Dec 30, 2015 S Texas Birds

December 30, 2015

Woke to 49 degrees and signs that there had been some rain during the night, but this morning is cloudy but dry.  We walked some of the trails and on the way back to the campsite, a neighbor, Mike from Colorado said hello.  He invited us to come into his campsite as he was getting ready to feed the birds.

An interesting man, he pulls a tiny teardrop shape camper with his jeep.  Back in Colorado, he lives in a trailer on some friend's property, with no electric or running water.  He has a solar panel and finds that is all he needs! He showed us some photos he has taken as we talked about birds and more.  He also joked about being the "old fart of the back-packing crowd" in travels through India, Sri Lanka and more. Well spoken and polite.  He sprinkled bird seed and we enjoyed watching many birds -  grackles, cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds, plus some interesting "locals".  Several green jays visited - they are called green jays but also have blue and yellow and are quite beautiful!

This fellow is called a pyrroloxia and as you can  tell, is related to the cardinal.

The great Kiskadees are also colorful.  From a distance they look like lemons in the tree.

 This Roadrunner ran by the campsite.

Some other neighbors, from Virginia, came by too.  Both they and Mike will be staying here for a week or more.  There is another Roadtrek in the campground too, and the owners walked by our site and complemented our choice of vehicle.

Back at our campsite, we made ham and eggs for a late breakfast, cleaned up and then headed down the road to another birding area called Salineno, which several people have recommended.  We have been traveling on Route 83, which parallels the Rio Grande River (also the TX/Mexico border).  Have seen many Border Patrol and Texas State Trooper folks out and about.

Salineno is a tiny town with a church in the square, surrounded by palm trees.  We went through town (don't blink!) and onto a dirt road toward the Rio Grande River and found a small parking area with a hand-made sign welcoming birders.

Checked out the river which is slow-moving and not very wide here, then walked a trail till we came across an RV with outdoor seating and a jovial Santa look-alike named Meryle. He, his wife and his friendly dog are from Iowa.

 They have been spending winters here for 7 years, volunteering, feeding birds and educating folks like us!  He invited us to sit and then put out various feeds, including a paste made of peanut butter, lard and cornmeal, nectar, sliced fruit and seeds.   Within a few minutes the birds arrived and Meryle identified many and talked about them.

Green jays, kiskadees, a couple of different woodpeckers, sparrows, cardinals and more.

kiskadees

Golden fronted woodpecker 

green jays

 He was not crazy about the red-winged blackbirds and grackles which come in large numbers and can quickly empty feeders.  We saw three different types of colorful orioles ( altamira, audubon and hooded) and three kinds of dove (morning, inca and white-winged). A very educational visit!

audubon oriole

Altamira Oriole

From here, we headed back down I-83 to the town of Roma which has bluffs overlooking the river,

and Rio Grande City where we hoped to see Fort Ringgold, but it was closed. Continued on to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, home to The World Birding Center Headquarters.

 Known as the sub-tropical tip of Texas, it is 586 Acres bordering Mexico.   The park is closed to motorized vehicles due to "issues" (which may or may not have to do with the border).  They had a van, though, which took us into the park.  We got off at a nature center and watched these chachalacas  clambering around fallen trees - also known commonly as Mexican Chickens.

 We walked to several other sites with bird blinds and saw many of the same birds we had seen at other locations.

Woodpecker but has a long tongue (Look closely)and was lapping up nectar from the orange.

green jay

There were a few other folks walking or riding bikes. We caught the van for a ride through the remainder of the park.  Went back to the Trek for lunch and then headed back to I-83.

As we headed east the weather worsened, with temps in the 40's, wind and rain.  Looking at the weather forecast, which called for this type weather for the next four days, we decided to head back towards Houston.  We headed north on I-77, stopping briefly at the border patrol checkpoint.  Though we saw quite a few orange trees filled with fruit, the only fruit stand we saw was closed, so no citrus this trip.

Tried to stop at a restaurant called The King's Inn on Baffin Bay, but it too was closed until January 3 (they have great Gulf seafood). Stopped for the night at Kingsville, home of the King Ranch, which we have visited in the past.  We feasted (?) on hot dogs and baked beans, but wandered into a store and found some Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia for dessert!

Decided to head for home tomorrow, with a stop for lunch in Rosenberg at a barbecue spot called Witt's Pit.

Arrived home around 1:00PM, after 978 miles.  Cloudy, but warm and dry :)