Feb 4 - Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park and its in the upper 80's

The last time Colleen and I visited Bentsen, it was 108 degrees in April (2014).  Today it was in the upper 80's and it was hot but not stinking hot!!!  We decided to do our walking on trails early in the day and then we took the tram to the spots where there were drips or feeders.  I went and did the Hawk Tower from which one can see Mexico and while on the observation tower I did see a hawk but it was so far away, it was hard to tell what it could be.

Colleen and Barbr had a lifer today, Lesser Goldfinch.  I did not see the bird.  We had two Orioles today with the Altamira Oriole and the Audubon's Oriole.  We still have to find the Hooded Oriole.  I was thrilled to see a Buff-bellied Hummingbird at Bentsen and when we arrived back home there was a Buff-bellied Hummer at our hummingbird feeder by the door.  It was whizzing around my head at 6 pm.

So we took our time today and had lots of water every half hour and we did fine.  The tram is great as it is a drop-off  schedule and goes around the park.  Many birds were coming to the drips and little running hoses in the park and we were in a bird blind and the Javelina showed up for a drink of water and we had a good look at it. 

We left the park around 3 pm and and we were pretty tired with the heat and walking but not too tired to car bird.  Besides it was much too early in the day to go home.  So we birded some quiet roads on the way home.  Barbr and Colleen spotted some birds on a line and it turned out after studying the guide books and the photos, these are Green Parakeets.

We found some nice birds on the way home through the farm fields: Loggerhead Shrike, Red-tailed Hawk and Kestrel.  One the way home we stopped for takeout at Crackerbarrel and I waited in the car and the Great-tailed Grackles and European Starlings were heading to their night roost in the hundreds flying west over the highway.  This went on for over 15 minutes.