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.