Santa Ana Refuge is just down the farm road from Alamo, three left turns and we are there and it is maybe 8 miles away. It is a wonderful refuge and we decided to go back a second time since we did not see everything the last time. It was a hot day by the time we got there shortly before 9 am.
In the parking lot of the refuge there is a tower of about 20 feet sitting on a towing trailer.
The top looks like a small captain's deck on a boat, all glassed in black glass. We have seen these towers in several places such a beside intersections or along side a road. We wondered what this tower was. Was there someone inside doing something?. This one is in parking lot and it is always there. You can't tell if anyone is up there. Today there was a fellow doing some work on the tower in the Santa Ana tower. He was just getting ready to start working on it in the parking lot at Santa Ana. There were stabilizers on the tower today. He did not look busy yet, so I approached him in the parking lot and asked him what these towers were. The fellow said that when something out of the ordinary is happening within view of the tower, a patrol car is sent out to check it out. It is not the Eye in the Sky like the blimps along the border. Instead the tower is a 360 degree eye in the area around the tower. This refuge is busy after 5 pm with Border Control and illegals arriving. So this is probably why there is a tower in the parking lot. One can learn lots when one gets the chance to ask questions!!
Santa Ana Refuge is right now fighting for its life. The Trump 20 foot WALL with go up on the Levee all the way down and the park is all on the other side of the levee. Once the WALL is up, the refuge will be off limits to Americans and unofficially of course then will be used by Mexicans. So the wall will deprive Americans of a state park with a unique habitat. The 20 foot WALL will be impenetrable. This is a national refuge so the government already owns the land and there have been protests and groups mobilized to save the park. The WALL construction is to start here first since there are no land ownership issues. Kind of sad, using archaic fortifications instead of technology to guard the border.
So we continue to observe the area for birds and agriculture and anything else. By the end of the day today were hoping to bump into a farmer on the road. The fields are huge here and we usually drive by a huge huge field wondering what is growing there. Some crops are obvious such as the very pretty fields of cabbage, or shallots, or broccoli. We figured out what the tall grassy stuff was, sugar cane and a farmer confirmed it when we chatted with him. Today we went by several huge fields and wondered twice what vegetable was being cultivated in these "as far as the eye can see" fields. Maybe tomorrow we will find a farmer to ask.
Santa Ana Refuge was a busy place today. There were several groups in Santa Ana today. School groups and larger kids, maybe college students as A&M Agriculture University is just down the road. We were there for the birding. After talking with the refuge volunteer naturalist, Barbr and I set off to do the Pintail Trail. There were a couple of birds we would still like to try for. We walked the trails and then took a recommended short-cut through a service road. There was a great summer breeze, not a constant blowing wind, so it kept the bugs off of us. I should qualify that, it kept the bugs off me and somehow they seemed to like Barbr better and she did get some bites.
During our breakfast at home this morning, we practiced learning the bird calls of the birds we hoped to see today. Out on the trail we heard the Verdin and then two of them came into view! Really pretty little birds. Verdin was a lifer for Barbr!!
We continued to walk the Santa Ana trails and we saw the usual suspects. We heard the Winter Wren but never saw it. We went by a lake and scanned for ducks etc and saw two Cinnamon Teals in with the American Coots, Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers.
We were done the trails by noon before the real heat of the day. We then had our picnic lunch at the picnic tables area and met a group of RV'ers (they were all retirees) who volunteer at camps for a month at a time and then move on to the next volunteer project all winter long. At the end of the winter they go back home, usually somewhere in the northern states. The gent we talked with said it was a great way to spend the winter. He said that there are several organizations like this where one can do some volunteer project and move on. Gosh there are all kids of opportunities out there if one is not a birder!! Here are some of the birds at Santa Ana today.
After lunch we drove to Hidalgo Pumphouse. The last time I was here Colleen and I toured the outside perimeter of the grounds only. The place was closed. It was hot and it was the same today. Now the border wall cuts across this area and one is limited to where one can go but can still go down to the bay which has been blocked off from the Rio Grande a long time ago.
Within two minutes of getting out of the car we saw one of our target birds; Monk Parakeets!! It was great and we had smiles on our faces. These are beautiful big parakeets and they are noisy and move so slowly and gently. We also met a nice couple from Manitoba who live about 20 miles north of Winnipeg and we chatted about here and home.
We checked in at the Hidalgo Pumphouse and asked our questions and got our map and asked where we could go. It is important as there are Border Control trucks going up the trails and one does not want to be in the wrong place. We always wave at the car and usually they stop and ask if everything is OK.
It was hot this afternoon but with a good breeze. We went and followed the perimeter of park. Barbr managed to get a photo of a Western Tanager and a Lesser Goldfinch. This small park looks like there is nothing there, it looks too landscaped, but one has to look closer. There were several Lesser Goldfinches flying around. We went down the bay and there were two Pied-billed Grebes and two Least Grebes in the water. We started down a dirt path that follows the border wall but there were no birds, too hot. We returned to the pavilion by the bay and sat there quietly. The Northern Mockingbirds have started to sing and while we were sitting there was one singing it\s heart out for possibly a potential sweetheart. Looking over I saw a Black Phoebe and beyond that another bird about 50 feet away. I picked up my bins and it was a Green Kingfisher looking out on us! Another one of our target birds!! We were smiling.
The Black Phoebe was flying in and out over the water fly catching. It sat for a bit on a branch and then continued fly catching. All of a sudden it flew on to the Pumphouse pipe (a huge maybe 6 foot in diameter pipe) and flattened itself out on the huge and lay there like a dead bird. We watched. After a minute and a bit, it flew away. This is very strange behaviour. The pipe was huge and in the sunshine so it must have been hot, or else was it cool and the flycatcher used it to cool off. A real mystery of the bird world!
We had asked at the Pumphouse office about the Monk Parakeets and the very nice lady showed us a map and marked where the parakeets nests are. These nests are built on the transmission component of street lights and look like a pile of twigs. We headed off to find the nests and here is a photo. We went back to the Pumphouse and saw several Monk Parakeets still foraging around before heading back to their nests/roost. We noticed that the leaves are emerging with the heat and in a couple of days the trees will be in full leaf, Too bad for birding. One can hear more bird song too, so it is that time of the year here.
We headed home. It was around 4:30 which is too early to go home when one could be birding. We were going down the FM (Farm to Market road) and turned right, off to a dirt road and went slow. There was a murmuring of Red-winged Blackbirds and we checked out the huge group in the ditch and nearby field. There were several Brown Cowbirds in the group but no Bronzed Cowbirds or Yellow-headed Blackbirds. We went further and there was an Olive Sparrow and Savanna Sparrow. A Jack Rabbit also caught our attention.
By this time it was 5:30pm. Time flies. We turned around on the dirt road and headed into Alamo. We stopped at Willies BBQ for take-out supper. Pulled pork for me and Pork Ribs for Barbr. It was carnivores night here. The sides served are also very good. After a day of birding in the heat, dirty with dust from the dirt trails and with insect repellant on top of everything on our skin, the last thing we want to do is sit and be waited on. A quick shower and one feels like a million bucks and can relax. Supper was excellent. Now we are looking at our photos. It was a very good day, with Verdin, Lesser Goldfinches, Green Kingfisher and Monk Parakeets to name a few of the sweet birds.
At Hidalgo there was this bus parked and I asked at the visitor center what the bus was for. The very helpful lady said there was a festival this past weekend and the music group performed in front of the bus on a stage with the drummer on the roof of the bus. The bus has to be picked up yet.
In the parking lot of the refuge there is a tower of about 20 feet sitting on a towing trailer.
Santa Ana Refuge is right now fighting for its life. The Trump 20 foot WALL with go up on the Levee all the way down and the park is all on the other side of the levee. Once the WALL is up, the refuge will be off limits to Americans and unofficially of course then will be used by Mexicans. So the wall will deprive Americans of a state park with a unique habitat. The 20 foot WALL will be impenetrable. This is a national refuge so the government already owns the land and there have been protests and groups mobilized to save the park. The WALL construction is to start here first since there are no land ownership issues. Kind of sad, using archaic fortifications instead of technology to guard the border.
So we continue to observe the area for birds and agriculture and anything else. By the end of the day today were hoping to bump into a farmer on the road. The fields are huge here and we usually drive by a huge huge field wondering what is growing there. Some crops are obvious such as the very pretty fields of cabbage, or shallots, or broccoli. We figured out what the tall grassy stuff was, sugar cane and a farmer confirmed it when we chatted with him. Today we went by several huge fields and wondered twice what vegetable was being cultivated in these "as far as the eye can see" fields. Maybe tomorrow we will find a farmer to ask.
Santa Ana Refuge was a busy place today. There were several groups in Santa Ana today. School groups and larger kids, maybe college students as A&M Agriculture University is just down the road. We were there for the birding. After talking with the refuge volunteer naturalist, Barbr and I set off to do the Pintail Trail. There were a couple of birds we would still like to try for. We walked the trails and then took a recommended short-cut through a service road. There was a great summer breeze, not a constant blowing wind, so it kept the bugs off of us. I should qualify that, it kept the bugs off me and somehow they seemed to like Barbr better and she did get some bites.
During our breakfast at home this morning, we practiced learning the bird calls of the birds we hoped to see today. Out on the trail we heard the Verdin and then two of them came into view! Really pretty little birds. Verdin was a lifer for Barbr!!
We continued to walk the Santa Ana trails and we saw the usual suspects. We heard the Winter Wren but never saw it. We went by a lake and scanned for ducks etc and saw two Cinnamon Teals in with the American Coots, Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers.
After lunch we drove to Hidalgo Pumphouse. The last time I was here Colleen and I toured the outside perimeter of the grounds only. The place was closed. It was hot and it was the same today. Now the border wall cuts across this area and one is limited to where one can go but can still go down to the bay which has been blocked off from the Rio Grande a long time ago.
Within two minutes of getting out of the car we saw one of our target birds; Monk Parakeets!! It was great and we had smiles on our faces. These are beautiful big parakeets and they are noisy and move so slowly and gently. We also met a nice couple from Manitoba who live about 20 miles north of Winnipeg and we chatted about here and home.
We checked in at the Hidalgo Pumphouse and asked our questions and got our map and asked where we could go. It is important as there are Border Control trucks going up the trails and one does not want to be in the wrong place. We always wave at the car and usually they stop and ask if everything is OK.
It was hot this afternoon but with a good breeze. We went and followed the perimeter of park. Barbr managed to get a photo of a Western Tanager and a Lesser Goldfinch. This small park looks like there is nothing there, it looks too landscaped, but one has to look closer. There were several Lesser Goldfinches flying around. We went down the bay and there were two Pied-billed Grebes and two Least Grebes in the water. We started down a dirt path that follows the border wall but there were no birds, too hot. We returned to the pavilion by the bay and sat there quietly. The Northern Mockingbirds have started to sing and while we were sitting there was one singing it\s heart out for possibly a potential sweetheart. Looking over I saw a Black Phoebe and beyond that another bird about 50 feet away. I picked up my bins and it was a Green Kingfisher looking out on us! Another one of our target birds!! We were smiling.
The Black Phoebe was flying in and out over the water fly catching. It sat for a bit on a branch and then continued fly catching. All of a sudden it flew on to the Pumphouse pipe (a huge maybe 6 foot in diameter pipe) and flattened itself out on the huge and lay there like a dead bird. We watched. After a minute and a bit, it flew away. This is very strange behaviour. The pipe was huge and in the sunshine so it must have been hot, or else was it cool and the flycatcher used it to cool off. A real mystery of the bird world!
We had asked at the Pumphouse office about the Monk Parakeets and the very nice lady showed us a map and marked where the parakeets nests are. These nests are built on the transmission component of street lights and look like a pile of twigs. We headed off to find the nests and here is a photo. We went back to the Pumphouse and saw several Monk Parakeets still foraging around before heading back to their nests/roost. We noticed that the leaves are emerging with the heat and in a couple of days the trees will be in full leaf, Too bad for birding. One can hear more bird song too, so it is that time of the year here.
We headed home. It was around 4:30 which is too early to go home when one could be birding. We were going down the FM (Farm to Market road) and turned right, off to a dirt road and went slow. There was a murmuring of Red-winged Blackbirds and we checked out the huge group in the ditch and nearby field. There were several Brown Cowbirds in the group but no Bronzed Cowbirds or Yellow-headed Blackbirds. We went further and there was an Olive Sparrow and Savanna Sparrow. A Jack Rabbit also caught our attention.
By this time it was 5:30pm. Time flies. We turned around on the dirt road and headed into Alamo. We stopped at Willies BBQ for take-out supper. Pulled pork for me and Pork Ribs for Barbr. It was carnivores night here. The sides served are also very good. After a day of birding in the heat, dirty with dust from the dirt trails and with insect repellant on top of everything on our skin, the last thing we want to do is sit and be waited on. A quick shower and one feels like a million bucks and can relax. Supper was excellent. Now we are looking at our photos. It was a very good day, with Verdin, Lesser Goldfinches, Green Kingfisher and Monk Parakeets to name a few of the sweet birds.
At Hidalgo there was this bus parked and I asked at the visitor center what the bus was for. The very helpful lady said there was a festival this past weekend and the music group performed in front of the bus on a stage with the drummer on the roof of the bus. The bus has to be picked up yet.
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