Old Hidalgo Pumphouse

On Monday we visited another one of the World Birding Center parks, the Old Hidalgo Pump House.  This pump house along with others, was important in the irrigation of the Rio Grande Valley to help change the land from being used only as cattle grazing to the food producing area that it is now.

We didn't get to go through most of the park because it is blocked off by the "border fence". It was close enough to the border that the border patrol was there and when asked they said, "we can't stop you from going through, but we advise you not to go south of the fence." Needless to say, we didn't go south of the fence!

We did walk down the road on the north side of the fence and although we didn't see many birds we did find this cast off blanket. Gene's theory is that someone from the south of the border used it for warmth during the night and as morning came they got hot and discarded it. Whether that is true or not it did seem strange to find a blanket laying on the ground just north of the border.

We didn't see any birds to talk about but we did see this National Guard soldier doing border patrol. He is a member of the Army-Texas National Guard in the 38th Infantry Division.

Old Hidalgo Pumphouse

On Monday we visited another one of the World Birding Center parks, the Old Hidalgo Pump House.  This pump house along with others, was important in the irrigation of the Rio Grande Valley to help change the land from being used only as cattle grazing to the food producing area that it is now.

We didn't get to go through most of the park because it is blocked off by the "border fence". It was close enough to the border that the border patrol was there and when asked they said, "we can't stop you from going through, but we advise you not to go south of the fence." Needless to say, we didn't go south of the fence!

We did walk down the road on the north side of the fence and although we didn't see many birds we did find this cast off blanket. Gene's theory is that someone from the south of the border used it for warmth during the night and as morning came they got hot and discarded it. Whether that is true or not it did seem strange to find a blanket laying on the ground just north of the border.

We didn't see any birds to talk about but we did see this National Guard soldier doing border patrol. He is a member of the Army-Texas National Guard in the 38th Infantry Division.

Edinburg Scenic Wetlands & World Birding Center

Took a little trip yesterday to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands which is part of the World Birding Center. Not a big park but they have done a very nice job setting aside native natural areas for the bird population.

They had some nice walk ways built out onto the water that allowed us to get a good look of birds that might be in the area.

From this advantage point we were able to see a large variety of birds.

This group includes some herons and egrets.

Another type of egret.

These little ducks are Black-sided Whistling-Ducks. They are very noisy and actually sound like they are whistling. They look like they have a little mohawk on top of their head.

As I said, it was not a big park but a pretty little green area carved out of a very arid area.

Home Away From Home

We are living for the next couple of months, in an RV Resort in Mission, TX in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Actually we are only about 8 miles from the Mexican border but this area hasn't seen any violence as yet and we are hoping that it stays that way. This is our view out the back window overlooking our lake.

I love the palm trees and the weather has been just beautiful. The sun may get hot but there always seems to be a breeze to cool things off. The night temps drop down for good sleeping with the windows open...but one day next week it is supposed to only be 56 degrees! I told Gene it's all relative to where you are...56 would sound pretty darn good in Illinois right now!

Today we visited the National Butterfly Center and having been to the Butterfly House in STL, I have to say it was rather different. It was all outdoors and naturalized with plants to draw the butterflies and without them being "caged" they just went everywhere.

There were quite a few varieties but some of the most plentiful were these monarchs and the Queens. It sure is hard to get a picture of butterflies...those buggers just won't stay still!

Just one of the structures that at a different time of the year is covered in a butterfly attracting vine.

A water feature in the park that had butterflies swarming it, but as soon as I turned my camera that way they were gone.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

We are traveling to our "winter home" in southern Texas and stopped overnight at Goose Island State Park. Gene is a big  "birder" so we visited the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to hopefully see some of the rare Whooping Cranes that make their winter home here. We were fortunate to see a pair, although they were about a half mile away, he was able to get a picture of them and we were able to see them even better through a spotting scope. They are an amazing bird!

Among many of the other birds we saw were a few of these Reddish Egrets. They were going to town pecking at the bottom of the water getting something they really liked to eat!

And just down the bank from these feeding birds was this American Alligator! First time I have ever seen one in the wild...not in some zoo or aquatic themed setting. He was huge! Glad there was a lot of water and a wooden observation deck between us.

"Live Oak" trees are everywhere in this area and their growth habit makes for some unusual shapes. Their branches grow out parallel to the ground and twist and turn and I am fascinated by them. These are wind swept from the ocean breezes.    

Got home from the Wildlife Refuge in time to catch the sunset off the point of our camping spot. We are right on the bay with just a small seawall between us and the water. Beautiful!

Another view from our campsite. Water, water, everywhere!

This is our actual campsite! A cabana for shade with a picnic table, grill, sand and water! What more could you want!