WWF Travel Blog

Montezuma quail © Peg Abbott

Peg Abbott, WWF’s naturalist guide for 2010’s tour of Big Bend National Park, is an expert on the conservation of migratory songbirds and other wildlife. She holds a master’s degree in wildlife and forestry and is a master bander (a researcher who tags and tracks birds). Peg first visited Big Bend in 1988 and has returned every year and in every season since. We asked her about the park and about what keeps her coming back.

What usually surprises people most about Big Bend?
The sense of space.  It’s difficult to describe the scale of the landscape and just how quiet it is, how dark the night skies are.

What’s the benefit of going to Big Bend on a tour versus going on your own? 
Big Bend is a very large park with many roads leading out to small homesteads, hiking trails and historic sites. It is difficult to prioritize how to spend your time. We know the seasonal patterns of animals and birds and greatly increase a visitor’s chance of seeing them. We know where the sun is to best photograph scenic vistas. And we know the excellent local restaurants!  World Wildlife Fund works in the region and a big plus of this particular tour is learning about the organization’s conservation efforts and achievements.

How does Big Bend compare to other places in the United States for bird watching?
Spring migration, from mid-April to mid-May, can be really extraordinary.  There is a mix of migrants bound for eastern and western breeding destinations and perhaps most interesting about birding Big Bend is seeing some odd combinations. The resident birds are interesting all year, and people really enjoy several raptors of the Southwest we see here – the black hawk, gray hawk and zone-tailed hawk.

What’s the rarest bird you’ve ever seen during a tour? 
Some species you would consider rare in Big Bend are simply at the northern end of their range and they become common in Mexico to the south. These species are sought after by U.S. birders working on their life lists. The star of that category is the Colima warbler. One has to be fit to see them as they choose higher elevation habitats that require an extended (7- to 9-mile) hike.

But there are others in this category quite possible to find. Some of the specialties, like Lucifer hummingbirds, arrive later in the season as they feed on agaves that do not bloom. Of ecological note is the comeback of a rare species, the black-capped vireo. My contribution to the knowledge of birds there was the sighting of black-bellied whistling ducks flying upriver over Hot Springs Canyon. They are more common to the east in Texas and expected in Big Bend, but I noted the first record since the park had been producing checklists.

Why is it important to tag birds? 
We are only beginning to understand the full spectrum of challenges to securing populations of songbirds, shorebirds and waterfowl.  We learn a lot just by banding in a set area to really assess what is there, what habitats they are using, dates that migrants pass through and in what sort of ratio to each other.

But I think the highest value is in monitoring, seeing patterns over a decade or more as they did in a long term project in the Davis Mountains. If we do happen to get returns, the way we describe someone else catching one of our tagged birds, it is important proof of the connections between summer and winter range for migrant species.

What is usually people’s favorite part of the trip? 
The vast and beautiful landscapes. The oasis of cottonwood groves along the Rio Grande River.  The great companionship that develops over a week as we explore together.

Join WWF’s tour of Big Bend National Park, April 7-14, 2010.