It was already warm when we started our day today at 7:15, with a departure to Sabal Palm Refuge and arrived home in 70 degree temperature in the dark at 7:15 pm. It got to 86 degrees today by the waves on the gulf coast on Boca Chica beach along with the Taumaulipas Crow that was by our car it is also known as a Mexican Crow. We were about 30 feet from the Mexican border today at Sabal Palm along with a million mosquitoes directly around us.
It was very foggy today leaving for our 1.5 hour journey south to the southern most tip of Texas. The foggy which was due to a heat inversion was all morning but visibility was at least a hundred feet so it was not like fog. It did not turn sunny until 1 pm and at times there was a slight shower or a short time of rain spit but we did not get wet. Barbr had plastic bags ready for our cameras and we used them once. So a funny weather hot day.
At Sabal Palm we went "beyond the wall" and took a photo of the experience then checked into Sabal Palm. Last time this place was really good but today and it is winter here, the birds were pretty well the same as the other places. We did not see anything special but still took photos of the Green Jays, Kiskadees and Black-crested Titmouse. We left the Refuge and headed to nearby Boca Chica Beach.
The birding here is not the end experience but traveling the road. We easily found Highway 4 E and stayed on this for about 25 miles. There was the usual border check and we thought we would find a gas station. We found out about 1/3 of the way in that maybe there is not a gas station and indeed there was none so we had to go into a grotty end of Brownsville to find gas. There were two abandoned stations before we found a working one. We asked the Border Control guard where the gas station was. Once we filled up we drove past the Border Control and headed down the road again. There were hawks on every second telephone post, at least it seemed like it. We had the Mexican bird, the White-tailed Kite, which is spectacular with its white head and dark wings. It is like a ghost hawk and we had two of them in the same stretch both going in and coming off the beach. There were other Hawks which we have to look at on the computer as we are not entirely sure. These are not the usual hawks from home.
From the beach we tried to find several places in the Birding the Rio Grande Valley book but in 13 years places have changed so we did not find one but we found the second one.
Where the beach started we parked the car as while we could have driven on the beach there was soft sand at the entrance and no one wanted to push a car past the pile of soft sand. The high clearance pick-up trucks had to work to get through but this just left large ruts. Once past this spot, it would have been fine but it was so foggy, one could see about 100 feet ahead, so not the best. It was worth the drive though. We walked the beach, checked out the shorebirds: Sanderling, Willet and Laughing Gulls. Barbr and Colleen collected shells and I walked the beach which is my number one pleasure near the water. The surf was cold though and I thought it would be warmer as this was the gulf. The waves were wild and beautiful. The true force of nature at its best. There were people fishing and wading in the surf. We enjoyed this afternoon.
On the way back down Boca Chica, we saw more hawks and we were still overwhelmed with the raptors. We visited Old Cannon road that led to a refuge that no longer had a pond but took us past an electrical power station and a huge reservoir. A Border Police had stopped to talk with us to ask us if we were all right as we were in the middle of no where. We said we were fine and asked about the road ahead as these were dirt roads that were damp and had some impressive ruts but he said we were fine to go ahead on it, we would be fine. So we did and we happened upon a canal and then a huge reservoir with While Pelicans and Neotropic Cormorants getting ready for a night roost on the exposed branches. This body of water was big across so could not see onto the other side. There are always surprises in Texas. A real bad abandoned dirt road can lead to neat spots and there is no one around the fields.
It was dark soon and we pre-ordered supper from the restaurant at this point and picked it up on the way home in 40 minutes. Colleen and I had catfish with coated pecan and almond flour with vegetables and Barbr had the Harvest Chicken and we had finished out meal and she still had a big chunk of chicken left for lunch tomorrow.
Now we are discussing the hawks and sparrows we saw and will go through the photos. This was a fun day with all the surprises. After about two hours we have identified and "discussed the id" and finally have names for the hawks/raptors: White-tailed Hawk, White-tailed Kite, Peregrine Falcon, Harris' Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk. It was a wonderful mix of raptors today!
At the wall and at the beach today for us!
It was very foggy today leaving for our 1.5 hour journey south to the southern most tip of Texas. The foggy which was due to a heat inversion was all morning but visibility was at least a hundred feet so it was not like fog. It did not turn sunny until 1 pm and at times there was a slight shower or a short time of rain spit but we did not get wet. Barbr had plastic bags ready for our cameras and we used them once. So a funny weather hot day.
At Sabal Palm we went "beyond the wall" and took a photo of the experience then checked into Sabal Palm. Last time this place was really good but today and it is winter here, the birds were pretty well the same as the other places. We did not see anything special but still took photos of the Green Jays, Kiskadees and Black-crested Titmouse. We left the Refuge and headed to nearby Boca Chica Beach.
The birding here is not the end experience but traveling the road. We easily found Highway 4 E and stayed on this for about 25 miles. There was the usual border check and we thought we would find a gas station. We found out about 1/3 of the way in that maybe there is not a gas station and indeed there was none so we had to go into a grotty end of Brownsville to find gas. There were two abandoned stations before we found a working one. We asked the Border Control guard where the gas station was. Once we filled up we drove past the Border Control and headed down the road again. There were hawks on every second telephone post, at least it seemed like it. We had the Mexican bird, the White-tailed Kite, which is spectacular with its white head and dark wings. It is like a ghost hawk and we had two of them in the same stretch both going in and coming off the beach. There were other Hawks which we have to look at on the computer as we are not entirely sure. These are not the usual hawks from home.
From the beach we tried to find several places in the Birding the Rio Grande Valley book but in 13 years places have changed so we did not find one but we found the second one.
Where the beach started we parked the car as while we could have driven on the beach there was soft sand at the entrance and no one wanted to push a car past the pile of soft sand. The high clearance pick-up trucks had to work to get through but this just left large ruts. Once past this spot, it would have been fine but it was so foggy, one could see about 100 feet ahead, so not the best. It was worth the drive though. We walked the beach, checked out the shorebirds: Sanderling, Willet and Laughing Gulls. Barbr and Colleen collected shells and I walked the beach which is my number one pleasure near the water. The surf was cold though and I thought it would be warmer as this was the gulf. The waves were wild and beautiful. The true force of nature at its best. There were people fishing and wading in the surf. We enjoyed this afternoon.
On the way back down Boca Chica, we saw more hawks and we were still overwhelmed with the raptors. We visited Old Cannon road that led to a refuge that no longer had a pond but took us past an electrical power station and a huge reservoir. A Border Police had stopped to talk with us to ask us if we were all right as we were in the middle of no where. We said we were fine and asked about the road ahead as these were dirt roads that were damp and had some impressive ruts but he said we were fine to go ahead on it, we would be fine. So we did and we happened upon a canal and then a huge reservoir with While Pelicans and Neotropic Cormorants getting ready for a night roost on the exposed branches. This body of water was big across so could not see onto the other side. There are always surprises in Texas. A real bad abandoned dirt road can lead to neat spots and there is no one around the fields.
It was dark soon and we pre-ordered supper from the restaurant at this point and picked it up on the way home in 40 minutes. Colleen and I had catfish with coated pecan and almond flour with vegetables and Barbr had the Harvest Chicken and we had finished out meal and she still had a big chunk of chicken left for lunch tomorrow.
Now we are discussing the hawks and sparrows we saw and will go through the photos. This was a fun day with all the surprises. After about two hours we have identified and "discussed the id" and finally have names for the hawks/raptors: White-tailed Hawk, White-tailed Kite, Peregrine Falcon, Harris' Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk. It was a wonderful mix of raptors today!
At the wall and at the beach today for us!
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