Author: Richard

Adios, Texas

After nearly a month in Texas, we just crossed the Louisiana line and are going to spend some time at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles where there is warmth and wifi.

From Goliad State Park, we went back for a great stay at Goose Island State Park. We then traveled north to a little park at the City of Navasota which turned out much better than last year. It was windy but warm and aside from the fact that we had three dogs right next door on one side, and one on the other, things went well. We stayed hitched up and headed out in the morning.

Last night we stayed at Martin Dies State Park in Jasper, Texas. It’s spring break for Texas schools and all parks are packed with families. While it’s wonderful to see little kids fishing and biking, it seems like most Texans have little yappy dogs that just annoy the hell out of Penny .. and me. They would not even be a mouthful for her. Again, we stayed hitched up and made an early getaway for the short yank east and south to Lake Charles.

We’ve been here before and like the place. Louisiana parks have great wifi throughout the park — the first we’ve seen in over a month. There are some good birding places not far from here that I want to check out before we start wending our way home.

Watching the weather and not in a big hurry to trade 70’s for the 30’s. Off the take Penny on a hike before dark, although with the daylight time, it will be better. Saw two new birds yesterday — hoping to do the same this stop.

Rockport Beach Park

Rockport, Texas has many great birding areas and one always cited is the Beach Park.  It’s  long sandy beach with lots of grassy picnic areas.  It also is the protected nesting site of hundreds of Black Skimmers — that graceful bird known for flying low over the water, lower mandible skimming for small fish and other goodies. 

Black Skimmers on the go

I’ve not been to the park since dogs are not allowed and every time I’m in Rockport, I have Penny with me.  Today, I brought my bike and left the dog in the truck and pedaled in for a little birding.  Hundreds of Laughing Gulls filled the air with their raucous calls as I passed by and up ahead, I saw a gaggle of Black Skimmers circling and landing.  There’s a nice observation area near the roped-off nesting site and I took a bunch of photos of the birds whirling by.  It was quite a spectacle.

They’ll start nesting next month and I’m sure it is quite a sight to see the chicks and their parents up close.  Perhaps next year we’ll stick around a little later.

Laughing Gulls

I saw a Long-Billed Curlew, a Pied-Bill Grebe, a Willet, a bunch of American Avocets, Herring/Laughing/Ringed-Billed Gulls, and a number of other birds during the short bike ride.  It’s a place I will get back to another time.

The Laughing Gulls, now in their plumage, just are characters.  Here’s a lineup from the walkway to the observation platform.  They laugh — and tend to make you chuckle as you see and hear them.  

Aluminum Envy

While camping at Goliad State Park, which we like for its history and access to town, I spotted an Avion travel trailer — sort of an Airstream spinoff — and stopped to ask the folks the age of their rig. Turns out that Jim and Katy have a 1983 34’ Avion which, when I looked briefly inside, showed me how classy some of these older units can be. It sort of looked like an old Pullman train car, with polished dark wood, and got me thinking about future options for us.


They have owned quite a few older rigs over the years, starting with a tiny Airstream. Unlike my brother Barry, who tends to tear them down to barebones and rebuild the trailer, Jim noted that they look for rigs that require some TLC but not major work. Lacking Barry’s skills and patience, it sounded like a better plan for me.

So, who knows. Once we get home and situated, we may put the 1999 Safari on the market and look for something older with more character. While the Safari is rather lightweight and thus easier to pull, I’ve never liked the tackiness of the interior. It’s very much cheap plywood throughout.

On the other hand, I can’t get a 34-foot unit up our driveway — even once the snow melts — given the sharp turns off the road. I don’t want to have to buy another truck to haul a heavier rig. So we will be checking load capacities and give it some thought. Meanwhile, since Jim and Katy live here in Rockport, we’re going to try to have coffee with them and pick their brains a bit.

Meanwhile, I’m already reading the Airstream forum want ads and “watching” a couple of Avions for sale on eBay. Stay tuned.

Have you read my vtbirder blog?

Yellow-faced Grassquit: Yes!

Yellow-faced Grassquit

A rare tropical bird, a Yellow-faced Grassquit, showed up at Goose Island State Park about a week after we left in January. For a month now, I have read posts of sightings of him – hundreds of birders have come to see him and he’s been very cooperative.

I thought that it would be a one-time chance to see him so we decided to return to the park for a week. It’s also a place we love and a good spot to celebrate my birthday. So we drove the short distance down from Goliad this morning.

While driving in to look at the few vacant sites, we drove by the spot where he’s been seen. Probably 25 birders were there, binoculars up and looking – and it was hard not to just stop the truck and trailer and join in.

We signed for a nice spot, got unhitched and set up and it was time to exercise the dog – which I did by bike. We rode past the spot but the few folks there had seen nothing since the morning. So, figuring we had all week, I had lunch and a little rest.

Mary suggested I go back and so I did. There were some women down from Houston and a guy who flew in for the weekend from Oregon. We waited and watched a few sparrows. The women decided to leave and I was about to when the Oregon guy – who is quite skilled as a birder – saw it fly into the brush and yelled “bird.” That got the gals hustling back and sure enough, the little rascal was just perched in the shade. You could see him but when the Oregonian got his scope, the bird was spectacular.

The Grassquit breeds from central Mexico to northern Ecuador and northwestern Venezuela, and also on the Greater Antilles and nearby islands (e.g. the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica). It is not a migratory bird but moves about outside the breeding season. It’s neat to think how far from home he is – and what an extremely rare sighting for the U.S.  Glad we came back here.

I’m sure I’ll get to see the guy a few times more and get some photos. The one above is from the web – but is just like the guy I saw this afternoon.

Rio Grande Turkeys

As I was sitting behind the Airstream reading on our last evening in South Llano River State Park, the dog stirred and became interested in something behind me.  It was a “parade” of about 25 Rio Grande turkeys strolling down the park road enroute to their roosting spots along the river.  They are pretty birds — a little smaller than our eastern turkeys but seemingly longer and taller.  It is pale and copper-colored having tail feathers and tail/rump coverts (short feathers located at the base of the tail) tipped with a yellowish buff.
South Llano River SP is home to one of the most significant Rio Grande turkey roosts in Central Texas.  About 800 turkeys roost every year at the park and their grounds are marked off until April.
 
The Rio Grande wild turkey is native to the semi-arid areas of the southern Great Plains states: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Northeastern Mexico. It received its common name from the Rio Grande River, which is the water supply bordering the brushy scrub, arid country of some of its prime range in western Texas and northeastern Mexico. This race of turkeys generally occurs in areas having 16 to 32 inches of rainfall.
 
This subspecies was first described by George B. Sennett in 1879 who said it was intermediate in appearance between the eastern and western subspecies, hence its scientific name, Meleagris Gallapavo Intermedia.
Rio Grande Turkey strutting its stuff
Originally existing in the millions, this turkey had depleted to extremely low numbers by 1920. Formal programs involving trapping and transplanting were initiated in the 1930’s and today it exists over much of its ancestral range. Texas has the most Rio Grandes with a population estimated at over 600,000 birds.
One of the neat things camping at South Llano River is to hear the turkeys call to one another in the early evening — and then again in the morning.  And then to see them parade from their roosts, sometimes displaying as in the photo I took the other day.

Please visit our Airstreaming blog

My New Favorite Bird

As we have progressed through the South and Southwest with our Airstream, I have made favorites of several species of birds I’ve seen.  The last one was the Cactus Wren.  I never saw one (knowingly) last year and once I spotted one in Falcon State Park, I knew what size they were, where to look, and what to listen for.  And then, I ran into them all the time.  In fact, one was singing to us as we packed to leave our last campground.

Towhees have been birds I’ve been looking for.  I found one, then dozens, of Canyon Towhees at Davis Mountains State Park.  They are a bit bland but neat birds.

Spotted Towhee

But the Spotted Towhee has me enamored these days.  I saw my first one at a feeder here at South Llano River State Park and now see them each day.  They are beautiful and there agressive scratching the ground for food is fun to watch.  They hop and attack their food — feathers puff, dirt flies.  They’ve got a lot of spunk.

So, until I find a new favorite, the pretty Spotted Towhees are my pick of the week.

Turning the Corner

Sitting in Fort Davis, Texas in an Airstream rocking from 60 mph wind gusts and then enduring a dust event that reduced visibility dramatically and made one think of what the settlers endure, we confirmed that for this trip, we’ve gone just about far enough west. We had thought about New Mexico (no plans for Arizona with their craziness) but opted to head 250 east to Junction, Texas where we are enjoying a small quiet state park called South LLano River.

It’s a big hunting area (in deer season) and the hills are dotted with hunting blinds and jeep trails. The deer are plentiful but very small, even by Vermont standards. This area is also host to nearly a thousand wild turkeys who roost here every year along the river. Roosting areas are blocked off during nesting season but the turkeys come out to forage every day and are lovely.

Yesterday we went to town for some needed laundry and groceries and for me, a haircut. I love these little Texas barbershops — this one was owned by a good ol’ boy who has been cutting hair since 1950 — that’s 61 years. His shop on Main Street is festooned with all sorts of photos and memorabilia and he was great fun to talk with — and a good barber. No politics or sports — just local history.

He and I found that we had a thing in common — we had both served aboard the U.S.S. Hancock, CVA-19. He was aboard it as a barber during the Korean conflict and told me some interesting stuff about the installation of the steam catapults. (I had over 200 cat shots off that ship 15 years later.) He told of how the “Limey engineers” (the Brits developed steam catapults) help install them and how the ship spent nearly a year test firing them — shooting cars and trucks into the waters off San Diego — before they tried planes. It was a good visit and good haircut for ten bucks.

The local supermarket — a Super S — is the only show in town. This western chain, according to my sources at the park office, comes in and buys up the competition and then charges what the traffic will bear. One of the rangers told me, “Most folks go to Kerrville for groceries.” Knowing it was a ways off, I asked the distance. It’s 55 miles one way.

When I told him that I was continually amazed at the distances people in Texas drive for most everything he said, “Heck, when you can go 80, it’s only 45 minutes.” (And I-10 speed limit is 80.)

We decided to shop locally — we’ve got plenty of driving ahead of us. Goliad tomorrow.

Turning the Corner

Sitting in Fort Davis, Texas in an Airstream rocking from 60 mph wind gusts and then enduring a dust event that reduced visibility dramatically and made one think of what the settlers endure, we confirmed that for this trip, we’ve gone just about far enough west. We had thought about New Mexico (no plans for Arizona with their craziness) but opted to head 250 east to Junction, Texas where we are enjoying a small quiet state park called South LLano River.

It’s a big hunting area (in deer season) and the hills are dotted with hunting blinds and jeep trails. The deer are plentiful but very small, even by Vermont standards. This area is also host to nearly a thousand wild turkeys who roost here every year along the river. Roosting areas are blocked off during nesting season but the turkeys come out to forage every day and are lovely.

Yesterday we went to town for some needed laundry and groceries and for me, a haircut. I love these little Texas barbershops — this one was owned by a good ol’ boy who has been cutting hair since 1950 — that’s 61 years. His shop on Main Street is festooned with all sorts of photos and memorabilia and he was great fun to talk with — and a good barber. No politics or sports — just local history.

He and I found that we had a thing in common — we had both served aboard the U.S.S. Hancock, CVA-19. He was aboard it as a barber during the Korean conflict and told me some interesting stuff about the installation of the steam catapults. (I had over 200 cat shots off that ship 15 years later.) He told of how the “Limey engineers” (the Brits developed steam catapults) help install them and how the ship spent nearly a year test firing them — shooting cars and trucks into the waters off San Diego — before they tried planes. It was a good visit and good haircut for ten bucks.

The local supermarket — a Super S — is the only show in town. This western chain, according to my sources at the park office, comes in and buys up the competition and then charges what the traffic will bear. One of the rangers told me, “Most folks go to Kerrville for groceries.” Knowing it was a ways off, I asked the distance. It’s 55 miles one way.

When I told him that I was continually amazed at the distances people in Texas drive for most everything he said, “Heck, when you can go 80, it’s only 45 minutes.” (And I-10 speed limit is 80.)

We decided to shop locally — we’ve got plenty of driving ahead of us. Goliad tomorrow.

Water

One of the tricks that western birders seem to know is that if you can find water, you can usually find birds.  That’s been the case for me the last week or so.  At Big Bend, we stopped at an old ranch site where a dilapidated windmill, clanking away, delivered a little water in drips but attracted some interesting birds including a Green-tailed Towhee.

Here at Davis Mountain State Park, where I have seen a number of life birds including the Montezuma Quail, they have water at all feeding stations.  I put out a water drip at our campsite and regularly attract Canyon Towhees, Black-crested Titmice, White-winged Doves, Cactus Wrens, and a host of different types of sparrows.

Not far from here is a dry creek which has a little “seep” — a wet spot under some clumps of bushes.  It’s about a quarter-mile hike up the creek bed and as you get there, the birds all fly off but ten minutes later, you can see dozens of birds.  I was particularly looking for the Black-chinned Sparrow which I saw.  (It’s a little drab this time of year — mostly grey — but it’s Black-throated cousin — also there — is starting to show breeding plumage.)  Here’s my list from yesterday morning for about 30 minutes of watching and photographing:

Black-chinned Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
White-winged Dove
Black-crested Titmouse
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Pyrrhuloxia
Cactus Wren
Chipping Sparrow
Western Scrub-Jay
Canyon Towhee
Phainopepla
Lark Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Northern Mockingbird
Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Here are a few photos I took at the “seep:”

A Black-chinned Sparrow in non-breeding plumage

I love the Black-crested Titmouse

A pair of Cactus Wrens