Birds of the Trans-Pecos will be an important companion guide for those interested in the bird life of the Trans-Pecos, Texas. The book is best used as a database of bird species found in the Trans-Pecos and their preferred habitats. Unlike other published material on the area's avifauna, it covers the entire Trans-Pecos geographic region (defined below) and all of Val Verde County.
It is a fact that few people come to the Trans-Pecos to visit any single destination. Travelers generally come by car and drive to several different locations within the area. Most often visited are national parks, state parks, historical sites, and recreational lakes. Published information on the bird life at these locations may be accurate, but details are frequently outdated and the big picture may be missing altogether.
The authors' intent in writing Birds of the Trans-Pecos is to put toether, in a useful format, the scattered and puzzling pieces of information that make up the area's ornithological sightings. Clearly, only the foundation is being laid. Much more work is needed, particularly in the mountain ranges where reports are rare and very irregular.
Birds of the Trans-Pecos is not meant to be used as a quick reference guide to birding hot spots, a life histories book of selected species, or an illustrated field guide. It is a simple annotated list of birds. It represents several years of research and concerns a unique and remote area in the southwestern United States.
The Trans-Pecos area outlined in this book is a place where unique ecological zones meet. East meets west (areas where Acadian Flycatchers nest near Gray Vireos), and north meets south (areas where Red Crossbills nest near Common Black-Hawks). Added to this ecological stew is the close proximity of the Mexican deserts, the Mexican mountains, the Colorado Plateau, the great U.S. prairies, the south Texas brushland, and the Edwards Plateau. All of these ecological areas are represented in the Trans-Pecos.
Birds of the Trans-Pecos is driven from the perspective that birds show a certain fidelity for specific habitats. In the Trans-Pecos, the various microhabitats and the associated bird species bear this out. Birds choose where to live and generally are loyal, year after year, to those areas where they experience the most success.
As an example of such site fidelity, an entire population (well over thirty-five pairs) of Gray Flycatchers was recently discovered nesting in a small pocket of habitat on the north slope of one Trans-Pecos mountain. Not one other nesting pair has been found within the state of Texas. For many birds like the Gray Flycatcher, a small creek on the north slope of a mountain would be considered acceptable habitat while the rest of the Trans-Pecos would not. If this book contains any moral message, it is to point out the importance of protecting these small, but unique, habitats.
Because the human population is so small in the Trans-Pecos, the historical database of bird observations is limited. Yet much has been accomplished with a few avid observers. Observers who have added critical information to this book include ranchers, tourists, bird-watchers, researchers, park rangers, and tour guides. Some were looking for a highly sought-after bird rarity. Others were just born curious and had the good sense to report their findings. Much work is still needed.
Only two other books are available at this time with information specific to the bird life of this area. Roland H. Wauer's book entitled A Field Guide to the Birds of the Big Bend is recommended for those traveling to Big Bend National Park to see birds. Edward Kutac's Birder's Guide to Texas is a site guide to birding spots in Texas and has some particularly relevant information on the location of Trans-Pecos birds. Another book by R. H. Wauer, entitled Birding Texas (1998), may also add information on birding locations in the Trans-Pecos. For visual identification, the National Geographic Society's Field Guide to the Birds of North America and the Peterson Field Guide series of Western Birds by Roger Tory Peterson remain the most commonly used illustrated field guides for Trans-Pecos bird-watching.
