framed art from local artists and regional maps and photos. 

Keep in mind if you’re staying here… this isn’t luxury, the amenities… none exist, the elevator doesn’t work and the hot water is backwards, but if you’re able to get the balcony view, it is perfect.

The Blue Mountain bar and grill across the street, I’d just says it’s a local first kind of place. The food was actually really good once it arrived. It may have been a rare day…I won’t be back. 

Day 2 | Davis Mountains, Putting in The Work

Up at 5am and out on the backroads by 5:30am… up before the birds. By all accounts to see the Montezuma Quail, be out at dawn and start watching the road side… so that’s exactly what we did!  No luck! 

We belong to a FB group called “Birds of Texas” where many birders were suggesting stay close to camp, the birds are there. They were right…. 

The camp grounds area gave up so many new life birds for us and better shots of a few others. We thought we were looking at maybe a Warbler or perhaps even the Lesser Goldfinch, but getting back that night and seeing the pale redhead of the bird, we knew we had seen and photographed the Western Tanager… how cool! 

The park also introduced us to the Canyon Towhee, Cactus Wren, the Acorn Woodpecker, Rufous Sparrow and yes the Lesser Goldfinch. Eleven new birds in total the Davis Mountains added to our life list, but no Quails.  A tip for those heading this way, the dried out creek bed is a great place to spot the Montezuma Quail, per another birding couple and the park rangers…. Just not for us in this trip. 

We have had a lot of great trips, life lasting memories thus far, but Fort Davis and the Davis Mountains have won me over for not just birding, but connecting with nature in an elevated fashion!