We just finished a week detour off the railroad track. First stop, the Davis Mountains – a favorite destination of Bedi’s in his later years. He devotes two chapters to the Davis Mountains in Adventures.
Toward the end of each August I have an attack of Davis Mountain Fever. Nothing will do it any good except a visit there for a week or two weeks, or just as long as I feel that I can afford to stay.
Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, Chapter 10
The town of Fort Davis is the highest town in Texas at an elevation of 5,000. Bedi mentions camping at about 6,000 feet 10 miles west of Fort Davis. It is a special place -- especially in spring when the migrating birds are traveling through. SO MANY BIRDS!
But surely only the phlegmatic person, professional or amateur, can see the vermilion flycatcher for the first time without a gasp of surprise and pleasure. When, on March 20, I found this vivid bit of color flown here from the Tropics on its own power, it came like an unexpected gift from one of those inspired givers who determine just by divination, before you, yourself do, just what you want.
Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, Chapter 3
I remember the first time I read this passage and felt Bedi was being hyperbolic. Then, several years later, I saw my first vermilion flycatcher and my breath was truly taken away. During this week in the desert, these guys have been our constant campsite neighbors -- hanging out close by and posing for long periods so we could get a good look at them. They were the last birds to bid us adieu at Ft. Davis and the first to welcome us to our Big Bend campsite.
One afternoon, we met a couple of women camping in Davis Mountains State Park who were familiar with and actually enamored with the Barton Springs statue of the three friends, Roy Bedichek, J Frank Dobie and Walter Webb, called Philosophers’ Rock. They were very excited to learn of our trip following Bedi's bicycle route.
When Bedi was camping in the Davis Mountains, I think he would have found it hard to believe that two women camping here in 2024 would know who he was, own books he had written, and revere him. He would be pleased to know that his impact continues 65 years beyond his death and his writing is still relevant and speaks to people, 77 years after published.
Davis Mountains State Park bird list
Black-Headed Grosbeak
Scrub Jay
Acorn Woodpecker
Pine Siskin
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Canyon Towhee
Black-Chinned Hummingbird
Barn Swallow
Chipping Sparrow
White-Crowned Sparrow
White-Winged Dove
House Finch
Mockingbird
Black-Crested Titmouse
Ash-Throated Flycatcher
Montezuma Quail
Scott’s Oriole
Western Tanager
Cardinal
Vermillion Flycatcher
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Orchard Oriole
Cassin's Kingbird
Summer Tanager
Elf Owl
Big Bend National Park and the Big Bend Ranch State Park
At the mouth of the St. Helena Canyon on the Rio Grande, an area now included in the Big Bend National Park, I saw a golden eagle take off from a promontory just at sunset. I followed him with my field glasses in ever-ascending circles as the sun sank lower and lower beneath the horizon. Higher and higher he rose, and I still held him in the field of my binoculars even at the peak of his flight, a fleck of sunlight in a sky almost ready for the stars, and after the songsters in the darkened valley had done to roost.
Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, Chapter 13
Bedi devotes two chapters in Adventures to the golden eagle, which was at the time considered a threat to domestic sheep and goat herds in the area and therefore being slaughtered at an alarming rate. He predicted that the eagle would be extinct if it continued. He writes, "A skilled aviator armed with a sawed-off shotgun, flying a tiny monoplane, is employed full time. He reports killing 1,875 golden eagles within two years." He notes that the creation of Big Bend National Park might help save the bird. However, when I asked the Rangers about the eagle, they said sightings were rare. Unfortunately, I did not get to see one.
With a quick search on line, it does appear the golden eagle is making a slow comeback across the US, but is suffering due to urbanization and loss of habitat and prey.
Big Bend Ranch State Park is a treasure often skipped by travelers. The drive along I70 which follows the Rio Grande is spectacular and different than the national park next door. The Barton Warnock visitor center at the east entrance has a very good exhibit on the geology of the area. Though I can read excellent explanations with awesome graphics and still have a hard time wrapping my brain around the changes over millennia that made the landscapes of today!
Barton Warnock was an esteemed botanist who graduated from and later served many years as president of Sul Ross State University. He graduated in 1937 and very well could have been a student of Bedi's.
