Hummingbird Ranch

Location

Hummingbird Ranch, a natural high elevation wooded private escape, is located off Highway 166, a historic Scenic Loop on the south side of Mt. Livermore in the Davis Mountains of West Texas and within the Davis Mountains Resort Subdivision. The property is found at elevations between 6,000 feet along the banks of ponderosa pine lined Limpia Canyon and 7,400 feet on the shoulders of Livermore/Paradise Mountain ridgeline.  The property is adjacent to the 33,000-acre The Nature Conservancy Davis Mountains Preserve and affords unobstructed views of the grasslands, canyons, forestlands, and area mountains.  Hummingbird Ranch located at the back of the Davis Mountains Resort is 22 miles west/northwest of the town of Fort Davis and its amenities such as Davis Mountains State Park, Fort Davis National Historic Site, and McDonald Observatory. Hummingbird Ranch is one of the most secluded properties in West Texas. The ranch has a Conservation Easement with The Nature Conservancy and has over 3 miles of common boundary and several trails that tie into the Preserve Trail network.

Acreage

568.16± acres in Jeff Davis County.

Description

Hummingbird Ranch is located in the heart of the Davis Mountains, a Sky Island of the Chihuahuan Desert, straddling Limpia Canyon adjacent to the Davis Mountain Preserve.  This is upper watershed wooded canyons with rock outcrops, mountains, grass bowls and ridges creating some of the most scenic mountains in the region.  This is ponderosa and pinon pine country, huge Emory and graves oaks, madrone, silver leave oaks, and lush grasslands.   The south boundary geologic feature on the ranch is the spine of Paradise Ridge which you can follow all the way to Mt. Livermore located at 8,378 feet. The central valley is Limpia Creek, the largest drainage in the Davis Mountains.  The north hills slope up toward Pine Peak and the Crest trail on the Preserve with deep wooded canyons.  The views are stunning and overlook the most spectacular mountain scenery in the entire Davis Mountains.  Hummingbird Ranch is six platted lots where the two houses are located and approximately 530 ac of mountain land all within the Davis Mountains Resort Subdivision, an older tree covered rural restricted neighborhood.

Improvements

Located on the property are two homes, one built by the current owners as a guest house to the original Hummingbird House.

The Guest House is 1,152 sq/ft with 1br/1ba, large loft, and mesquite floors, designed by Lazor architecture in Minneapolis.  It’s a modern prefabricated structure that was assembled on-site from elements constructed by a firm called Empyrean with a huge two-story great room.  Downstairs is the living room, large bedroom, full bath, combined kitchen/dining room with huge windows opening onto an outside deck.  The large, insulated glass windows to the ceiling bring light and the mountain/tree views inside the house.  It’s contemporary in design and has solar panels on the roof and is totally off the grid.

The Hummingbird House is 800 sq/ft with 2br/1.5ba with a large screen porch and outside deck surrounded by large trees. Downstair bedroom with half bath, living room with wood burning stove, separate kitchen, and custom stain glass on stairs and large window.   Upstairs is a bedroom, full bath and large loft that opens onto a second story deck.  There is one storage building and equipment outbuilding and a well house. The current owners have lived on the property since 2006 as their homestead.

There is a well-maintained trail system on the ranch to the south toward Paradise Ridge, a loop along Limpa Creek and to the north a major tail up connecting to the Crest Trail on the TNC Preserve.  It’s a hiker’s back county dream.  This trail system on the ranch has several connections into the Preserve and with permission by The Nature Conservancy opportunities to hike for miles into Madera Creek watershed and even to the summit of Mount Livermore.

Habitat

Hummingbird Ranch is blessed with a combination of unique elevations combined with high riparian woodlands, slopes and drainages creating one of the most diverse assemblages of habitats in the region.  It’s like owning part of the Basin in Big Bend National Park!  The mountainous riparian areas, uplands and slopes are typically a mosaic of mixed Emory Oak, Grey Oak, Silver Leaf Oak, Ponderosa Pines, Chisos Red Oaks, Pinon Pine, and Alligator Juniper woodlands interspersed with perennial bunchgrasses and native plants of the Chihuahuan grassland savanna.  Lush rich slopes of cane bluestem, sideoats gramma, blue gramma, deer muley, and big muley with a wide variety of plants, flowers, and forbs create a botanical wonderland.  There are two species of orchids found on the ranch, one called Lady’s tresses, which is the rarest Orchid in North America.

Wildlife

Because of the diverse habitat with boulders, bluffs, trees, grasses, springs, and mountains there is an    abundance of game and non-game animals and wildlife on Hummingbird Ranch.  The ranch is named after the rich diversity of Hummingbirds found here with at least 16 species documented including the Rivoli, White Eared, and Anna’s to name a few.  This is mule and whitetail deer country with an expanding population of rocky mountain elk.  There are also smaller native     animals and a wide variety of bird species found here such as javelina, fox, ring-tail cats, mountain lion, black bear, zone-tailed hawk, black hawks, golden eagles, Woodhouse Scrub jays, and Montezuma Quail.  This is a “Sky Island” ecosystem at its finest with many unique plants and animals.  The creek corridors are important to resident and migratory breeding birds and as a    stopover/staging area for Neotropical migrants.  The riparian woodlands are also important to the highly diverse bat fauna of the Davis Mountains.

Water

The Hummingbird House has electricity with a well, septic, and grey water delivery for landscaping and nearby trees. The Guest House is plumbed to main well, but the house is operated by Solar. Limpia runs water for months every year and there are several springs up the slopes on the ranch.

Roads and Fees

The roads in the Davis Mountain Resort subdivision are maintained by a homeowner’s association. There is a monthly homeowner’s fee of $17 per lot per month that is paid on a quarterly or annual basis.