Everybody out of the water!

The cold weather is gone and the temperatures have returned to the normal for this time of year so I am back out hiking and bird watching. This morning I went to a nearby spot that has a lake and several ponds. As I approached the lake, I noticed an unusually high number of birds sitting in trees above the water line. There were herons, egrets, ibis and anhinga's.

 As a came around the corner, where I could see a wider area, I saw the reason. A large alligator was right by the shore! 

I watched for about 15 minutes as it slowly floated along. The birds close to the water where not fooled by its imitation of a log and quickly moved to a safer location before it got too close! Another reason to be glad we are at the top of the food chain!

With the warmer temps comes safer roads so the stores are getting restocked. The only item I could not find was eggs! Several days ago I was able to find a gallon of whole milk to get me by. It was at a little market close to the Mexico border just a few miles west of here. It cost me $5 but you have got to feed the addiction! I need my bowl of evening cereal!

The effects of the cold weather are clearly seen all around. Trees that were green and full of food for the birds are mostly leafless and brown. The lakes and ponds in this area are very shallow so they were strongly affected by the cold. Large numbers of fish perished as they could not handle the temperature drop. They rescued about 5000 cold shocked sea turtles along South Padre Island shoreline. They turned the convention center into a sea turtle warming center in order to handled this unusually large amount. This was Texas's longest and coldest spell in about 30 years. I was lucky to be in an area that was not too badly affected. I will be making my final trip to the coast this weekend then come Wednesday I will hook up and start working my way back to Arizona. It will be bittersweet to leave.

Almond "milk"?

The Rio Grande Valley, were I am staying, was fortunate in that the most severe weather from winter storm Uri pasted to the north and east of here. We still had several nights of mid 20 degree weather but never any snow or teen temperatures like a lot of Texas. I was also fortunate to be a full time RV'er as when the power went out, I just fired up my generator and stayed warm and cozy! What did impact this area was a lack of goods like dairy, meats and fuels. Most goods in this area arrive from other parts of the state and travel on many highways has been restricted because of the storm. I will not drive when the roads are impacted by bad weather but I was able to walk to the market just across the street for milk. Unfortunately they were out of  cows milk but they did have Almond milk. 

I figured this was a good opportunity to step outside my norms and try something new so I bought a half gallon as I can always use it in my coffee if nothing else! After tasting this new "milk" I came to the conclusion that the only thing this milk has in common with cow milk is the color!  I am sure many people enjoy Almond milk but I am not one of  them! I am not even sure I will enjoy it as creamer! on the bright side, today is the last of the cold weather and temps will return to the 50/70 range by tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully truck traffic will start to flow and the products I prefer will become available again! 

Life Bird 423, a Groove-billed Ani

 One of the birds I have been attempting to see here in Texas is the Groove-billed Ani. I have been going to Estero Llano Grande State Park several times a week for a month in an effort to see one. It has been reported there several times a week for months but my timing has never been in sync with its appearance. Sometimes I missed it by just minutes but today the timing was right. On my way out of the park, another birder told me he has just seen the Ani and where to look. I hustled to the spot and sure enough there was one sitting in the open so I snapped a couple pics before it disappeared back into the brush!

It is slightly smaller than a crow but prefers to stay in low brushy areas. If you are not paying much attention, you might mistake it for a Great-tailed Grackle which is about the same color and size and is very abundant in this area! This bird usually heads down to Mexico for the winter making this a rare sighting for winter in Texas. My goal is to reach 425 Life Birds before leaving Texas. I might have to head back to the gulf to achieve that as that is where the most birds I have not seen reside!