» Birds

Day Nine – Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Cactus Kate — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:44:20 +0000

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. YEA!! Today, I got to see whuppin’ cranes (Whooping Cranes), which are super rare. You can really only see them in only a few places in the country, and even then, only at a certain time of the year. I am so happy to have seen them! There were 11 of them, in 3 different places in the reserve. I also got to see Snow Geese, Roseate Spoonbills, Black Vultures (lots of these), and Common Moorhens. These are all new to my lifelist. I also saw MANY birds that I have already seen, and several I am fairly sure I haven’t seen, but need to identify for sure. I feel like today was a BONANZA of birding! Here are some photos:

Here are some Ruddy Turnstones, a Willet (biting at something in the surf, and a Common Moorhen

And these, my friends, are a Black Vulture, and some Whooping Cranes.

Rich and I went on a month-long road trip in 1999. I am sure I have mentioned it before. We were in Texas during that time, and I glimpsed my first armadillo. Ever since, I have been on a mission to take a decent photo of said armadillo. Armadillos are really interesting animals. They look like little greyish pink articulated footballs. I got a BUNCH of photos of one this time, but Rich was on the right side of the car, and took better photos of one than I. Here are a couple of Rich’s photos.

Today was really great, and I am very grateful to Rich for being patient with my silly animal interests (even though he is sitting here right now watching Monster Bug Wars, and acting very interested…).

Tomorrow, I think we’re starting our trip home. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed, but really…that may be the only thing I am looking forward to. I really am a proponent of ‘endless summer’. That’s my secret dream…chasing summer all over the western hemisphere. Well, I guess it’s not a secret any more.

Thanks for visiting and commenting!

Day Eight – Corpus Christi

Cactus Kate — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:37:53 +0000

Today was definitely NOT an exciting day, which is just FINE with me. We got up fairly early and went to breakfast with Aaron and Uncle Jimmy at El Sol de Mexico. I think that’s my favorite breakfast place in Corpus Christi. They have the most amazing machaca anywhere. It’s the real stuff…dried beef (think jerky), eggs, fresh jalapeños, tomatoes and onions, served with rice and beans. A HUGE breakfast, but delicious.

I walked down to the beach, and took a very long walk. There were no people on the beach, but a ton of birds. I was kept company on my stroll by Great-tailed Grackles, Loggerhead Shrikes, A Long-billed Curlew, A Spotted Sandpiper, Rock Pigeons, Semi-Palmated Plovers, Sanderlings, Starlings, Laughing Gulls, and Ring-Billed Gulls. I loved walking along the beach, and I picked up a HUGE pocketful of ‘sea glass’ to make jewelry out of eventually.

Ring-billed Gull, Great-tailed Grackle, Loggerhead Shrike:

European Starling, Laughing Gulls, Spotted Sandpiper:

Rich and I went to a Mexican place called Acapulco for lunch. It wasn’t the chain restaurant they have in SoCal, and we didn’t know what to expect. We’ve had fairly bad luck with finding good Mexican food ANYWHERE in Texas, so we were almost shocked to discover that the food was really good! Still a different style of Mexican than we like, but it was very good!

I took a nap, and we’ve both been enjoying some cable TV. This is part of what makes a vacation nice…NOT doing something every minute. Ahhhhh. I think tomorrow we are going to the Port Aransas area, and maybe I’ll get to see some more bird photos!

Thanks for visiting, and for commenting!

Day Seven – A Trip To Bentsen RGVSP

Cactus Kate — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:12:19 +0000

Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, that is. It’s the World Birding Headquarters (or something like that). This was one of the only places on this trip that I actually requested to go. I was so excited to see all these birds!

What I saw:

Green Jays, Plain Chachalacas, Altamira Orioles, Orange-Crowned Warblers, Loggerhead Shrikes, Great Kiskadees, Inca Doves, House Sparrows, White-tipped Doves, Northern Cardinals, and some others I am sure I can’t remember right now..

Great Kiskadee, Orange-Crowned Warbler, Loggerhead Shrike

Plain Chachalaca (how could you NOT love that face?!)

Green Jay, and strange fruits on a tree in the park. The fruits were transluscent…you could see the big black seeds inside. They were interesting.

What I didn’t see (but wanted to):

Green Kingfishers, Clay-colored thrushes, Black Vented Oriole, Long-Billed Thrashers, Brown Thrashers, and more.

I had a great time. I saw lots of birds that I had wanted to. I am happy that Rich was willing to drive 3 hours each way, and suffer through it. Look (errrr…DON’T look) at all my chins!

Again (and as always), thank you for visiting and commenting!