A Day on The Water At St Charles Bay

Birders say that a bird heard is a bird counted and its neat that you don't have too see them, but when your hearing is as bad as mine  I usually have to rely on my sight. So it was a real surprise when even I could hear the whoopers calling to one another.
Suddenly their calls became louder and they rose into the air flying over the levee and directly over our canoe. Renita hurried to get out her camera and actually caught two of the family. Its by far the closest we have ever been to flying whoopers and of course it made our days highlight reel.

A little later a flock of about 200 American white pelicans arrived high overhead. They tumbled down as they made their descent and finally reformed into vees as they looked for a place to set down. We watched them for quite a while before they flew out of sight, probably heading for the back end of Copano Bay.

It was our first day canoeing/ kayaking with our friend Val, and even though the wind was strong we were able to make it quite deep into the bay. We passed two fisherman by at least one hundred yards but it was still to close for one as he started to swear at us. I couldn't hear him as he was far away but Renita said he used the "f word" multiple times and so of course I then steered our canoe down his line, you don't swear at women where I come from,(At least I didn't splat the water with my paddle).
We didn't get near any rosettes but several pairs flushed as an air boat roared along the shore deliberately pushing the birds up so the riders could see them. I prefer our method of quietly paddling near them and watching them feed. Of course we saw the ever present great blue herons and some snowy egrets.

Later we fought the wind back and it was hard paddling as we gave the waders a wide berth. I cast my net for bait and caught a small white shrimp. It always neat to see the diversity that your net brings in. I didn't catch any bait but it didn't matter. We had been blessed with whoopers flying over our canoe! Clear skies

Wilsons Cut, On Mustang Island

We were finally on the Texas Coastal Bend and the wind calmed down enough for us to canoe, so we loaded the Mad River and headed for a place we had started to explore.  It was on our kayak trails map and we hoped that we could actually do a loop through the black mangroves.

Launching we paddled down the man made cut and stopped to get some bait. A little further we came to the marker and turned north but the water quickly shallowed and we ran aground. Heading for some darker water we tried and tried several places but the tide was too low and it was not to be so we returned to the cut and headed toward Shamrock Island.

It didn't take Renita very long before she had the camera out, taking images of birds. Snowy egrets, rosette spoonbills, willets, and of course the ever present great blue herons all waded unconcerned along the shore.
We never did get any mullet and so we fished a bit with some dead shrimp but dinner didn't materialize.Corn bread tastes fine as a main course, when you don't have fish!  It didn't matter really as the day was so nice and the paddling so good, and of course the birding. It was a day we really needed after so much time on the road! Clear skies.

South Padre Island and a Quick Trip to Mexico

So Monday arrived and it was time forus  to head to Mexico. I had lost a filling and I knew it meant a crown. Now we lost our insurance this year so it had to be cheap and that meant crossing the border as the price is one hundred and seventy bucks verses seven hundred or so in the states. I can buy a lot of rocks with that kind of difference.

The trip from Harlingen was quick and we paid our quarter to get into Mexico. We were the first into the dentist’s office and in no time I was in the seat and getting comfortable. Without going into any details it actually went ok and in about an hour I had a temporary crown and an appointment for the permanent replacement.

Walking up and down the street I bought some chocolate candy and we decided to head back home as it was way to early for lunch. Not much of a trip to Mexico but we got what we came for and next time we will actually do some shopping.

The next day was a day of rest and then it was time to check out Port Isabel and South Padre Island. As  we approached the bridge to South Padre I looked at all the condos and shuddered as the development is everything I hate along the Gulf Coast.

Then we both saw the sign for the South Padre Island Birding Center and maybe, just maybe there was hope?  We parked and entered the tall building and were greeted by a very knoledgable volunteer who showed us the map of the trails and talked about all the things there were to see, and it was good.

Stepping outside we started along the boardwalk and right away we got a new life bird, a least sandpiper. A little further and we took an image of a red knot. Or at least that’s what we think it is, and so now we had another new bird for our list.

We didn’t see any more new birds but we had a delightful time at the birding center. Redheads, pintails, snow egrets and three different types of herons all entertained us on our stroll. Least grebes and pied bill grebes along with common marsh hens were abundant and completely unconcerned by our nearness.

After lunch we drove north, where sand dunes threatened to close the road and a little further they actually did!  Parking, we ignored the private property signs and walked to the gulf where I waded into the surf, and it felt so good to be back in the warm waters. The island is really little more than a sand spit at this point and I wonder who would ever build here?

Latter we drove back to town and climbed the stairs of the historic lighthouse. I had to laugh as the stair well was pretty claustrophobic and the outside platform was quite acrophobic. To have two different fears in the space of a few steps…..

All in all it was a fun day, birding, wading in the surf, a little bit of history and almost getting run off the road by a couple of idiot Texas drivers. In other words it was a typical day on the Texas Coastal Bend.  Clear skies.

Laguna Atacosa National Wildlife Refuge

Sometimes its better to be lucky then  good and I really think that goes for the luck of spotting birds. On the way to the refuge we had already bagged a new life list bird, a white taied kite. It had hovered on both sides of the road and while we didn’t get a good image we were able to clearly observe its beautiful markings.

So as we drove the sixteen mile beach access drive we stopped and glassed and just plain enjoyed the day. Renita was the first to notice a javelin, as it left it’s hiding spot in the brush to feed below us. There were quite a few long billed curlews, pintails, and the ever present great blue herons.

The visitor center feeders had been our first stop and of course the plains chacalacas fed greedily on the feeders. Grey jays were also abundant as were a couple of cardinals. An altimira oriole added to our days list and while it wasn’t a new bird,(we saw one by Mission two years ago), it was great to see it and get a good image at a feeder.

The biggest excitement was the sudden appearance of a cotote at the feeders and the chacalacas were the first to give warning. The coyote soon gave uo on the idea of a lunch and instead settled for a long drink at the feeders pool.

Several times we had spotted small flying birds and of course they turned out to be more curlews. The only other flying birds were the soaring vultures but at least they were the black or Florida vulture, instead of the usual turkey vultures<, (they are easily told apart by the white and black undersides of the turkey vulture).

Then, at mile marker 11, I saw a bird hovering, and it continued to hover as we both watched it. Renita got out the bird book, but we reallt didn’t need it as we had studied the pictures of the Aplomado Falcon. There really wasn’t any doubt, it was a female aplomado, one of the rarest falocns.

It had disappeared from the United States as a result pesticides and  of its nest being raided for the eggs. Now there is a nesting pair in New Mexico and its being reintroduced here in the Texas Coastal Bend.

Again, its better to be lucky than good and to see a wild aplomado  falcon was more then we could hope for our first visit. Now we only have one falcon left, but to see that we will need to travel to Alaska, a trip about as far as we can possibly go from the southernmost tip of Texas! Clear skies.

Choke Canyon State Park 2011

I heard the beating wings as a thousand double crested cormorants flew by the point. Turning my head I knew they would be near as my hearing is so bad that for me to hear their wings, required it. They had just flown in a little while ago and the food they had looked for must be missing as they headed for the far shore.

A greedy Bonaparte’s gull landed near by my  bait and helped himself to the sliced fresh clam, but it didn’t matter as the fish weren’t biting, at least not the drum I had hoped for to make our evening meal. A killdeer watched me as a flock of least sandpipers waded along the shore, unconcerned with my presence.

It was so quiet and I felt the peace that comes with having no place to go and nothing to do but enjoy the solitude. I watched and saw a monarch butterfly and then another reach the shore and I realized I wasn’t watching a few solitary butterflies but part of the migration. They kept coming to shore, singles and doubles and while it wasn’t a swarm it was steady and I watched them beat their wings and then glide a bit before repeating the pattern.

I wondered if this was the peak of the migration as they should be heading for Mexico right now and while we have heard of it we have always missed it. It made me feel good to see that so many have escaped the pesticides sprayed to lessen the damage caused by other insects.

Having read that the numbers have declined, a result perhaps of having to raise crops to feed the seven billion humans, I wondered if there were that many monarch butterflies. Are there any other animals that can be seen with our eyes and number as many as us?

To weighty a matter for me to ponder, I feel my goal now is to observe and record. So timing the end of the mornings migration I counted sixteen butterflies in ten minutes, all headed south as if the earth’s compass  was commanding them to follow the magnetic force lines, and perhaps it is the force they align themselves with.

A fine morning at Choke Canyon State Park, no fish but butterflies and they are as important as the rest of us. It’s All Saints Day and I am reminded of St Francis of Assai who loved the animals so much and according to legend even befriended a wolf.  I think I prefer to stick with butterflies, at least for now.  Clear Skies.

Deming Rocks

I will not mention any name(s) but we are not the only members of the class of 2007,( people who sold their house and went fulltime rving in 2007), that have rocks in their fifth wheel and I mean rocks plural. See if you hang around Deming, rocks and rock hounds are everywhere and you are bound to get hooked. Express even the slightest interest  and we will even give you some free rocks to get you started! We have rocks to spare!

We left Mesa and drove the long drive to Deming, checking into the Escapee Park and being warmly greeted by Wallace and Wanda. Wallace is a rock hound himself and has more rocks then you can count scattered all around the park!

So it wasn’t long before we were talking about rock hounding, places to go see, and even sharing and trading rocks! Of course we ended up trading some of our Wyoming lepidolite for some Big Diggins agate, some Baker Ranch rough, and some assorted slices of other local rocks I know you may think that we have too many already but Wallace knows you can never have enough rocks!

Saturday morning arrived and we drove to Silver City. Stopping  at a flea market, and guess what, we found several sellers with rocks in their booths. We soon left with our first pieces of turquoise, some green turquoise and azurite, and another rough rock of green turquoise.

I could hardly sleep thinking about working the turquoise and so I set up our grinder and made my first turquoise cabochon. I ground some other rocks into cabochons and soon our friend  Marty was over and watching me. He could see I was having too much fun and he left with a sack full of slabs.

Another day and another rock shop and there was Marty buying rocks. He wasn’t the only one and Renita and I added to our collection with some beautiful cathedral agate. The shop owner had to show us some beautiful gold moss agate and it was like a junkie as I grabbed the slab and offered him my billfold,(well almost).

The next day we decided we had enough rock and it was time to leave Deming. That night our toilet broke and the repair kit parts I had already bought didn’t work, go figure. Getting online we drove to the Camping World in El Paso and purchased a whole new unit. It went in so easy that we had our repairs done that evening and I only had to make one run to the local hardware store!

Our plan to leave was again stymied as a massive cold front was blasting through and we decided to stay here for a couple more days until the wind died down. It was a good choice as we saw a motor home roll in with a destroyed awning. Hearing about a new rock shop north of town we headed there just to look at what they had.

The store owners were so kind and knowledgably that we just had to buy some more rock, We now own some excellent lapis and even some rare Tiffany stone, which was originally used in Tiffany stained glass lamps!  Can you blame us?

After eating lunch at the fifth wheel we headed to the Deming Museum to look at the rock collections. Now we had seen the collections two years ago but we know so much more and so we spent some quality time holding hands and peering into rock cases. Lucky for us the museum sells rocks as a money raiser and being giving souls Renita picked out some slabs of New Mexico Crazy agate.

We are leaving Deming tomorrow and heading east,  either  that or we will need to rent a storage unit for all the rocks we have added to our traveling house. We don’t care if others make fun of us and tell us about the movie, The Long Long Trailer. At least we slice the rocks so they don’t roll out of our oven!

Clear skies.

A Surprise on The Apache Trail

Every once in a while you get lucky with wildlife. It happened to us while taking a day trip when we walked up to an overlook and a couple already there pointed out an animal  below. I put my binoculars on it, even though there was little doubt what it was and I motioned to Renita and the rest to hurry over and see what was standing sideways in the valley.
Sharon and Alan had invited us to join Nancy and Jim and make a day trip to Canyon, Lake, the Apache Trail and Tortilla Flats. Among other things they wanted us to see some possible canoe places and so Jim and Nancy picked us up and we drove to the Frey's.

It really wasn't very far from town as we passed the Elks Lodge and climbed up the Superstition Mountains. It was nice to have Jim drive and I was able to actually sight see, instead of having Renita relate to me on what I was missing. Topping it off, Alan was narrating as we had split into two cars, girls in one and boys in the other.
Before long we arrived at the Canyon Lake overlook and we looked below as high winds whipped the lake into whitecaps. I had to take off my hat as the wind threatened to blow it back to Phoenix. We got back into the car and drove down along the lake, with its campgrounds beckoning.
Continuing on we drove past the lake and Tortilla Flats where we planned on eating lunch. Our goal was to drive to a pass on the Apache Trail before returning. The road narrowed and climbed and narrowed some more. Turning into gravel it still was pretty good road by Wyoming standards and it looked like a fun place to explore.

Stopping at the first pass we walked and talked and of course Renita started to pick up some rocks. Soon she was joined by the rest of them and I shook my head as I thought about all the rocks we already have. I really didn't expect to see any wildlife as it was noon and hot and any animal with any sense would be in the shade, right?
That's when a couple pointed out the Arizona desert bighorn ram. It stood for a while and seemed to be sniffing the air. Was there a ewe nearby or was it wondering whether we were a danger? Regardless it stood there as still as a statue until before finally turning  its head.

The others came over and I pointed out the sheep. It had a three quarters curl and the horns were spread out further than the bighorns we had seen in Wyoming and Utah. The horns also seemed to be more massive, almost like domestic sheep, but it was wild desert bighorn,( Renita later looked it up on her smart phone and there was no doubt).

It stood there for quite a while and we all, except Jim, got to see it with our binoculars. Trying to spot more we headed east along a ridge, but when we walked out to a vantage point the ram was gone. Heading back to the vehicles we talked of the luck in seeing such a rare animal in its natural setting.
It was a short drive back to Tortilla Flats we we had a massive hamburger crowned with a grilled pepper. The restaurant's walls were covered with dollar bills on which people had written their names and the date they had been there. I wondered how I could get people to leave dollar bills when they visit us but I guess we will stay with selling rocks.

The funniest part of the restaurant was the restrooms where the walls were painted with characters of the old west, and I had to snap some images. The girls went into a shop while I opted for a prickly pear ice cream cone and sitting in the shade with Jim and Alan.
It was a fun day and a good trip before we hooked up the fifth wheel and headed east to New Mexico. A pretty lake, a day with friends, and a desert bighorn sheep. This is what our life style is all about. Clear skies.