Drove inland 60 miles from Arroyo City to Alamo, before a three-day cold spell hit. I’m staying at the same rv park I stayed at last year, right next to the expressway. It is hard to find a nice and affordable place to stay in this area. I arrived in about 4 layers of  clothes, because a cold wind had been blowing when I hooked up that morning. The clerk at the rv park asked me if I was cold. It was in the 60′s here, with no cold wind, so I was able to remove 3 of the extraneous layers. In Arroyo City there was very poor internet coverage, so I’m thrilled with the great coverage in a regular city like Alamo.

Was pleasantly surprised on visiting Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge to see a number of birds. There were a large variety of birds in a small lake and marsh. I don’t recall seeing such a variety of birds intermingle before. There were white pelicans, roseate spoonbills, black-necked stilts, egrets, both great and snowy, white-faced ibis’, sandpipers and others. Wonder if it was because of the expected cold spell or maybe strong winds near the ocean pushed them inland. One pelican had a green tag with number 398 on it. So far, no luck in finding its’ origin.

Although it had often been cold since I arrived in South Texas, the three-days of hard freezes at night here in Alamo were the first time it has gotten down to freezing. You can see it damaged some tender plants. Workers were busy in a lot of farm fields harvesting crops before the freeze arrived. It appears to back to the 60′s in the day and 40′s at night now. Texas came out better than Florida.

White-faced ibis’

There were a pair of Altamira orioles eating something in the bark of trees…sap?

Green-tailed towhee An olive sparrow

Long-billed thrasher

Below, picture taken on a rainy day, several days after the others.

Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge is near Great Falls, Montana at the western edge of the northern Great Plains and 50 miles east of the Rocky Mountains. It has many of the birds I saw at Camas Refuge in Idaho, with a few differences.

Above, eared grebe with offspring. Still seeing some young ones riding on a parent’s back. The other parent dives for food for the baby during this time. Have seen some young ones like the one above, start diving. The just stay under water a few seconds though.

Breeding sora in the marsh.

Ibis

A standing yellow-bellied marmot. Have also seen a muskrat.

Upland sandpiper

Willet

Long-billed curlew

Phalarope

A night heron carrying a black bird in it’s beak, with the black bird’s significant other chasing after them. The heron disappeared with it’s prey into the marsh foliage.

A pair of western kingbirds are nesting near the refuge visitor center. They fuss at you when you pass by. Have also seen eastern kingbirds.

When I first got to Great Falls, I stayed two nights at Walmart. During the day, I took my trailer to the refuge. One night, there were around 25 other rv’s staying in the Walmart parking lot. After two days, I moved to Fort Benton. It is an unusual small town, in that it’s in a canyon made by the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark thought this area was paradise when they stopped here. It later became the last stop for steamboats from St. Louis and then a major railway stop. The fort was built to protect people from outlaws and indians.

In looking on the web for information on the Upper Missouri River Breaks, found that cattle have caused a lot of problems here, as they have elsewhere.

“The BLM reports that past grazing management has resulted in almost complete elimination of important woody shrub species such as red-osier dogwood, chokecherry, serviceberry, currant, and gooseberry – all of which are highly important as food sources for mammals and birds. Another grazing related problem is the impending demise of riverside cottonwood forests. Presently almost all of the cottonwood trees along the river germinated from seed in the 1880s, before grazing was occurring on the river. As cattle grazing became an entrenched use on the river, cattle have systematically eliminated virtually all young cottonwoods, leaving no replacement trees to take the place of the old and dying mature trees.”

Drove from Sutherlin to Tulelake, California, to visit the Wildlife Refuge there. Have been here a number of times. Along with great bird viewing, the fairground rv park gives a Passport America discount and it’s located just a few miles from the refuge. Just one other rv is here now. Last time I was here it was full of duck hunters.

Saw the eagle above at the same spot where I have seen eagles during other visits.

A breeding pair of American avocet’s defend their territory from a stilt.

Breeding eared grebe.

White faced ibis

Meadowlark with a worm. Saw a small flock of them. They are supposed to be a common bird, but this is the first picture I’ve gotten of one.

Below, a tern.

Little blue heron and great blue heron on a cold day.

White and glossy ibis’ and snowy egret

Sapsucker, not sure which one

Black-bellied whistling ducks. Seeing them all over the park.

I’m at one of my favorite parks, Brazos Bend State Park in Texas. It was cold and clear when I got here, but it is supposed to be cloudy and warm (in the 70′s) most of my time here. Like before, it is crowded on weekends, but during the week there are not many people here. Have not seen any residual damage from the recent hurricanes in the area.

Above: pictures of a tricolored heron and black-bellied whistling ducks. There is a flock of 100 or more of the ducks here. They are found only in the southern states and Central and South America.

Below are birds that you expect to see here, at least I saw them here in my last visit as well as currently.

• snowy egret
• great egret
• common moorhen
• white ibis
• vulture

Below is a carolina wren that I saw at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, where I stayed before coming to Brazos Bend.

I came to Tulelake, California to visit the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge, the two refuges in the Klamath Basin that are in California. I am staying at the local fairground’s rv park because I can get a full hookup site for just $13 per day with my Passport America discount card. It is nice, facing out to farmland. This is a very small farming town with no housing developments, no Walmart, no big grocery chain, or fast-food outlet, and hardly any traffic. People in town park their rv’s in front of their houses with no problems.

As you can see above, I got my first picture of a wild bald eagle! Saw it on the auto tour of the Tulelake refuge. Think the tall posts like it is on are put out to attract raptors, as there are no wires attached to it. Seeing eagles is common in the area. They have more eagles in the Klamath Basin than any where else in the U.S., except Alaska. Nearby Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge is there to protect a major nesting area of eagles. Visitors are not allowed, but I’ve read where on winter mornings you can often see hundreds of eagles fly out to hunt for food from the highway near the refuge border.

A breeding adult eared grebe.

A western grebe, one of my favorites.

American avocet

As soon as these white pelicans saw me, they flew off to join a large group of pelicans on the lake.

A male ring-necked pheasant. The female was very quick to run off, while the male just took his time.

When I passed through Klamath Falls last year, I was bugged. The bugs are still here. On visiting the Tulelake refuge in the morning, there were bugs swarming all over near the water: midges, mosquitoes, gnats, moths, etc. They covered my truck cover. I had to brave them to get my pictures. Think the midges outnumbered the mosquitoes, as I didn’t get any bites. When I returned later in the day, there were much fewer bugs, but fewer birds too! So I’ll just be sure to dress appropriately and take along repellent.

Birds seen but not pictured (so many): night herons, blue herons, egrets, ducks (many different kinds), geese, cormorants, red winged and yellow headed blackbirds, white faced ibis, black necked stilt, killdeer, and many more I can’t recall.

Second morning trip to Tulelake refuge.

The eagle was there again, just on a different post.

There were a couple of hawks by the Visitor’s Center.

Pelicans fishing as a group.

Some midges on the back of my truck.

After leaving Utah, drove through Las Vegas to pick up some mail and then on to Arizona, through Lake Havasu City and Parker. The farmland along the Colorado River from Parker to Ehrenberg is part of the Colorado River Indian Reservation. At about the halfway point between the two cities, passed an area that had land cleared on both sides of the river with a couple of picnic tables and trash cans set out. Saw some cattle egrets and decided to stop. Had hoped to stop somewhere during the day so I could drive through the desert to Riverside at night when it was cooler.

There were egret, and some ibis, nests throughout the marsh grass on both sides of about a two block length of the river. I could see eggs in many of the nests. The mother and father egrets would frequently trade off the duty of caring for the nest.

Two fishermen went by in a small boat and drove a lot of the egrets to higher ground.

Wish I could be there to see all the baby birds.

The subsequent drive through the desert was nice. Drove the #10 to #177 and then the #62 through Yucca Valley. Wanted to stop for the night at the California Welcome Center and go on to Riverside the next day. I’m getting pretty good at boondocking!

Have made my way to Roswell, New Mexico and am staying at the Bottomless Lakes State Park. Roswell seems to be a green belt on the Pecos River that is surrounded by desert, much like Blythe and Needles are to the Colorado River in California. The park is composed of eight water filled sinkholes. Lea Lake (in second picture above) is the only one that allows swimming and is the one where the rv sites are. The lake is not bottomless, rather 90 feet deep. Cowboys gave it the name bottomless when they could not reach the bottom with rope.

On the road leading to the park, usually see some antelope grazing. In the bottom picture you can see one eating cactus, that’s not it’s tongue! It is great that they are able to do this, as it is a very harsh environment, but there is a lot of cactus around.

About 15 miles from Bottomless Lakes Park is the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Nice refuge that is working to conserve wetlands in the southwest desert. There were quite a few beautiful, fluorescent ibis’.

I am at Brazos Bend State Park in Texas, around 50 miles from Houston. It is made up of 5,000 acres of land with lakes, rivers, sloughs, and bayous and 21 miles of beautiful intersecting hiking/biking trails. There are only about 10 other rv’s presently staying here and it feels like we have the park to ourselves. I’m sure there will be more people over the weekend. It is a beautiful park. So glad to be where there is no need to drive anywhere.

Did I say I wanted to see alligators? There are beautiful trails that go around the lakes, like in the top picture. I passed an alligator off to the right of the trail, in the grass near the water. I walked by it without thinking much about it. Subsequently read where you should keep 30 feet away from them. In the afternoon I saw probably the same alligator, but this time he was wide awake, facing the trail with his teeth showing. Thought it best to turn around, as I would have to go within 6 feet of him to pass him.

Moved on to Galveston Island State Park. There were no sites available by the ocean when I arrived, so I took one on the other side of the highway that looks out on a lake and bayous. After the weekend people left on Monday, decided to stay where I was. The wind is a lot less here and there are only a few other campers.

Two birds enjoying the sun at Brazoria Wildlife Refuge.

There are two wildlife refuges around 30 miles from Galveston: Brazoria and San Bernard. Brazoria is huge, with salt and freshwater marshes, sloughs, ponds and costal prairies. It looks like what I picture Louisiana looks like, with lots of water all over the place.

Glossy Ibis. A large group of them were at Brazoria.

A common moorhen.

American kestrel.

Another beautiful tricolored heron.

I saw something colorful moving in the marsh next to the road. Some kind of shellfish.