Happy Easter

We are back to having mostly cloudy skies with occasional rain.  Rather than frustrate myself with taking pictures in the possible terrible light tomorrow and then trying to write a blog while getting supper and cooking part of our Easter Sunday dinner, I decided to share some old pictures that remind me of spring and renewal.

So here' a little Easter "eye candy".  Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Happy Easter.

Saying Goodbye at South Llano River State Park

I need to be at Bison Range National Wildlife Refuge by Thursday, May 11, so I can have a day of training before helping with the Migration Day on Saturday.

But I HAD to spend four days with friends at South Llano River State Park, one of our best Texas birding sites and on one of my favorite rivers before I left.  This is another traditional trip that happens the first weekend in May to take advantage of the peak of migration and the river in new spring garb.

Bill and Bob getting organized Friday morning

I've had a wonderful time with old friends and friends I've recently met, including Bill and Carol, who I spent a week with at Yellowstone National Park last fall.  She was doing here last hurrah also and left for Rocky Mountain National Wildlife Refuge where she volunteers each summer.

Bell's Vireo sing their chattering song only around the campground area

I managed to bird all four of  the blinds and several of the areas that hold large concentrations of birds, hike seven miles with Bill, enjoy a couple of evening fires and a group supper and finally, get in a short paddle. Natalie had two dogs and we couldn't take them on the river, so I babysat them Saturday while she paddled and she babysat them Sunday, while I paddled.

A female painted bunting getting her morning drink

A black throated sparrow

Even though I've been coming to this park at least once a year for many years, I still had never hiked up to the overlook.  And I hadn't hike the trails in several years.  So it was fun to discover new parts of the park. Bill and I hikeed the perimeter of the park for about seven miles.  But, since we had also wandered around for about two hours birding, and I had visited back and forth, and done lots of miscellaneous walking, I managed to walk over twelve miles on Friday, according to my step meter. And, on the hike,  we saw a porcupine and the biggest armadillo we'd ever seen, both firsts for me at this park.

An old porcupine 

A view of the old  wildlife management area, now park where most of the trails are

A mimosa species in bloom

Big armadillo

Baby sitting dogs - It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it 

Sunday I got up at 5:00 A.M. so I could get all my packing done before daylight. I almost made it.  The last two stars blinked out as I was stuffing my tent into it's bag. I grabbed a quick breakfast of leftover tabbouleh from our group meal, threw my paddling stuff in Bob's car since Bill decided to not stress his ailing shoulder any more, and told Bob and Natalie I would meet them at the put-in which was the low water bridge in the park. I gathered up my tea, camera, and binoculars and set off.

There are hundreds of black-chinned hummingbirds in the park

There were still a few lark sparrows coming to the feeders

After a few minutes of solo birding, I  met up with several other friends also birding.  The birds were especially hot and we were finding lots of new species. We had orchard orioles, ladderback woodpeckers, blue grosbeaks, chipping sparrows, wood peewee, red-eyed vireo, yellow-billed cuckoo, a vermilion flycatcher, and other birds, including the ever present pine siskins and painted buntings. I had to tear myself away and rush the last half mile to get to the put-in in time.

We had lots of painted buntings around all the bird blinds

We had a beautiful short paddle.  More on that next blog. By the time we finally tore ourselves away from the last of the group, it was 2;00.  Then we had a seven hour drive back to Seabrook an , after several minutes of transferring my stuff, I had another half hour drive to Houston.  After getting my dirty clothes washing, I had to write this blog.

Now it's Monday and I am just getting all the pictures in this blog and will leave for Montana in a few hours.  I'll not blog again until sometime next week.  But I'll get you pictures of  our paddle then and will have lots to tell you about my 2000 mile trip, provided I survive doing it in four days, and the new refuge.

I'll be in Texas until sometime tomorrow when I cross the line into Oklahoma   A few minutes after that, I'll be in Colorado. I hope to get to explore a little of LBJ Grasslands this evening, provided I can get moving.

Visit to Sheldon Lake State Park in Houston, Texas

I've had company for the last several days and have been too busy to get a post out.  But I managed to edit a batch of pictures from our trip to Sheldon Lake to visit the rookeries and enjoy whatever birds were around.

Two or my Corpus Christi paddling buddies are visiting, and  I invited another old paddling buddy who has returned to God's country from that wasteland known as New York. I invited my new friend, Bill, and Natalie was taking the last of her annual leave before officially retiring so was able to join us.

Bob enjoying the birds

We started out with a paddle on the lake where we found great egrets, black-crowned night herons, and roseate spoonbills building nests. We even saw a very early cattle egret in breeding plumage and a great horned owl sitting on a nest, only about eight feet above the ground. And the anhingas were gathering, in preparation for nesting.  We must of seen at least forty of them. A bald eagle was lingering as were a few gadwell.

A lingering bald eagle

Wynnie's picture of  us enjoying the birds

Can you find the black bellied whistling ducks?

Great horned owl on nest

 The weather was cloudy in the morning but got sunnier as the day progressed. I was in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. But we were getting lots of wind when we started. We circled around the lake and then decided we needed to head back, since we expected the home stretch to take a lot longer. But, as we started back, the wind died, so we had a shorter paddle back than anticipated.

One of a few smallish alligators we saw

 Bob, from New York, is traveling in an ancient RV and is trying various techniques to get his kayak to the top of it. His first idea was to put it up from the back but he has to lift the entire weight of the kayak.  It was very entertaining to make bets on whether he could actually get his kayak back up - each time hangs in the balance.  Just a little uphill or a little more wind coming over his bow could change a lift into a broken head. But he got his boat back up without any excitement. Now we have to invite him back to paddle so we can see his next invention.

Bob putting his boat on his RV  - and the rest of us take pictures

Made it!

 After loading our boats, we went around the corner to the headquarters of the park and found a picnic table in the shade for lunch.  I made Mississippi Cavier, a black-eyed pea salad,  for all with fruit for desert. Then we spent some time visiting the new tower which is eighty feet high and lets on see most of Sheldon Lake plus great views of the ship channel, industry, and the park.

Winnie was taking this picture while I was talking instead of filling her pita pocket

Enjoying the view from eighty feet up

The whole lake can be seen in one view from the tower

We finished up by hiking the short trails through the old ponds - this used to be a fish hatchery and two ponds are stocked with fish for kids to catch. By the time we arrived home, it was supper time.

Winnie enjoying a walk in the piney woods

View of the new tower from a trail

First water lillies of the season

Willow blooms

Bill's still smiling at the end of the day

News flash!  I've finally gotten a position in northwestern Montana.  It's at the Bison Range National Wildlife Refuge. I haven't figured out exactly when I'll be there but it will be my mid May and will probably go until mid August. And I don't think I'll have to deliver any bison. But I will get to work with the Montana Conservation Corp. Plus, I'm sure, lots of other fun stuff.

Choke Canyon Anticipation

I'm about to go off the Internet for ten days.  I'm going to one of my favorite birding places on earth, Choke Canyon State Park for a long weekend, starting today, then Monday will drive another ten hours to Big Bend State Park for several days of hiking. 

So I thought I 'd give you a small taste of what I'll be seeing and doing at Choke Canyon.  We'll be a group of about 25 and will have a group paddle on Saturday, and perhaps another one on Sunday.  But we'll also be hiking, birdwatching, just going out on the reservoir to enjoy sunsets and birds, and eating a group meal on Saturday night.

These pictures are from several years back so many of them are taken on very small point/shoot cameras. But they will give you an idea of what this weekend will be like. I consider this weekend to be our official first weekend of spring. We'll have night temperatures in the 40's and daytime temperatures in the high 60's to mid 70's.  Next Monday, it will be in the 80's.  It's also about the last weekend we can expect to see lots of ducks and sandhill cranes. They will be leaving very shortly.

One of my all-time favorite shots - can't find my original so had to use the backed-up one from Webshots

Choke Canyon is one of those places where several biomes come together.   It is the western-most place to find American alligators, the northernmost place to find several Mexican bird species, and has both eastern and western birds. It also attracts white pelicans and lots of ducks and geese in the winter. Sandhill  cranes roost there in winter when the water levels provide them with shallow inlets or ponds.

I have learned to take a couple of bags of oranges - the birds eat them down at about one very thirty minutes.  I also bring sunflower seed to bring in the green jays, cardinals and the sage sparrow, among other seed-eating birds. But we also find birds from our boats or by hiking - there are several trails just for bird watching.

Audubon's Oriole - we take oranges to attract it to our sites

Pine Warbler - oranges bring in many species

Bird Blind from which I took the previous two pictures, by Dutch on his cell phone

The reservoir killed many trees but some of these keletons are still beautiful

Long-billed thrasher

This is an amazing place for butterflies - this was taken in the spring, not on the annual trip.

Osprey hunting over the reservoir

On the Frio River from Breckenridge entrance - closed this year due to low water.

Me taking out out at Breckenridge several years ago

Scissor -tailed flycatcher taken from the visitor center parking lot

Winnie shooting wild turkeys on the reservoir shore. She became an avid birder after several years of coming here with me.

What our trip this year will look like

Morning view on 75 Acre Lake

This used to be a common scene before wildlife feeding was banned

A very old view of the Frio

So give me a couple of weeks and I'll be back with pictures from this years trip as well as several virtual hikes in Big Bend State Park. 

And Happy Valentines Day.