March 7
Hiked 3.7 miles
Up VERY early and the plan to head south towards the Mission area for more birds and some heat!
Our early rise was well worth it; we were out of the park fast and headed to Fourth Street to see the Whooping Cranes one last time this year. And we were rewarded. We saw two flying in to one area, another three to a second area then, we think, two more. The final two had what we thought was an immature “Whooper”, but later learned, from a fellow bird photographer with a lens David coveted, that it was a Sandhill Crane. It seems the Whooping Crane pair (the female is banded and wears a transmitter) has adopted the Sandhill baby. Wow, what a sweet story.
Later, two more Sandhills and another Whooper appears. There was an interesting tussle between the two “males”. Whatever the real facts of science, this was amazing.
Here are our Crane shots:
Before we left, we also saw flocks of Whistling Ducks:
…and a a Loggerhead Shrike:
Great start to this day!
Off we headed for the south. We saw Wind Turbines, long trains, BIG flat fields (one a cotton field), oil refineries, a Cowboy Bail Bonds billboard and several large ranches.
As we continued south, we also noticed a lot of State Patrol cars, on-road cameras, a northbound US Border Patrol checkpoint, and police searching a truck (whose Hispanic owner stood by). Yep, we were nearing the Mexican border.
We stopped in the Harlingen Texas Info Center (beside this amazing cloverleaf; it seems Interstate 69 will officially come all the way here:
We decided to start our birding at the Laguna Atascosa National Refuge tomorrow, so headed to the Adolph Thomae Jr. County Park ($30 for all amenities…expensive!).
After lunch, we walked the park past fishing piers (the big draw for locals) and actually (maybe illegally) into the Refuge which borders the park:
We saw a Brown Pelican fishing:
…and others fishing in a different way:
…and some other birds, including Roseate Spoonbills (can’t get enough of those) and a Long-billed Curlew:
Heading back, we spied a Crested Caracara:
Here’s the view of the campsite and from my chair:
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