My third and last week at Falcon State Park. One picnic area at the park has half of its sites closed off because of water damage (top picture). There were strong winds here one day that brought the water in close to the remaining sites. The park has definitely lost land to the water this past year.
There is a 3-mile trail around the park (lower picture) that shows the brush that is so easy for wildlife to disappear into. The brushland appears so desolate when driving through it, but a lot of wildlife depend on it to survive.
There are javelina here. Saw a group with one baby walk through my campsite one night.
The large flocks of kiskadees are gone, but you see individual ones around. Just this week started hearing and seeing cactus wrens (above). They are year-round residents, so they were probably here, I just didn’t cross paths with them.
On the park road, before you enter the park past the headquarters, I saw a group of chachalaca’s. Don’t recall seeing them here before. Know the bobcats would love the park to have a large population of them.
Meadowlarks are seen in groups and individually.
Have seen three pairs of roadrunners that come out to sun themselves in the morning.
A three-day cold spell just swept through here, as it did a lot of the country. Went from the low 80′s during the day and 60′s at night to the 30′s and 20′s, with one day of light snow and sleet. It’s starting to warm back up now.
I often find good picture opportunities in inclement weather. Got the picture of the blue-gray gnatcatcher above, and the caracara below in the cold weather, as well as the roadrunner further down the page.
Came upon a large gathering of caracara’s. One adult had found something to eat, and caracara’s from all over landed nearby to see if there was anything for them (there wasn’t). There were a number of juvenile caracara’s (seen above).
Inca doves on a cold morning.
Vermilion flycatcher. Also saw juvenile vermilion flycatchers.
There are lots of young ones in the flocks of pyrrhuloxia’s (adult seen above).
Roadrunner. Initially saw it sunning itself after a night of freezing temps.
Falcon State Park is located near Falcon Dam at the southern end of a 60-mile lake created by a dam on the Rio Grande River. The park sustained damage from flooding secondary to Hurricane Alex, but some brushland areas seem to have benefited from the flooding. There are more birds here than I have ever seen before.
The murder of a man on a jet ski here last October has not affected visitation, at least by winter Texans. The park is nearly full and there are lots of boaters.
Berry war: There is a large flock of great kiskadees enjoying the berries on some bushes (top picture). They are continually being attacked by territorial mockingbirds. Usually one mockingbird will chase one shrieking kiskadee. Kiskadees are a little larger than mockingbirds, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference. While I was taking pictures a hawk tried to chase down a kiskadee, but was unsuccessful. Maybe the practice of running from the mockingbirds helps keep them in shape to run from predators.
Berry update: Went back to the bush with the berries where I took the above pictures. All but a few of the berries are gone!
I’ve had three bobcat sightings, but just one picture. The above guy came to the edge of the brush near my rv, but quickly escaped back into the brush when it saw me.
A male (foreground) and female bobwhite.
A pyrrhuloxia. Falcon State Park is the main place I see them.
I put out grapefruit for the birds. Orange-crowned warblers are the main takers as well as being one of the more numerous birds here.
A deer surprised me by eating one half-grapefruit whole. When she returned later in the evening she didn’t want another one, but the young one ate part of one.
Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park is the best known of the birding sites in the Rio Grande Valley. It is on the western edge of the developed valley, with it’s expressway and all it’s well known stores. If you continue westward on US 83 you quickly loose the expressway and the stores. I stayed in the central part of the valley, close to all the birding sites. Have not had to refill the gas tank of my truck during my 3 weeks here. There are a lot of nice rv parks near the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Most look to be full now, as this is their prime season. The rv parks here must have a good association, as they all charge about the same price. It is hard to find a nice, low cost rv park.
In the late afternoon at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park the chachalacas go into hiding, giving access to the feeding sites to more of the smaller birds. The chachalacas are not aggressive, but their size gives them priority at the feeding sites. In the picture above, some green jays take advantage of this non-chachalaca time period.
At the entrance to the park, there is a large feeding section with lots of benches to sit and watch the birds. The chachalacas retreat at around 5 p.m. when the volunteers leave for the day. Bobcats come through the area hunting them, which is probably a prime reason for their retreat.
Above, a great kiskadee and a clay-colored thrush go after some peanut butter at the feeding site near the entrance to the park.
Hurricane Alex, in July 2010, damaged most, if not all, birding sites along the Rio Grande. The river went from being 300 feet wide to 2 miles wide in places. The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge’s tram and bicycle road is largely under water, along with a lot of their land. Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park has only recently reopened. It’s tram road is open, but many trails are closed. No javelina’s have been seen in the park since the hurricane and subsequent flooding, but javelina footprints have recently been spotted.
The Santa Ana Refuge will let nature take it’s course and let any water evaporate naturally. I like it with more water. There are newly created swamps that are at times full of birds. The cacophony of bird sounds in these areas must at times be like what is heard in Louisiana and Florida swamps.
Was thrilled to be able to get pictures of a green kingfisher in a new swamp area at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge. Think the background noise of all the other birds made it possible for me to get the pictures of it fishing.
On a sad note, I had planned to visit La Sal del Rey, part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Refuge system, but saw there was an advisory not to go there alone. A volunteer at the Santa Ana Refuge told me she went there with a group and heard gun shots. The Wildlife Refuge feels it’s not safe for individuals to go there alone. The Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge has a Border Patrol station connected to it. You sometimes see armed agents walking the grounds.
Saw the above large snake in the same swamp the kingfisher was in.
See the bird in the above picture and how well it blends into the background? Estero Llano Grande State Park, one of the World Birding Center sites in South Texas, is the only place I’ve seen a common poorwill. One was pointed out to me when I was here a few years ago. On this visit I looked in the same area I had seen it before…and there it was. It is right next to a walking path. It doesn’t move or open it’s eyes when you walk near it. With my eyes, I will probably never see another one, unless it’s pointed out to me.
Common yellowthroat
Curved-billed thrasher
Golden-fronted woodpecker
Chachalaca
The rv park I’m staying at doesn’t do much to attract birds, but to my surprise, there are some black-bellied whistling ducks there and a loggerhead shrike perches right next to my rv. The ducks are often having disputes. Someone is putting out some birdseed and I think they are fighting over it.
Have not seen many vermilion flycatchers or scissor-tailed flycatchers, perhaps due to the caracara’s and the young red-tailed hawk that patrol the area around my campsite. Have never seen so many caracaras. You usually see them in pairs, they mate for life.
Osprey coming up empty, without a fish, after diving for one.
Gold-fronted woodpecker
Scissor-tailed flycatcher
After three or four days of warm weather, started seeing lots of butterflies. The ash-throated flycatcher above caught and ate one amazingly fast, in one gulp..
Returned to Choke Canyon State Park that I enjoyed so much last year. The el nino weather pattern does not appear to be present this year and the nicer weather probably accounts for more visitors here this time. There is still plenty of breathing room though.
Photos above: the oak trees in the park are full of green jays this year, much more so than last year. They are busy burying acorns and doing their part to plant more oak trees.
Great kiskadee. It’s so great hearing green jays and great kiskadees again. This is the northern edge of their habitat.
Scissor-tailed flycatcher. The only one I’ve seen so far. Also have not seen many vermiion flycatcher’s this year. Last year there was a resident one at my campsite.There are lots of raptors around: red-tailed hawks, caracara, osprey, and an amazing number of great-horned owls. There have to be 20-30 of them in the brush around the campground.
I drove the backroads through southern Texas hill country to get to the park. Started seeing creasted caracara (Mexican eagles) where the hill country and southern plains meet.
Golden-fronted woodpecker
Happened to see this curve-billed thrasher while watching green jays in an oak tree.
Armadillos are doing their part to aerate the soil. There have been groups of white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, and armadillos grazing in the area around the campground.
Saw single pyrrhuloxia at both Hueco Tanks and Balmorhea.
Canyon towhee at the Caverns of Sonora RV Park. Still surprised at all the canyon towhee’s and Say’s phoebe’s I have seen this year.
The rv park has some helmeted guineafowl with a female turkey as their leader. They go wherever the turkey goes. In the bottom picture, the turkey has jumped up onto a fence, and the guineafowl aren’t sure what to do.
Have been at Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell, New Mexico for about a week. I have never been here during November and was really surprised at the thousands of sandhill cranes that winter here. The second picture above occurred after a helicopter flew over a hay field where there were a huge number of cranes. Most of the cranes return to Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge to roost at night. It is an incredible sight to see wave after wave of them fly in.
Getting here: Stayed at Brantley Lake State Park before coming to Roswell. Went through bird withdrawal there after all the birds at Rockhound State Park. Not many birds at Brantley. There is DDT in the fish in the reservoir and they also have a problem with blooming algae. There was no bird activity on the water. Where the Pecos River reconstituted below the dam, however, there were ducks and herons.
The campground at Brantley was nice with drip irrigation providing for some shade trees. The nearby town of Artesia is a former small farm town that is now overrun with the oil industry. Southeast New Mexico is divided up into oil fields and their home base seems to be Artesia. Have to wonder what is going to happen to all the artesian wells after the oil is gone.
Got an Amazon Kindle recently and was thrilled at finding all the free digital books you can get from Project Gutenberg. I’m rereading all the classics that I read as a teenager. Just finished War and Peace. Have to admit I use the read outloud feature on the Kindle.
Hawk seen along the road when I first arrived at the State Park.
A Say’s phobe flying around catching insects in the air. They are so intent on hunting they don’t pay much attention to nearby people.
A loggerhead shrike at the Bitterlake Refuge.
Below, scenes from Bottomless Lakes State Park. The camping area is on the left side of the second picture.
