March 1: Hot today and Eric made it back from Wisconsin! That was a long two weeks!
Pool Time: so the jets are not jets, but filtering mechanism. Air Temp at 98, water temp at 77
its a bit cooler than I thought!
Eric calls it the Hillbilly Pool... not too cool for the Northerner...
Warm temps make for a happy girl! I like weather where there is "No Jacket Required". There was a few days were I had to wear one in the early morning, by 8-9 am the jacket came off.
March 2: Green Kingfisher
We wanted to get at least one last trip to SPI before the Spring Breakers showed up. Sunday March 5 was the perfect day.. lots of sunshine with little breeze. Great birds with few people until about 11:00 am when the kids woke up and started to take over the road. There was a a few spring break families and groups of young people but this weekend begins the big 2 week party on the Island.
Rosetta Spoonbills
Allergy season has hit Texas! Stuffy nose, sneezing and itchy eyes for the rest of the month...
Monday March 6: We met up with a Facebook birding friend from Chippewa Falls WI today at Estero Llano Grande SP. Even though he has a lot of birds he is still a beginner, we were able to show him lots of birds. It was fun getting to know Rory C. we plan on birding with him here in the RGV and again in Wisconsin.
Yellow Crowned Night Heron
Beautiful night for a fire!
Sunday March 12: another 100 deg day! way too early but we are enjoying the warmth and sunshine. The neighbor kids were enjoying the lake...
One of them had the pedal boat while the other 3 followed... It was fun hearing the kids having so much fun on the lake.
We don't normally chase birds but... There are some Brown Jay's at a private ranch about 60 miles from here. some local bird guides are taking people into the ranch, only allowing 20 people at a time. So off we go!
Tuesday March 14 we left early to do a bit of birding before meeting up with Kim G and Lowell at BJ's for lunch. We had a delightful lunch with great conversations and pretty good food!
Wednesday we headed to Salineno and Falcon St Park. A rainy/misty day but we managed to walk around by the river and the park. We found a Black Capped Vireo! We heard it was the first one ever found in the county.
Thursday we met up with the Brown Jay seekers at 9:00 am.
There was 25 people in our group as rain is forecasted for tomorrow so they allowed some of tomorrows people to come today. Our guide Ryan is 15 years old! He is quite a good birder with "young" ears! He can hear and identify pretty quickly.
Cold windy overcast days gave us a bit of relief from the heat for a few days.
HEB is a Texas grocery store, and our favorite! March means Crayfish/Shrimp boil time, every HEB has a small tent set up with boiled Crayfish, Shrimp, potatoes, corn and grilled sausage. We had tried 2 different types of shrimp, the corn and potatoes and sausage but today we tried the Crayfish! lots of work for a small bit of meat but oh so good!
beautiful birds...
Great Crested Flycatcher
March 21: Hopefully our final "cold" front has passed, it's been a cool, windy, cloudy 4 days here in the Valley. Some migrating birds are making their way north, it means being in the right place at the right time to see them early.
Progresso Mexico has their Winter Texan Appreciation day today. We did not go into Mexico, a store on this side of the border had a fiesta with music and free food! Of course we went...
the line was not too long when we got into it but it sure did grow
So we have seen snakes while out and about, and we have seen the Coral Snake a few times this year but this one was under our vehicle and then slithered under the house!!! oh boy...
Ok Ok, another snake found by the house today. that's 2 days in a row we seen a snake. We have been here since Jan 7, never seen a snake on property and now 2 in 2 days! might be time to pack it up. Todays snake was a Texas Garden Snake by the back door, I seen it, I screamed, it heard me, it slithered off to the grass...
Friday March 24: still a bit windy this morning as we walked our favorite state park. Lots of people out today looking for birds! A couple of guided groups too. We only reached 97 but it felt like 100 at 5:00 pm! its a bit early for such high temps.
a little bit too hot to grill but... today was 1015 sweet onion, salmon patties and hamburger patties on the grill day. Turned out to be a nice night to sit by the lake to eat dinner.
Saturday March 25: Texas Onion Fest in Weslaco was on today's schedule. We arrived at about 11:30, it was packed! lots of vendors of stuff and of course food. Not too many onion vendors! We expected to see a few onion rings etc but only 2 onion blossoms vendors were there. Fun music and a very large car show.
not as warm as yesterday, only made it to 88. Noice evening on the deck.
Monday March 27: possible final fire before we get home. Forecasting rain for the next two days then strong winds for 2 days. Let's enjoy while we can.
Rainy Tuesday makes for a good packing and cleaning day!
Rains bring out the Cane Toad! Our first encounter ever!
The Cane toad is also called the Marine toad or Giant toad. They are the largest true toad in the U.S. and can grow up to 9.4 inches. These toads also have large parotoid glands behind their ears and at the back of their heads. Their color is usually yellowish, red-brown, grey, or olive-brown with different patterns. They live in the southern counties of Texas along the Rio Grande river valley.
Wednesday was overcast and a bit cool. Great day to go to Mexico for lunch! the street was pretty empty of Gringos and even some vendors were absent. We tried the Arizona Restaurant. It was on the 4th floor, we were the only patrons until just when we were leaving when a table of 5 ladies came in.
$1 beer and guacamole was pretty good!
March 30, 2023
March 31: our final day on Moon Lake. We sure did enjoy our almost 3 month stay. We would come back again if it's available but the owners are thinking about moving here from OK. We spent the morning at Estero Llano Grande SP, ran into a number of "friends" (birders we know) and met a few new ones!
2 Owl day!
Great Horned
Packed the vehicle and did a bit of cleaning and laundry. Heading to South Padre Island for a fun week vacationing! (its about 50 miles)...
we do a "Yard List" of birds every winter and summer. this year we are at #8 in the USA on March 31. #1 is our neighbor!
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