March 3, 2018 - slowly heading north

I know I am a bit north here in north Texas but not that far north yet!  But the birds tell me otherwise.

I was out birding at one of my favourite birding spots here: Fort Worth Wildlife Center and Refuge.  This is a city-run jewel.  It is a bit out of the city but it is fairly close to where Cassi's place is, maybe a 40 minute drive.  One has to drive past Lake Worth which while urban, was probably once a cottage area.  Decades ago the whole area was flooded for the dam system that was put in place.  Like other lakes around here, these are permanently flooded areas.  This is why the whole Fort Worth area has lots of water and water is not an issue even with 4 or 5 year droughts.  It was brilliant planning for the area. 

The refuge is approximately 3300 acres in size and it maintains a year-round program of hikes, birding outings and school visits.  There is a herd of buffalo in this refuge and they are rotated through several large prairie areas to eat the grass and they do a good job of it.  Up until today I had never seen the buffalo.  I always drive really slowly once I am in the refuge and today I looked over and there were the buffalo beside the road behind what looks a strong wire fence.  The herd looked peaceful and so I got out of the car to take a photo.  I was thrilled to see the buffalo as they are hard to see. The wildlife refuge staff try to minimize the people factor for the buffalo.  It was really sunny so I squinted while taking the selfie.  Plus it is hard to turn one's back to a herd of buffalo.

I signed up for the hike today starting at the refuge welcome center.  The docent explained how this whole area came to be, and told us about the latest new areas that have been opened up.  In May each year there is a small-size marathon run called the Buffalo Shuffle.  There are miles of paved roads for the different run distances.  There is also a 5 km family walk/run. There is a festival with food and drinks at the same time.  In the fall there are hayrides for everyone through the buffalo pastures.  The refuge has 25 miles of hiking trails that are not paved.  So there is lots of space and the refuge includes several different habitats.  A fork of the Trinity River runs through the refuge and one can rent a kayak or a canoe.  There are organized kayak and canoe outings one can sign up for including a full moon paddle.

There is a marsh boardwalk and a bird blind.  The refuge welcome center has a resident Great Horned Owl and a Red-shouldered Hawk outside in huge avairies (not together but nearby each other).  Neither of these birds can be released as they were injured and would have succumbed in the wild.  Also a skunk and opossum are in separate dens and cages, all well done.  There was a bobcat also that was a family pet until he got too big and the refuge got him.  He is gone but his den and cage are still there.  He lived to a great age.  These are all outdoor as the weather in Ft Worth is mild enough to have these animals in their natural environment.  Inside the center there are many local and unique snakes to view in their own aquarium set-ups.  So there is lots to look at, if one is a two year old or a senior and everyone else in between.  The docent led us on a hike along the river and this was a new area opened up last fall.  I had done this hike already last fall and the whole loop is 5 miles long, and we did not do the whole length on the outing today, but a small portion.  The refuge also has a prairie area and a long forest stretch that I did with the Fort Worth Audubon last fall.  So the refuge is great for its variety.

While waiting for the hike to start I situated myself outside at the center's lovely bird feeder area.  One can be inside watching the birds also.  But it was sunny.  I had a long sleeved t-shirt on and long pants and I was fine outside.  I met a gent there and we chatted about good birding spots in Fort Worth.  He told me has lived all his life in Ft Worth and I found out that I have pretty well been to all of the good birding spots. The gent mentioned several spots he like to bird, such as the Trinity Park and the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, both of which are a five minute drive from Cassi's. 

What birds did I see????  Back to my original thought today, the birds are telling me I am slowly heading north..... Carolina Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco and Tufted Titmouse were the common birds today!  There were vultures in the sky once it got hot; Turkey and Black Vultures.  By the water there were American Coots and Great Egrets and I heard a Belted Kingfisher.   The Red-bellied Woodpecker was calling and it was nearby but I just could not locate it.  It was a bit of Houdini bird for me.  There were lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers.  They seem to be everywhere.

The river was quite high and it was expected to rise a bit.  I could see this on my hike along the river.  When the group was going onto the island (after the new bridge), the path was dry but the lake was almost level with the path.  When I was on the return trip back to cross the bridge, this spot was now a wet with water streaming across the gravel path.  I guess this area will need some work on it. 

It was almost noon and I had to go.  I  had to be back at Cassi's around 12:30 pm,  but I intend to go back sometime this week and try for Harris' Sparrow in the fields. The refuge staff said that they are still out there.

It was a good morning out at the refuge.  By the end of the month this place will be hopping with all kinds of birds in migration.  Unfortunately I won't be here.   I will be even further north, back at home.  Hopefully in spring-like weather please.

There is a huge building project just at the next intersection with a light at bottom of the hill from Cassi's place on Montgomery St.  Last year when I was here the concrete was being poured and Lu and I had counted 12 cranes over the site.  It looks like a big stadium in the making now and I am told it is an arena being built to replace the old arena at the Will Rogers Complex nearby, which will be demolished. The new place will be called Dickies Arena.  It is a huge work site.  Today we went to see the site from the top of the hill on Harley Street  and they are now working on the roof.  Here is the photo I took.  It is supposed to be completed in late 2020 and it will have 14,000 seats.   The roof will be permanent and not retractable.  It is kind of neat to see this building go up over the last year.

Feb 28, 2018 - Going home and other places

I got up at 3 am this morning and Barbr was pretty well ready last night.  Barbr had to take the 4 am airport shuttle for her 6 am flight home to Ottawa this morning.  We got Barbr downstairs to wait for the shuttle and said our goodbyes.  It was a wonderful birding trip.  No lifers but I was not expecting lifers at places that I have been to 3 times now.  But the great thing was we birded every day at different places seeing different birds along with meeting all kinds of people.  The weather was great and we enjoyed our adventure. 

I had to leave by 5:45 am to get my train to Fort Worth.  So I am sure Barbr is tired this evening and so am I.

The travel for both of us went well today.  I was at Cassi's place by 2:30 pm and I think Barbr was home 1.5 hours later or so.  Both of us are happy.  Barbr had Bear go nuts over her and I had a surprise here as Darla dog is here and she did her wiggles and kisses.  I was tired of sitting most of the day and took her out for a long walk when I finally got settled.  It is humid here and warm.  Apparently it has been raining most of the last two weeks. I saw lots of raptors while traveling today and even saw robins!

So this is a last post I think for the trip.  If I get out birding with the Fort Worth Audubon, I will do an additional post. 

This was my greeting today.

 

Feb 27 - Last day of birding with Barbr - San Antonio Botanical Gardens

Today dawned all misty and overcast.  As the morning went, the fog got thicker.  I could barely see the cars on the freeways from the window here.

I slept great last night but Barbr did not sleep from 1 to 3 am.  We had breakfast and I called Mitchell Lake Audubon as their website stated that some trails were closed due to the recent rains and were very muddy.  The fellow said one can still walk on the trails in certain areas but not drive and it was really muddy.  Finally around 11 am, it started to clear.   We decided to give Mitchell Lake a pass, mud is no fun!  Plus I had asked if they had any special birds that were recently seen and the answer was no.  There was nothing being seen that we had not seen already.

We headed out to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.  In the year and a bit since I  last visited there, the place has a new welcome building and some more gardens have been set up.  There was lots of construction work today as they are still working on a children's garden center and something else by the rose gardens.  We went through the pavilions and we took photos of plants that caught our attention.  Then we headed to the wonderful bird blind in the back of the gardens.

The last time I was here, it was just around 9 am and there were tons of birds.  I must have gotten 24 species and likely more.  Today, the new birds for the trip  were Blue Jay and Carolina Chickadee.  You can tell we are north.  It will be interesting to see what birds I will see in the Fort Worth area, which is about 6 hours north of here.

Barbr packed and organized her stuff this morning.  So she is pretty well ready to go.  We returned the car after visiting the gardens. 

I have still have to pack.  I figure that once I help Barbr down with her stuff tomorrow and say goodbye, I will have almost 2 hours to get myself ready to leave.  I have to get going around 6 am for the Amtrak train to Fort Worth. 

It was a great trip with great company and lots of laughs and sweet birds AND it kept us away from winter!

 This birding trip ends with some statistics.

Total Mileage - 2800 miles
Total Species
With Colleen - 107
Just Barbs -       59
Total species for the trip  166 in winter

Feb 26, 2018 - Port Aransas to San Antonio

Morning today - Not one but two flat tires and we were very lucky....

Gosh we were sad to leave Port Aransas this morning.

There was no sunshine but a light drizzle.  We had a really good time here at the Festival.  Boat rides which I enjoyed (meaning pretty calm waters) and Barbr loves being on a boat in any weather.  She has a good constitution when it comes to boats.  A visit to King Ranch and Island Birding were both were excellent.

We got logistics figured out that in the event someone wants to come to stay for a bit in Port Aransas,  one does not have to rent a car for a stay on Port Aransas.  The size of Port Aransas and the pace is just perfect for a beach buggy and one can go everywhere on one.  A shuttle to and from Corpus Christi airport is all that is needed.

We were sorry to leave but tick tick tick, time moves on and we had to go.  We loaded up the car and we lined up for the ferry and we got on within minutes.   We then took the road to head to San Antonio, or so we thought.  We found after several miles that we had to back track.

Yesterday the rental car computer registered a tire with low air pressure.  So yesterday I stopped at the gas station and put air in and it was at the right pressure and the light was still on saying put air in.  I consulted the owner's manual and it said this indicator would go off after the car was driven at over 30 mph.  Well the whole of Port Aransas is under 30 mph and everyone follows the speed limit in town. So we did not worry about it.

Today the indicator was still on and the car was fine, tire looked OK and we were on the mainland when we could finally go fast enough.  We went fast.  I slammed on the breaks several times.  Barbr rocked and got mad at me for a second.  I told what I was doing.  While I was driving in the right direction; no cars around for miles I went quite fast, it was a good road.  I was not worried about the indicator as probably the sensor itself may be out etc...  While driving, there was a beep from the car computer and we  both said what was that.  When I was able to focus on the car computer (it is not in a good spot kind of down and into the driver's side of the dash), the car computer indicated two tires needed pressure on the passenger side.  Gosh we were fine, I took my hands off the wheel and nothing was pulling to the side.  We were literally in the middle of nowhere and had about 20 miles to go.  We finally found our cross-street Hwy 77 North and we needed to gas up and I would fill up both tires again if they had a tire air pump or whatever one calls it.  We filled up and I pulled up in front of the air pump and went to the bathroom.  Then Barbr and  I went back to the car  with the $1.50 in change for the tire air pump.  I went around the car and the front passenger tire was flat like a pancake and the rear one which was the original "low tire pressure indicator" looked low too.  I called the rental car company assistance number for advice and talked to the guy at the gas station.  A tire garage was just down the block on the left.  This is a small town and some towns have nothing.  Barbr said she does not remember seeing  a tire repair shop anywhere on our travels on this trip.

Rental company advice was getting one tire changed  with the spare put on and then drive to Corpus Christi at less than 50 mph to exchange the vehicle was not an option.  Everyone drives fast here and even Farm to Market roads are good with a 75 mph speed limit and everyone goes fast 80+.  I did not want to end up on the highway sitting there with another real flat from the back tire, plus Corpus Christi is the wrong direction.

I  filled up the pancake tire it inflated but I could hear air escaping and we drove out very quickly from the gas station and up the block made a left to the tire garage.  The tire was half flat in that time.  The very helpful fellow asked what I wanted done and I said check all the tires and see what could be done.  In about 45 minutes, two tires were repaired (one long woodwork nail and one type of roofing or building screw were the problems - I collected the items they pulled from each tire).  I paid the bill, thanked the fellow and off we went.  I will try to claim the amount with the rental car company.

We then thought about where we had been the last five days.  We were all over the place and there was hurricane trash everywhere, so it is no wonder that we picked up stuff like a screw and a nail when we pulled over off the county roads to see a bird.  Even where we parked at the Beachcomber Motel on Port Aransas, the yard had little stuff, construction bits here and there, broken glass and sticks.  We are just so thankful that we were not in the middle of nowhere and stopped to check the tire, we would have been stuck and probably still there in the dark.  It was so remote, cell phone service is iffy in the area since the hurricane, likely there was no service.

The rental car goes back tomorrow after we finish birding Mitchell Lake and the Botanical Gardens here (my two favourite places here in SA).    So it was a slow start for our return journey to San Antonio.

We had a lunch break at the MacDonald's parking lot in Refugio and then we stopped at a store to shop 15 minutes or so, just to check the repaired tires did not go flat. The repairs were good.  We had 2 .5 hours of driving to get to San Antonio.No more indicator lights came on and we made good time on the 75 mph highway into San Antonio.


We made jokes about our tires and the sun came out for us and the temperature was 76 degrees.  We pulled into the Pearl Brewery District in San Antonio where Norm and I we visited several with the kids.

Barbr wanted to see the Riverwalk in San Antonio and the riverwalk is so pretty.  The whole length is landscaped beautifully with greenery and  flowers.  Barbr took photos of the flowers.  There was flowering cabbage, petunias, pansies, tulips in bloom and daffodils.  It is spring here.  There were the domestic ducks along the way.  Barbr was enchanted.  She said why don't we do this in Ottawa with the canal.  Barbr wanted to go on the boat ride down the riverwalk.  These run every half hour and the boats go through one lock.  Norm and I and the kids have done this boat ride every time we visit.  At Christmas time the whole 5 miles or so is lit up with Christmas lights and it is magical.

We flagged down the boat (which one can do if one is at steps down to the water or a boat stop).  Off we went on the boat trip all the way downtown and around downtown and back to Pearl.  There were lots of people in the boat when we got on but after we came into the downtown, only a threesome got on, everyone else had gotten off at downtown stops and there was us.  We boated back to Pearl which at the end of the Riverwalk.  We both enjoyed the lovely boat ride.  Along the Riverwalk at one point, there is a tree overlooking the Riverwalk, which is a Yellow-crowned Night Heronry with two active nests, right in the middle of people walking, running, cycling by along with the boats going by.  The herons are used to humans.

We had supper and then went to check into our hotel by the airport so Barbr would have an airport shuttle to the airport when she leaves.  Now we are settled and it is so great to have internet service that works and does not take over an hour to download anything.  That is our one complaint in Port Aransas, the place had crappy internet period.  We asked at other motels nearby and they had good internet service, so it was just the place we stayed at.   

So that was our day, we meant to do some birding but our morning was taken up with car stuff and then we played tourist.  San Antonio is a wonderful city to visit.  Tomorrow we bird.  Hope I did not bore anyone today.  We saw raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, Black and Turkey Vultures and Kestrels.  Barbr saw her Crested Caracara several times and she thinks now we are pretty well out of the range for Caracara.   Another interesting day.