Category Archives: Texas state parks

Some South Texas Birds

Sunday, we headed out of chilly (31) Goliad State Park enroute to the Rio Grande Valley. We saw some neat birds at Goliad including these two Black Vultures catching some afternoon rays.

Along Highway 59, some movement caught my eye and I spotted a bunch of Sandhill Cranes. After a U-turn, dodging several large trucks, we returned to look them over.

There were 100-200 in the field. We thought the van had spooked them but looking at this photo, I think a raptor got them airborne.

At the first day here at Americana RV park, we are seeing lots of birds, especially during a visit to the Bentsen-Palm State Park.

A handsome White Pelican

 

A Snowy Egret

Two Great Egrets and a Snowy. Note the yellow “slippers” on the Snowy.

The chicken-like Plain Chachalaca is furtive but also very noisy.

Desert Birds

Two of our last camping stops have been at Texas state parks (Seminole Canyon and Davis Mountain) with a nice variety of desert birds. Here are some that we saw starting with a Cactus Wren.

A House Finch (not really a desert bird per se)

A Loggerhead Shrike

A Canyon Wren

A Lark Bunting, I believe. Another shot of similar bird in winter plumage follows.

A Woodhouse’s (formerly Western) Scrub-jay

We’ve had a chance to take several hikes at these parks but after several great Mexican meals, feel the need for more walking and fewer tacos/enchiladas. Adios Amigos.

Some Birds From Salenino

I first wrote about Salineno, Texas a few years ago and my recent visits to this wonderful site were just as satisfying. It is easy to see, as you sit in lawn chairs watching colorful birds flock to the feeders, why this little patch on the Rio Grande attracts birders from all over. Merle and Lois, the long-time volunteers, do a great job of hosting neophyte to expert visitors.

Here are some shots I took the other day.

The first three shots are an Altimira Oriole, a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, and an Audobon’s Oriole. (The Hooded Orioles have not shown up yet this winter. Here is an Orange-crowned Warbler.

The Green Jays were everywhere as were the Great Kiskadees, like this one.

The Rio Grande is higher than often but still rather narrow. That is Mexico in the background.

Next – some birds of the desert as we head toward New Mexico.

Reds

We are at Falcon Lake State Park, just across the Rio Grande from Mexico, and on the first evening were greeted with this splendid sunset – and have had several more since.

The birds here are wonderful. The Northern Cardinals, like this one, have a vibrant vermillion color – seemingly much more "red" than our pretty ones in Vermont.

At the campsite, we are treated each day to the aerial antics of several pairs of Vermillion Flycatchers. Here is a long-range shot of one of the handsome dudes.

We are heading west but I’ll be showing you some of the other neat birds that have graced our lives the last few days. Stay tuned.

Farewell to Goose Island

After a nice eight day stay, we bid adios to Goose Island State Park where we had enjoyed camping amongst the bird-filled oaks and seeing nearly 100 different bird species. We sampled some of the cuisine, hit some birding hotspots, and got in some good walks and bike rides, in shirts, shorts and sandals.

Several days before we left, we went back to visit the Whooping Cranes. They were there feeding but suddenly they were heading off to roost. I spun the dial to what I thought was "action" and fired away. I still am not sure what setting I ended up at but it resulted in some interesting photos. Here are a few – a farewell to the cranes and this wonderful part of Texas.

Goose Island Birds – A Sampling

Goose Island State Park is one of my favorite birding spots. Our first few outings have been very rewarding. Here is a Black-capped Titmouse who showed himself just a few hundred yards from our campsite as we started out.

Walking down to the bay, we saw these two Northern Pintail’s and a Little Blue Heron.

We paused for a few photos of an interesting live oak in the campground.

A short drive away is the field where Whooping Cranes often congregate. There are three regulars including a youngster. Here’s one of the parents.

A number of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were also there and it was interesting to watch the cranes shoo them away from choice feeding spots. The ducks are quite the characters, making you smile with their actions and their voices.

We will be here about a week and while having to deal with scattered thunderstorms, are enjoying the birds and mild tropical conditions.

Galveston Beach

"Galveston, oh, Galveston,
I still hear your seawaves crashin,…"

On the way to Galveston Beach State Park, we took the ferry across the Houston ship channel.

Halfway across, we downloaded Glen Campbell’s "Galveston" and listened to it the rest of the crossing – and thought of it as we walked the beach that afternoon.

Just after checking in, we saw this neat White-tailed Kite just outside the office. We hope to see others this weekend.

After setting up, we walked the beach barefoot (the water was refreshing but not swimmable) and saw this Willet, which got Penny’s attention.

These Sanderlings were fun to watch. The second photo shows them and the Willet.

It is time to bone up on shorebirds, again.

Easter Weekend at a Texas State Park

*Things started to change around Thursday as the vacant sites on our tree-lined park road started to fill up and the voices, energy, and comradarie of Hispanic families brought a new vitality to the neighborhood. Pickups full of camping gear, kayaks, bikes, and coolers rolled in and soon we could hear salsa music and the yells of bike-riding kids.

I know that Texas State Parks promote holiday use of their campgrounds but we have never been here before on Easter. A park friend of mine told me, "It’s especially big in areas with lots of Hispanic families – Laredo gets more than any." A Falcon park staffer told me that they get thousands and it can be an hour wait just getting into the park.

Lots of families tent camp and cluster in family/friend groups wherever there is room.

I see lots of chunky kids but few are looking at electronics: soccer games in the road, lots of volleyball practice, tree-climbing, bike riding with very little "organized (or monitored) by adults. Adults, with exceptions, tend to relax and let the kids romp.

Speaking of romping, I was out on a bird walk this morning when suddenly this girl comes racing down the path followed by a boy on a bike and a portly dad biking along. "Can’t keep up with her," he said as he rode by. I didn’t think about it until a few minutes later, when the same girl came flying by on the oyster shell trail followed by her family cyclists. Now, I was impressed. Later, back on the main park road, up they came and she stopped, bent over for a moment to recover, and began walking. I immediately asked her whether she ran in school, complimenting her as her dad answered for her.

He told me that she runs for a club, had just broken a world record, and come in second in a national race. I got her name, wished her well, and told them that I would follow her successes down the road. And off she jogged. It was a chance encounter with a young woman who may, some day, be an Olympian. Here’s part of a writeup in February by Rachel Cole for a Corpus Christi TV station:

*CORPUS CHRISTI –
Corpus Christi is the home of a brand new world record holder. Ciara Martinez, 12, is proud to have crushed the standing record in a 15K race.

Her coach, Edward Ortiz with Elite Feet of Corpus Christi says, 15K is 9.3 miles and she did it in an hour and six minutes, just about a seven minute mile pace.

Martinez set the new world record over the weekend in Dallas. Her time clocked in at four minutes faster than the previous record.

"We went to go race the 5K that I’ve been training for 6 months to break the world record, I came up short but I got first overall out of like 4-thousand women," she said….

This campground will be a ghost town Sunday night as all the local visitors return home. It will be nice to have some peace and quiet just before we head out – but we’ll miss the chaos of kids at play. It is a reminder of our grandkids and how much we miss them. Feliz Pascua.

Taking Princess Ariel Home

I did some geocaching at Choke Canyon State Park and want to introduce you to an interesting trackable that I found in a cache there.

I love geocaching in Texas parks: they all have multiple caches, the traffic is pretty high so there is good turnover in trackables, and they use large ammo boxes as caches that are a piece of cake to locate.

With GPS, you get led to the site. Here’s what my iPhone looked like as Penny and I zeroed in on the site.

As expected, the cannister was easily found with my "truffle hound" helping me out.

I signed the log and saw that among all the items folks had left in the container (essentially junk like lucky coins and magic rings) that the was a trackable item with a metal tag attached.

Each trackable has a unique code that identifies it and allows the owner, and others like me, to observe the activity. I reported that I had taken the item so it now shows in my inventory.

In looking up the number, I saw that Princess Ariel was launched in Vancouver in 2010 but as you can see from the chart, sort of got lost in Texas. (Probably stashed away in someone vehicle and forgotten.)

So, I plan to lug her back to Vermont, probably visiting a few caches along the way, and place her in an active cache where someone can find her and move her along. I think she needs to explore New England.

Trash Talk

The other morning, as I dragged our two large containers down our driveway, I marveled again at how our recycling bin is full while the one for trash is less than half full. Over the years, as more and more materials can be recycled, the ratio of recycling to trash has grown. I say this not to pat ourselves on the back — it’s as much a Vermont thing as a Mansfield thing. It seems that roadside trash, always rather limited, is also improving over the last few years.

149291467_895e4f69a1_mThen my thoughts turned to the terrible situations we will soon encounter as we travel with the #Airstream to the Southwest. Every year we get discouraged about the trash along roadways and the lack of recycling. So I decided to recycle a post I wrote several years ago, since nothing has changed for the good.  Here it is from February 2012:

One of the big disappointments about Texas birding is the amount of trash you encounter along roadways – about anywhere. Many times I’ve spotted a Crested Caracara up ahead to find it’s only one more Walmart plastic bag tangled on a fence post. Of course, with no recycling, no returnable deposit, and a “toss it out the window” mentality, what can you expect?

Recycling is about non-existent throughout the South. It hurts to crush plastic milk cartons and toss them with the cardboard, cans, and other recyclables. State parks are pretty lame, with only aluminum cans collected. Since we drink no soda or beer from cans, well you get the picture.

The other day I drove over to a large wildlife management area for some birding. It is used for grazing as well and some of the residents didn’t seem too impressed by the Vermont plates and kayak on the red truck.

It was a foggy morning and on the way on the access road, I saw a life bird – a White-tailed Kite perched in a dead tree. I took a photo through my scope which was pretty fuzzy but ok for documentation. 

Once I left the truck and began birding alongside the Guadeloupe River, I was shocked by the debris. Some was from recent high water but much was crap left by hunters and fishermen. Beer cans galore, fishing line in trees, it was really depressing. But some great birds helped make up for it. Red-bellied woodpeckers made a racket while dozens of yellow-rumps did their flycatchers act.

The highlight was a big bird that flew off and perched in a tree up ahead. Thankful that I didn’t have the dog with me, I got right underneath a Great Horned Owl who watched me through the branches but stayed perched as I photographed it and then quietly moved on. 

It was a good birding outing but I could not help but contrast it with my trips to rather pristine New England WMA’s. Sure, you’ll always run into idiots who litter, but in Texas, it seems to be genetically imprinted. Mary and I are far from alone at our disgust for the situation – many from Canada and the upper mid-West share our opinion – as I’m sure do many Texans.

We have found a few parks and municipalities where there is more recycling so often we rattle along with several weeks worth of recycling in the truck, looking for a home.