Texas State Parks 1: Brazos Bend

Currently in Dallas for Shabbos. But earlier in January -

Brazos Bend State Park. We came for 1 night and stayed for 3. It was a wonderful introduction to Texas State Parks. See for yourself:

This picture doesn’t properly show what a lovely campsite this was. It was in a serene meadow dotted with live oaks with no other campers nearby.

Fishing Dock

The trail along 40 Acre Lake to the observation tower provided excellent birding! Birder friends, help me out here if I mislabel.

Whistling Ducks (next 3 photos)

Synchronized Upside Downs

Synchronized Sleeping

Scarlet Tanager! I don’t think I ever saw one before!

Coopers Hawk

Koots

Little Blue Heron?

The labels mark past floods. See the one Bob is pointing to? That was the flood of December 1913. This entire area is totally flat for miles and miles. I can’t imagine the amount of water in the Brazos River to flood all this land up to that height.

On the White Oak Trail, Red Buckeye Trail to the Brazos River and Big Creek, and Creekfield Lake Woodland Trails...

A Vulture Condo. There were lots more on this tree!

Birder friends?

This trunk was at least several feet across. The tree had fallen and blocked the trail.

Interesting Stuff (it's a technical term) and Pretty Views

This trail was full of Dangerous Banks

The observatory was closed, but we walked over anyway and talked to the guys trying to fix the telescopes

The Nature Center

This Great Horned Owl makes her nest right behind the park office every year, then glares at everyone who comes to see her

Technically these Whooping Cranes were not in the park. But because they were in fields 10 minutes away, I have included this photo. My first time seeing a whooping crane. We (me) had seriously considered going 400 miles (round trip) out of our way to the Whooping Crane Festival near Port Aransas, TX and we (me) regretfully decided it wasn’t worth it. But I got to see them anyway!

Fun Fact: Although I have not been posting bird pictures, I have tons of great ones from other places. Maybe a future blog post?

Why I Love Tucson #2 - Birds!

Full disclosure - Some of these photos are from areas 1½ to 2 hrs southeast of Tucson.

We were at Chiricahua National Monument, at the lowest point on the Echo Canyon Loop Trail, when we stopped to eat lunch.

Now normally, I never feed wildlife. But this Spotted Towhee demanded, absolutely demanded! to be fed.

The bird hopped right over to me and berated me very vocally until I gave it a few seeds from the bread of my sandwich. And then demanded more!

I mentioned the Merlin bird app in a previous post. I tried it for the first time here. It recognizes birds by their bird calls! And is amazingly fast doing so. That is how I knew this was an Spotted Towhee.

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This was at the Cochise Stronghold Campground.

Mexican Bluebirds and Acorn Woodpeckers have learned from experience that when people are at a picnic table, there is food to be had. As soon as we sat down, the bluebirds and woodpeckers began to gather. I expected them all to burst out in song. It was like being in a Disney movie. 

Or Hitchcock.

Thank you Merlin for identifying these birds!

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These photos are from Catalina State Park, in North Tucson

One morning I went on an organized birdwatching walk. (Bob slept in.)

Out here in Southern Arizona, it is usually chilly first thing in the morning, but when the sun gets going, the temperature goes up quickly. However, this turned out to be an overcast day, and it stayed chilly the whole time.

Here are some blurry photos of some of the birds (Phainopepla, Northern Flickers, and Gila Woodpecker) that we saw.

Gila Woodpecker	Northern Flicker	Phainopepla

The birders got really excited about two Long Eared Owls. You will have to take their word for it that this is one of them.

This is what I got excited about - two Great Horned Owls. And we were really close to them, not like the other birds. They were worth getting up as early as I did for this birdwatching walk.

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Some more random birds

Roadrunner and puffed up Roadrunner

Some more

 

This Post is For My Granddaughter Ruth Who Loves Owls

On January 1^st, 2020 (not only the first day of a new decade, but what feels like a date from a science fiction novel,) Bob and I spent the afternoon on Honeymoon Island State Park. (We also were there the next day, but that will be another post.)

Being at Honeymoon Island State Park was very appropriate on January 1st because on January 3rd, we celebrated our 38^th wedding anniversary (all our family celebrations start at least a week early).  

(FYI, the reason I married Bob was because he had been to Yellowstone and helped me plan a trip - and clearly we still love to travel.)  

Anyway, on the Honeymoon Island Nature Trail we saw not just one, but TWO great horned owls! Which was very exciting because our granddaughter Ruth LOVES owls!

We saw the mother sitting on her nest and the father directly above us in a tree. Which made it hard to take his picture because of the weird angle, and also felt a little dangerous standing right beneath him (if you know what I mean.)

The nest was pretty far away so the mother isn't clear...

But the father was very close...

We also saw two bald eagles watching over their nest (the photo only shows one)

And more ospreys than we could count

 Including this one eating a fish

But... TWO great horned owls! 

(Regarding what I said at the beginning about science fiction future, for some reason the year 2020 feels much weirder than the years 1984, or Y2K, or even 2001 did. Anyone else feel this way?)