Marathon is a small town in the west Texas hill country which is considered the "gateway" to Big Bend National Park. It is pretty remote - I have no cell phone coverage, for example - but I knew from my stop here in December that it is a pretty birdy place. The plan was to stop for a day and a half, do a little shooting, then head in the direction of Arizona. With flood warnings as part of the forecast, most of the 40 hours here were spent indoors waiting for or watching the rain and lightning. Monday started out kind of nice before things went south; I did find a pair of Red-tailed Hawks who were building a nest - on top of a windmill.

Here at the RV park there are White-crowned Sparrows, Barn Swallows, Cactus Wrens, Say's Phoebes, Vermilion Flycatchers, Scaled Quail, House Finches, and more. Among all those birds are a pair of Killdeer that seem to be resident - although I would never have thought so considering this area is part of the Chihuahuan Desert. Still, there is water available as the owner's have a pond and some water features and, as long as there is food, why not?

From here we are heading straight to Southeastern Arizona with an overnight in New Mexico along the way. Hard to believe it is coming up so fast but, in about 3 weeks we'll be settling in at Bryce Canyon for a few months.