Texas, John 1992 Journal Palo Duro Canyon State Park, 18 miles E of Canyon, Randall & Armstrong Counties, Texas June 23-24 I left Davis Mountains State Park at 05:20, well before sunrise, in search of goldfinches in the panhandle of Texas. Kelly Bryan gave me phone numbers for several contacts in that part of the state. Only Ken Keyffart in Amarillo could say he had seen fewer goldfinches this year, and he was not very encouraging. He had found them only at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, and in low numbers. Most years he finds them also in John Longwood, just S of Amarillo, and infrequent places along the Canadian River N of the city. Not this year. June 22 was a travel day, and I took State Hwy 17 from El Paso to Pecos, then Interstate 20 to Big Spring, then U.S. Hwy 87 to Canyon (U.S 87 becomes Interstate 27 in Lubbock), then E on Texas State Hwy 217 to the park entrance. Having looked for used book stores in Midland, Odessa, Big Spring & Zulfick, I arrived too late for entry to the park. So I retreated a short way and slept in my car along the highway. It rained hard at intervals during the day and esp. during the night. I was second in line when gates to the state park opened on June 23. The park superintendent is Elon Baker, but he has been gone a couple days and is not expected back until tomorrow. Other staff want to defer to him the decision on where in the park I can collect birds, assuming they are here in sufficient numbers. On the recommendation of park ranger Karen I headed for the Sunflower Campground, which is for tents only. There I made camp in site #2, on the east end of the camping area. There was some standing water & lots of wet sand, evidence that the stream, the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River, had nearly come out of its banks. The river carved a stunningly colorful canyon in flowing from its high plains to the West southwest to the low elevation gress-- Under the canyon Tracking NW -> SE. reddish browns, ochre, yellows, even purplish green color the canyon slopes. Very pretty.