It was stinking hot this morning and we knew there was a possibility of rain, so seeing this was Texas, we did not want to go birding somewhere an hour or more away. We decided to stay within 20 minutes of home. A heavy rainfall in Texas is different from a heavy rainfall in Ottawa.
We visited the Weslaco Nature Center which is a very well done multi-habitat 9 acre area with generally the usual birds that we have been seeing. We had hoped for Bobwhite but no luck.
We were in the dense park area when this wind came up and it was from all directions and lasted for about 4 or 5 minutes. In that time the temperature dropped about 7 degrees and we were chilled! I went back to the car to get my cotton long-sleeved T-shirt and then my scarf and my windbreaker and I was fine.
We then drove to the Frontera Audubon park which is bigger and very nice also. Lots of feeding stations and drips, so during migration this would be a great spot to bird as the place would be hopping. The lady at the center told us where to go on the trails to get shelter if it started raining. Sure enough as soon started out on the trail it started to sprinkle. We got to the shelter and it started raining. We had lots of tree-cover to walk back to the center and got our lunches. The nice lady let us sit in probably the staff room with its lunch table and chairs. I perused the reference library and found the Lichens of North American written by several scientists, one of whom is Irwin Brodo of the Ottawa Field Naturalists. We chatted with the center staff lady and she was very helpful. After lunch in the cozy staff room we went back and put our lunch stuff back in the trunk. Barbr and I walked some of the trail to the feeding station but it was so cool and there were no birds.
We departed the place and searched for the Red-crowned Parrots but had no luck. It was almost 3 pm and we started to head for Alamo with stops at Beals, Dollar Store and the Shoe Department. It was raining and miserable. When we got home, the poor little Buff-bellied Hummingbird who lives in the tree outside our front door was ticking away and it is dark now and he has stopped. He is probably wondering what happened to the warm weather. We are hoping that we don`t find him dead on our doorstep tomorrow am.
For supper today we ordered takeout ribs from a recommended restaurant, Willies BBQ on North Alamo Road. The meals were excellent. For dessert we went to the local bakery where we choose our own desserts and Colleen and I had delicious light Cannolis. Barbr had a flaky Danish which she enjoyed very much.
So today was light on birds. This is the first day that has not been great weather-wise. We did not really have any highlights today but of course there are photos. The photo conditions were challenging with low dim light and we were in dense woods.
It sounds like there is a night-time tap dance group staying upstairs over our place so it has been a challenge not to get woken up.
We visited the Weslaco Nature Center which is a very well done multi-habitat 9 acre area with generally the usual birds that we have been seeing. We had hoped for Bobwhite but no luck.
We were in the dense park area when this wind came up and it was from all directions and lasted for about 4 or 5 minutes. In that time the temperature dropped about 7 degrees and we were chilled! I went back to the car to get my cotton long-sleeved T-shirt and then my scarf and my windbreaker and I was fine.
We then drove to the Frontera Audubon park which is bigger and very nice also. Lots of feeding stations and drips, so during migration this would be a great spot to bird as the place would be hopping. The lady at the center told us where to go on the trails to get shelter if it started raining. Sure enough as soon started out on the trail it started to sprinkle. We got to the shelter and it started raining. We had lots of tree-cover to walk back to the center and got our lunches. The nice lady let us sit in probably the staff room with its lunch table and chairs. I perused the reference library and found the Lichens of North American written by several scientists, one of whom is Irwin Brodo of the Ottawa Field Naturalists. We chatted with the center staff lady and she was very helpful. After lunch in the cozy staff room we went back and put our lunch stuff back in the trunk. Barbr and I walked some of the trail to the feeding station but it was so cool and there were no birds.
We departed the place and searched for the Red-crowned Parrots but had no luck. It was almost 3 pm and we started to head for Alamo with stops at Beals, Dollar Store and the Shoe Department. It was raining and miserable. When we got home, the poor little Buff-bellied Hummingbird who lives in the tree outside our front door was ticking away and it is dark now and he has stopped. He is probably wondering what happened to the warm weather. We are hoping that we don`t find him dead on our doorstep tomorrow am.
For supper today we ordered takeout ribs from a recommended restaurant, Willies BBQ on North Alamo Road. The meals were excellent. For dessert we went to the local bakery where we choose our own desserts and Colleen and I had delicious light Cannolis. Barbr had a flaky Danish which she enjoyed very much.
So today was light on birds. This is the first day that has not been great weather-wise. We did not really have any highlights today but of course there are photos. The photo conditions were challenging with low dim light and we were in dense woods.
It sounds like there is a night-time tap dance group staying upstairs over our place so it has been a challenge not to get woken up.
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