Day 16-Along the Mexican border...again!

Another great day in South Texas with the temps reaching 90 F and the winds blowing hard enogh to keep the wind chill in the 70's. Got to Bentsen State Park and the World Bording Center at the same place by the Rio Grande RiverMore on that later.

Yesterday evening we had an electricity failure and could not figure it out.  The bane of campers that need electricity. The local park guy came over and declared the "box" was hot and had electricity, so it must have been in the trailer somehwere. We got through the night as I have 2 X 12 volt batteries that supply back up power and can be used for general lighting, but nothing beyond that. They can keep the inside  trailer lights going. So in the morning we called a man nearby who specializes in campground, trailer, RV, and motorhome problems. He was really buusy but stated that he would stop by after his runs late in the afternoon. To be continued...

So we did get out to Bentsen State Park (driving on I-2 through the commercial district all the way) and found it had a tram that we could make a 20 minute run through the park to see when the possible locations for birding might be. Our driver "Rudy" was very helpful. He pointed out a couple of places we might be interested. So, we walked round the huge grounds surrounding the center and watched especially the humingbirds (Black Chinned and Buff Bellied)

The Buff Bellied Hummingbird

Black chinned Hummingbird (Female)

Texas Lizards or salamanders?

 Then at 11:30 we board the tram and rode to what is called 'Kingfisher Overlook' . No kingfishers but a fine Scissor Tailed Flycatcher. They are quite common along the Valley. I had taken the lunch out of the cooler and put in a smalll shoulder bag so it was easier to carry, and we ate lunch in the picnic area there (The only benches in that area). This overlooks the 'La Parida Blanco' which is an old oxbow of the Rio Grand River. The river keeps changing its course and you may remember in recent history ('50's?) that the USA and Mexico had great dificulty surveying the boundaries as the river keep changing course. They agreed that that would happen and the boundaries would change too.  One of the first surveyors was drowned in the 1800's on the first survey.

 We finished the afternoon by driving three miles to the World Butterfly Center just up the road . Here we concentrated mainly on the birds even though there were some butterflies and many butterflies plants and flowers that attract them This will be a great center, although they are making progress slowly. We did see some great birds there including the Black Tufted Titmouse, Green Jay, Altima Oriole,  Savannah Sparrow,  Cardinal, and a White Tipped Dove.

So how did we do back at the trailer you want to know? Well as Brad stated when he told us it would be 'late afternoon' he was right on the money and we were just finishing our turkey sandwiches with tomotoes and onions, he showed up. He went right to the task and step by step traced the problem from the intake line (box) to the trailer, through the fuse box to the connection of the outdoor line to the trailer and BINGO! There was a fused connection. This man knows his stuff! In 10 minutes he had it repaired, everything back in place ( I didn't know how to get the cover for access to the connections of the outside line in the trailer. They are really hidden) and we had electricity again. Thanks for al the "Prayer Travel Warriors" who have been helping along the way You think all the possibilities and the worst I guess would be having to hook up the trailer and move it to a repair shop for a coule of days. while you sit in a motel someplace. But, we were blessed to have a competent guy do the job right. Thank's Brad!

Tomorrow is laundry day and probably a trip to the DQ and the grocery store. There are 13 DQ's within a 20 mile radius of this Park.  Thanks for "tuning in" as they used to say on radio. Stay tuned.

White tipped Dove

Black Crested Titmouse

Three (siblings?) Scssor Tailed Flycatchers.

Day 15 Along the Mexican Border

Yes we did get  to the Mexican Border today and saw the Border Patrol in action. The HQ for the BP is just 1,000 feet or so from the Santa Ana NWR which we visited  today. That was enough for ius in ne day, as it entails some 2000+ acres and has many venues, trails, displays and feeding stations to explore.

The Border Patrol moving into the brush on duty. 

Ruth and I are not great walkers anymore so chose to explore the areas around the Visitor Center and there were many birds there.

Chachalacas, Big at 24"  and fast runners

The tram and the road it was on.  Three cars and 4 of us!

A Bobcat that we happened to see from the trram. Can you see it?
Unfortunately there were people coming back on this trail
and it finally walked off. 

A Hooded Oriole

One of the changes  of the NWR is that they no longer allow autos to take the 7 mile road around the Refuge. There is good reason for this and I won't go into detail . Suffice to say that the alternative is a tram that we took today. There were only 4 of us on the tram , the other two being from MN. Although this limits the birding , the many trails in the refuge are excellent as there are also many ponds and lakes as well. Walking is the other way to access the Refuge.I walked a portion of one trail and we both did the Butterfly Trail called "Malachite" trail.

IT was a good day with lots learned. We ended the day by looking for  woods behind the "Boys and Girls Club" HQ.  THis is an official GTBT site. We finally found it but found only Grackles and Mockingbirds. They are both ubiquitous here.

THe weather is fine, LOts of winds 15-20 all day, and temps gt up to 90 F today. Cooled down to 769 last night! See you tomorrow for more adventures.

Day 14, moving to Mcallen,TX, from Rockport, TX.

I usually ask Ruth what she felt was the best  thing that she saw or that happened during the day. This day I asked , but the reply was something like, "Hmmm, not really very much, as it was vast miles of farmland for the first part and miles of commercial for the last part." Few birds in the former and no birds in the latter. The farmland is waiting for the land to dry out after all the rain they had here the past two weeks.

It is interesting that the area from Harlingen to where we are now (west of Harlingen on I-2 at Mcallen) is completely developed the entire 30 or more miles. Quite a change from 20 years ago or so. But the birds are here, as when I came into the park three warbler "type" birds flew by me so fast I could only identify one  in flight. There was a constant 30 mph wind today, (and also a headwind I might add), so they were zooming along. One was a Couch's Kingbird, that we will see this week I am sure. We will be here a week.
Our birding acumen is  beginning to sort out the doves as there are 5 species that are here including the Mourning Dove, White White Winged, Inca, Ground and Erasian Collared Doves.  We are working on it.

The drive 'down' was quite smooth but the headwind gave us the lowest mileage of the trip. Where we usually get near 10 mpg, pulling the trailer, in normal conditions, this portion was 6.9 mpg. Quite a difference. Gasoline here is $2.06 and Propane is $25.00 per #30. (MI is about $30.00)

We did see some Bank Swallows as a new species on this trip. That was the only addition to the 27 species seen today. "On the road" the totals are less, usually.

So we are settled and will start out tomorrow exploring the many areas here in SW TX that are renowned for bird life. The migration is getting "ramped up" so we hope to be in the middle of it.

Remember we are just a few miles from the Rio Grande and the Mexican border.

Here are a few pictures from the day and a few "bonus" ones. Emphasis on "Few".  Stay tuned!

Моїм друзям в Україну надішліть мені коментар. Я буду перевести!

Our campsite in the Mobile Park in Mcallen
It s not empty, as there are 600 sites in all, we are in the "short term" section.
Most ofthe "Snow birds have started back (Little do they know it s still snowing "up north".

This is added to extend a "Joyful" Palm Sunday to those who
it may be a time of reflection. Lots of plams.

A new specias of butterfly found in Texas.

Can you see the Blackand White Warbler? IT is very quick.

A beautiful Rest area that even had colored tile works of art in the
 bathrooms and interior. This is a GTCBT site to find birds.

The blossoms on a Prickly Pear Cactus.

Day 13. A short ride to Mustang Island TX

Some days provide more excitement than others and some days provide wonderful examples of nature at its' best. This day was a day that combined both of those for us.

The oportunity to see more than a dozen different species of birds while standing in one place was provided for us today on one of the special ponds on Mustang Island. More about that in a minute.

The drive to Mustang Island includes a Ferry ride , provided free by the state of Texas, from the mainland to the Island. There is no bridge here like there is in Corpus chrsti that connects the island. Mustang Island actually is the north "end" of Padre Island to the south. There are five ferries that operate on the weekends, and they were busy. The channel they cross is only 1/2 mile wide BUT is on the Intracoastal Waterway, so shipping has the right of way, interrupting the flow of the ferries from time to time.

Theferry docks. There are six of them. One always in reserve.

It was a  short, but fun ride with safety the first priority by all the crews.
 We then arrive at one of three birding areas that we visited this day. It was a short distance from the Ferry Docks. It was near the Intracoastal waterway, and had a few very good ponds in which we saw many shorebirds.
A 'shorebird" could be described as a bird that needs to be near and visit the edges of water in order to glean the food that resides there whether in the mud, sand, or on the surface.  That can be invertebrates crustaceans, worms, and many other rorganisma.

 This was the Aransas Natures Center and Charlie's Pasture.  It is thousands of acres , and has many ponds and wetlands. It was also where we saw the rattlesnake that had crawled under a Michigan truck's wheel and was not gong away. (See pictures)

One of the tugs pushing a loaded barge (chemicals fromAlabama)

Below are two pictures of the Rattlesnake. When we came back from observing the birds at the Nature Center

There was quite a "hubbub" around our truck and the other one from Michigan. It seems a rattesnake (Diamondback) had gotten under the tires of the truck and was not getting out.  It was cooler there out of the sun, I am sure. The truck owner was hiking somewhere. The animal control folks and the local police were called as this is a heavy traffic area.  They finally coaxed it out into the fields nearby so all ended well.

The rattler after it had hid under the truck for about 10 minutes

 Mixture of Green Winged Teal some Blue Winged Teal 

The Roseate Spoonbills

Avocets and Short Billed Dowitchers with a few Shovelers

Ruddy Duck, Male.

"Bringin' the groceries home."

Tri Colored Heron

Look out for 'Gators'

 

The "hiding" position of the rattlesnake under the truck.

From there we went to the most popular pond which was called the "Spoonbill Pond" before the Nutria ate most of the reeds and the Spoonbills had to move out and/or back a ways. That pond had the most varieties of any  of the places we had seen so far. On that "small lake" there were more than , or at least 18 species of birds. .   Almost all of them were resting in the midday sun. Many of them, before migrating further north as they "load up" on food for the 'flight'  north. I guess these were the original "flights'?  We took many pictures and recorded the species . Avocets Red Head ducks, Green Winged Teals , some Pied Billed Grebes and a Nutria were seen. Forty Seven species in all today.

We then headed for a very small wooded area in the middle of town. It has been traditionally a haven for Night Herons and other waterbirds, but this day it held a few Warblers and a Ladder Backed Woodpecker.

We started home as the wait for the Ferry would be longer and it was . We waited 45 minutes, but when we got to the mainland the line to get on the ferry was 2 miles long (Saturday!)
I'll end with the few final photos of some creatures you may know or not.
(Jim had trouble posting the pictures in their proper places. Sorry about that! I'll work on it!

Corpus Christi, TX on Day 12

Perhaps when you think of Corpus Christi Texas, you think of what?... Oil, ships, gas, or maybe even agriculture. But as we had been led to believe, it is a wonderful birding mecca, with hundreds of birding sites within  a few dozen miles of downtown. And Tomorrow we will attempt to visit some of the downtown ones.  Comeback tomorrow.

So to day we got a bit earlier start and were across the Nueces Bay Causeway between Portland and Corpus Christi and headed for the end of the causeway where it connects with Padre Island National Seashore. There is a Park there we had visited in previous trips, and it usually gave good results on the Bay side where the  tidal flats are. Birding the tidal flats after a low tide is a better time than any other for the bird activity, as the food is moving and exposed. By that time we had about 20 birds counted and looking for more.
The day was beautiful although last night was cool at 43 F , but it was warming quickly and got up to 79 F by mid afternoon. It was sunny all day.
Then came the search for "Redhead Pond" . That's a bird  guys, not a gal!  We did not find it but we were getting so many birds in the flats and ponds  along the road there  that we didn't bother. A stop at the South Texas Botanical gardens and Nature Center was next and was the place we ate our "packed" lunch. We almost always do that as Ruth has her special food she likes at noon. Once in a while we may do a "Subway".

A view of the Tule Lake Channel from the bridge at
Corpus Christi

Believe it may be a form of Kalonchoe. Quite tall however

One of the thousands of tribes that have been eliminated
by mankinds power, greed, and carelessness.

Then it was a puzzle to figure out where this "Suter Nature Preserve" was . It was not on the map I said, but had to be there somewhere. That's right, we do not use GPS as they too can be wrong sometimes and then you are without a paper map. After some backtracking and ...yes...I asked directions (without prompting), we got steered in the right direction and it was on the OTHER side of the causeway. UGH!

We finished the day there with a walk down to the Bay where the White Pelicans and other birds were, and headed home after that.

So a total of some 45 birds and many miles on that day. Some new birds we did add to the list were ; Common Ground Dove, Black Bellied Plover, White Winged Dove, an unidentified Hummingbird, and a Spotted Sandpiper. Ruth tells we we have a total of 107 species identified thus far.

Tomorrow Ruth wants to go to Mustang Island and take a Ferry ride to get there. (The only way!)We will do that.
Enjoy the pictures and I hope you are reading along as the days go by. We will be one more full day here  and leave for McAllen TX on Saturday.

White Pelicans at Suter Preserve

A good looking Monarch Butterfly that just flew in!

A better shot of a Scissor Tailer Flycatcher seen today.

The previous Caracra was joined by another (both males)
in eating this carrion.

A green lizard that loved the nectar in the hummer feeder.

Day 11, Seeing the Back Bays near Rockport, TX.

Had to contend with the rain today, but it was not to last. The clouds rolled in and the humidity did as well as Ruth was sweating while gettng the weekly trailer cleaning done.  In the meantime, I got the truck lubricated and looked over and it was a good thing we did that as a plug for the trannie fluid was loose and leaking, and had splashed over the panels on the bottom of the truck. It has lost just a half quart, but that was enough! We topped it off, changed the air filter, and were back on the road again. 

One of the things to do when moving to a new site is to make sure the ‘basics” are all connected, like water , electricity and sewer (if needed.)  Also in order to have hot water , turn on the switches that deal with that. We use all of our facilities so we need to do that. When I started to shower, early this morning, before getting ready to take the car in, there was no hot water in the shower. (Quick rinse...Brr!) .

But, finally we had everythng ready , our lunch was packed and away we went. The ares we covered today were away from the Ocean and inland to a small community called Bayside which is on Campano Bay on the other side from Rockport. There is only one road to get there , but on the way we stopped at many tidal flats , rivers and bays to observe and collect bird identfications. There are the usual discussions between Ruth and me about specises but it helps us to not just guess at any bird species,. We will not put down the bird as ID’d if we cannot agree.

The Long Billed Curlew ends up in S. Canada unlike his cousin,
the Short Billed Curlew who nests by the Arctic Ocean.

 One of the pictures below will explain a family that moved to Bayside in 1836. Very interesting. There is on one road we drove, a ranch for sale.It would make great investment. It is named  "Rancho Cabo Verde" and is on a spit of land between Campano Bay and other tidal flats. Check it out. Might be a great deal. One thng for sure , it would be a great site for wind generators.!!!

The Wood Mansion in Bayside , TX

The plaque depicting the Wood story.

We finihed the day coming back into Rockport and looking over two small thickets, but neither had any birds as there still was a stiff 25-30 mph wind. Total species for the day was 47, including a Long Billed Curlew  (above) which we had not seen before on this trip,  I think Ruth said we are now at 105 species seen. 

The evenig saw a storm roll in , but little rain fell. I did see the potential for a rainbow when the sun came out just after the rain. I hurried out the door to look seaward, and there WAS a RAINBOW.  Always great to see the Rainbow, just like the one Noah saw.

Seeing a Golden Fronted Woodpecker in a yard feeder was a great moment for us today. Avocets, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs were speciel finds today as well.

 Thistle as yet unidentified.

"900 HP!"  Don't Mess with Texas State Highway Patrol.

There were perhaps 1,000 Short Billed Dowitchers on these flats.

The Scissor Tailed Flycatchers were flying against that wind today
with little success. It was tough going. Their tail is 14 inches long.

The approaching storm this evening.

Finished the evening with one of our favorites on the road or at home...Taco salad.  Excellent!  See you tomorrow. We may go to Corpus Christi.

A very faint rainbow after the storm.

Day 10. Movng from Galveston Island to Rockport TX

Transition from one place to another with a trailer has its anxious moments but today was smooth. There was some consternation as we approached the old San Luis Pass toll gate . It is VERY narrow and there was about 6-8 inches of clearance on either side for the trailer. I deliberately took off the additional rear view mirrors  attached to the truck and put them on again "Up the road". That worked well. A crossing is $2.00 for all vehicles.

We drove only two roads for any length at all. TX 36 (named after the 36th Infantry Regiment **see more later in this blog) which took us out of Freeport and to Columbia Point, about 30 miles. 

Coming over the Intracoastal Waterway in Freeport.
Looking NE. Gulf of Mexico on the right

Then it was follow TX 35 all the way to Rockport. Very interesting country here as it is excellent farmland with some cattle in places, with industry in oil and other business all around. It is really "buzzing" with activity. The main crops are cotton, grain sorghum, corn, soybeans and other specialty crops which continue to be a major economic driver  in Matagorda County. There are many building projects going on on this area and yesterday I showed you the large pipeine that was being layed. I found out that Freeport has built a huge LNG port and is gathering , through these pipelines, as much natural gas as they can to process into LNG to be shipped to buyers all over the world. Propane is used to cool the Natural gas and through a complicated process  it is changed to liquid at -250 F and stored for shipment and sale. 
We also saw many large (150' high X 1700 'long) buidings being built in the Bay City area , Do not know what those were ,but will check it out  and let you know when we do. They were quite intriguing

Lunch today was at a convenient place in a large store parking lot and it was just happened to be across from a DQ. Now we had not bought any DQ yet as Ruth has a rule that a stop at a DQ  has to be in the afternoon, before three o'clock and not close to lunch. Hmmm, but I twisted her arm and we stopped for some ice cream. She loves the Hetah Bar Flurry, I tried the Banana Cream PIe Fuurry with fresh bananas. There are many DQ's in Texas! Yea! Oh, it is true that Ruth's arm twists easily.

Lunch stop just happened to be across from the Dairy Queen.
Sure we bought some! YUM.

I didn't take any pictures of the new campsite yet (Hard to call them RV parks after so many years of camping.) But we arrived in time to get set up, do some shopping and check on a place to get the oil changed . That will be done early in the morning when it is less busy. We shopped and secured the supplies we needed for a week  and had a diner out . Ruth had  scallops that were super. I ordered the "Vera Cruz' linguini and for one of the few times in my life , I ate less than one third of the meal. I was disappointed  with the shrimp especially, and even though it was grilled, it was tough, and crisp and did not have any flavor whatsoever. I talked to the waitress, but she says that is the way it comes. Hmmm.  She will tell the cooks for whatever good that does in the future. This is a highly recommeended Restaurant here.

So we are here, and tomorrow start to explore the area's bird life. There are some 100 or more birding sites recommended that can be visited from here. Some we have done in the past, and some will be new. Final picture tonight is of the growth of corn that is already happening here in middle ,south Texas.

The corn is coming up and this was one of the manyfields growing.
The tallest was about 7 inches tall.

 **An intersting tidbit is that the road numbered "36" under the Texas Road system, is named after the 36th Infantry Battalion that fought in both WW1 and WW2. In WW2 they trained at 4 different camps, in the 1940's and in 1942 were sent over to Africa to invade that Continent. They stayed with the move to the mainland through Italy , Anzio, and up the Italian peninsula, and finally invading Southern France. Chasing the German army out of the "C.....Pocket"  and back into the Rhineland.  They were the rescuers of Auswhich and defeated the Germans in many of the war's battles. They were decimated, however, and lost many men.  One of their Battalions, the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery was the "Lost Battalion". They were sent to the Pacifc in 1942  and were captured by the Japanese, and assigned to slave labor on the "Burma Railroad" ("Bridge on the River Kwai"), some were shipped by boat to Japanese prison camps, many suffered horribly,, some who were  torpedoed were rescued by US submarines and told the story of the "Lost Battalion". Their story is one worth reading about, for WW2 buffs.

See you tomorrow.

Day 9, Last Day at Galveston Island

Blue Flag in a  ditch by the National Wildlife Refuge
(San Bernard NWR)

How about a few pictures then the days activities?

Some of the thicket for birds in the Quintana
Neotropical Preserve.

The trail around the Preserve.

The entry to the NWR. Yucca plant!

A beautiful azalea in Jones creek , TX

A pair of Live Oak trees that tower over the truck,
where we stopped for a "stretch".

With the first full week of our trip passed, we now will move westward to Rockport ,TX and a slightly different venue on the Ocean.  Rockport is considered the "middle Coast" as it is about halfway betweem Louisiana and the Mexican border.

Today was, however , another great birding day for us. Even though the warblers are not coming through yet in any kind of number, they are staring to make themselves known. Today we did see a Yellow Throated Warbler, and a Parula, both very beautiful birds in their own right showing that striking yellhow color.  Today we did see 53 birds wit a great variety and added 7 new species to the trip list. {We count all birds seen each day and post the ones that are new as we go along each day.} Some notables were: Black Skimmers (100's of them), Parula, Purple Martin, Common Yellowthroat, Vesper Sparrow, Cave Swallow, Eastern Kingbird, Moorhen, Fulvous Whistling Duck,   Little Blue Heron  (Six of them and a white phase young one) , Wood Thrush (taking a bath) and a  Rose Breasted Grosbeak (female).

These birds were seen on the beach, Fying, in bushes, on ponds, in the weeds, at the side of the road, in trees and taking a bath.

The oustanding thing that we witnessed today was a large bird that I stopped at the side of the road  for, and turnd the truck around to see if it was an Eagle over the Gulf. (They are rare and seldon seen here). We stopped and it was a large  Osprey circling at about 200 feet. It came down to about 100 feet and dove straight down into the water. It come up with a quite large ( 7-8 inches?) fish, and got up into the air again and flew inland  to where iIcould get a few quick shots of it carrying the prey. What a show!  Seeing the Fuvous Whistling Duck was also a treat.

Temperature held at 77 F today and sunny, with a nice 66 F at night. The stars are beautiful each night and a sliver of a moon has not deterred the star gazing.  Here are some more pictures.

Moorhen

 Two immature White Ibis  (note difference)

A Neotropic Cormorant (not seen in the north) 

Note face is white not yellow.

The Osprey with the fish he caught with that 100 foot dive.