Nov 1: our journey (150 miles) was a bit hairy. Raining most of the way and some of it blinding rain. We tried to stop in between rain drops. Got stuck in a park about 1/2 mile from our car under a gazebo for about 20 minutes when the rain came down. We did get a bit wet, the rain lightened up but was still coming down when we ran to the car. We finally arrived at our resort
After checking in at the office we arrived at our home for the next 2 months. There is a car port on the back side, its the whole length of the house.
Wed: we went looking for the Fork-Tailed Flycatcher, no luck... We did find lots of Sissor-Tailed Flycatchers.
Afterwards we went to University of Texas in Brownsville for the Social Flycatcher, found it!
The last time we were there (last fall) the school was still not in full schedule, this year lots of "kids" on campus. We were walking by one building that is being used for voting, as we were walking by an older guy, assuming teacher, said hello then asked us if we were birding or Poll Watching! We all had a good laugh, as we are in Texas not Arizona and we don't carry a gun.. Afternoon pool time on Thursday, nice pool, few people and plenty of chairs.
Fri: we headed to one of our volunteer spots, Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. We ran into Tom and Karen, who are 85 and 78 years old. still volunteering and still riding their bikes 2 miles each way to the refuge from their camp site. They both looked great, its always fun running into our volunteer friends. We did see our first Texas Indigo Snake!
Sunday Nov 6: great day to go to South Padre Island. It took us 70 minutes driving time in 60 miles. We did stop a few times before arriving. Fun to be back on the Island. Good birding and good food.
Since we arrived here in the Valley 1 week ago, we have increased our year bird count to 460, up 27 birds in less than a week.
Texas Tortoise! they are very hard to find
the temps have been in the low 90's with very high dew points since we arrived. We spend our afternoons at the pool, Today (Tues Nov 8) when we arrived the pool was empty! We had the entire pool to ourselves for about 20 minutes before 1 person joined us. We go to the pool at about 4 pm, its not too busy then and its still plenty warm.
Thurs Nov 10: We went to Bentsen Rio Grande State Park in the morning then met up with Kim G. for a wonderful lunch at the park store! The restaurant is new, the service and food was really good. We had a great visit. Picture in front of Kims new car.
Friday Nov 11: our final day in the 90's. our weather is turning tomorrow, one last pool day for me. We finally found the Fork-tailed Flycatcher! then we seen it multiple times!
Saturday the weather turned! We had to dig out our long jeans, long sleeve shirts, jackets and winter hats! The morning walk was a bit brisk but by afternoon the sun came out making it feel quite warm.
Roseata Spoonbill
Music in the park, we stopped by for a few minutes on our afternoon walk.
Monday, 1 one last warm day. We went to Santa Ana WLR for a great walk around the entire park. Eric went to the pool and it was Crowded! The Quebecians showed up! Every one speaking French and hanging at the pool. We had a beautiful natural palm tree light show, the clouds were really dark as the sun was going down, just a bit of sun showed through creating a light show. At first we though someone had put Christmas lights on a few trees. Looking through the binoculars we could see that it was natural light
We had been looking for the Eastern Screech Owl since we arrived. Finally found one in Estero Llano SP. It was nesting so we did not want to disturb by taking pictures. Cold front hit us with north winds and clouds.
We have been seeing lots of Wilsons Snipes
A walk around Recasa de La Palma SP. don't know which snake this is...
Two Kingfishers can only be found here in the RGV
Green Kingfisher, which is the smallest
And Ringed Kingfisher, which is the largest
Well we have had 6 days of cold and rain. Can't say we ever experienced clouds and rain for more than 2-3 days. It is hampering our walking, although we do walk in the rain but there are not too many places that have paved walking paths. The paths here are calichi, a muddy soft mess that sticks to your shoes.
We seen a pair of Coyotes on our walk at Santa Ana NWR. They sure look healthy!
Turkey dinner on Sunday! HEB is our local grocery store, they have wonderful meals.
We are packing for our trip to Las Vegas on Tuesday. Meeting our friends for Thanksgiving. It will be a bit different without Kathy C.
Tuesday Nov 22: it is still raining in the Valley! We are heading to Las Vegas, should be sunny the whole week! We fly from McAllen Tx to Houston to Las Vegas. The airport in McAllen was pretty empty! Houston was not to crowded either. And our baggage beat us to the carousal! That never happens! Generally it takes about 40 minutes to get our bags. Eric was the only person at the car rental desk! So yes we had a very good trip. Lunch served on the leg to Vegas. I had a wonderful 1/3 lb bacon cheeseburger on a pretzel roll, Eric had a spicy chicken bowl that was good too.
Lake Meade is really low!
Our first stop is the Clark County Wetlands for a walk and to get a few birds. the sun was shining, no wind and plenty of water in the wetlands. We stopped at the grocery store for breakfast items etc. After checking in to room 615, we walked to Ellis Island for a craft beer. the place was pretty crowded and very very smoky.
Wednesday we got up way too early, Went to Henderson Birding Center and PABCO for a few walks in the sun. No year birds yet! After parking the car we went to Gordon Ramsay's Fish and Chips for a wonderful lunch. They only have about 10 seats outside for eating but luckily we got one. We needed a much needed nap since we got up so early. Eric took his rest at the pool. He was the only one there! Tomorrow will be different. For dinner we went to the Oyster Bar in Harrahs only to find it changed! We have been eating char grilled oysters there for years! Oh so disappointed, but its time to look for a new place to eat. We headed to Caesar's and found a delightful Italian restaurant RPM. I had a wonderful Old Fashioned with a fun ice cube!
Our dinners were great, service was great and the restaurant pretty empty, it was 5:00 and began to fill up when we left.
Happy Thanksgiving! We headed Floyd Lamb park, not realizing that they were hosting a 10K run with about 1000 people! We were still able to walk around but did not find the bird we went looking for. Next we went to Corn Creek at Desert NWR. Pretty empty there of people and birds! Hmmm.. we did not find the 2 birds we were looking for. I wonder if they all took the day off. Ok one more try we headed up the mountain to Mt Charleston. Lots of snow at 7000 ft and above, lots of people too. Not so many birds.
Our vehicle this year is a Dodge Charger with a Hemi!! oh yes is can move...
this horse was just wandering around on the road in the mountain! assuming a pet..
We met up with Roberta and John Gaskill and John Castro for our annual Thanksgiving dinner. This year we went to Lawry's Prime Rib. The food was great, the service a bit slow. Have not seen them since last Thanksgiving! Great to be able to catch up in person.
Friday the parks were pretty empty. We ended up at Bahama Breeze for a small lunch. Dinner with the group at Pub 365. A bit noisy but a fun dinner with lots of laughs.
Out to Lake Mead on Saturday, oh the water level is so low! We stopped in Boulder City for a little lunch then met up with John C for a light dinner at Tuscany. Wonderful day but a bit cloudy!
Sunday we went back to the Henderson Birding Center and Pabco for a brisk morning walk. The sun was out all day with very little wind.
Cowboys?
We met up with John C for a goodbye. We then headed to the strip. We had to get One White Castle burger each! Oh yes, tasted it all night!
We have not seen the Volcano erupt in years! Rumor is that Hard Rock is taking over this casino.
Monday our final day in Vegas. Back up to Mt Charleston where the temp started out at 32 but warmed up to 41 by the time we left.
Clark's Nutcracker
For dinner we went to our "go to" place for our final dinner. Mon Ami Gabi in Paris where we had a wonderful dinner, its directly across from the Bellagio water show.
French beer!
It was a month to remember..
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