An Exceptional Park

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Sunday morning we set off on the 100+ mile drive from Uvalde to Junction, where we wanted to do some birding in the South Llano River State Park.

After we crossed the South llano River just inside the park, we noticed that an adjacent field had several exotic animals, including some beautiful antelopes. We were told later than the owner of that piece of land breeds a variety of exotic antelope and deer. 

A couple of hundred yards further along the entrance road we stopped at Laura's Blind, one of four excellent and comfortable bird blinds spread around the park. Each blind looks onto a small area where park staff scatter around bird seed every morning and afternoon. Each area also has a water feature, which really draws in the birds.

Half-a-dozen male Painted Buntings were the first birds to catch our eye. How could these beautifully colored birds not be the first thing you look at!

There were female Painted Buntings, too, of course.

Mixed in with the Buntings were House Finches and Lark Sparrows (below).

Field Sparrows seemed tiny in comparison to the Lark Sparrows.

Black-crested Titmice made frequent trips to pick up seeds.

White-winged Doves wandered about on the ground and cooed from the trees, while three Brown-headed Cowbirds (below) came in to feed.

A couple of Western Scrub Jays made a dramatic entrance although, remarkably for Scrub Jays, they were almost totally silent.

A few minutes later saw the arrival of one of species I'd most wanted to see, a Black-throated Sparrow. What stunning little birds these are!

There was so much activity at this blind that it was really difficult to tear ourselves away from it. However, we decided we should head to the Visitor Center to renew our annual state park and then check out other parts of the park.

As we left the blind, a large snake was sitting by the path with its head reared up. 

We'd been in the park less than an hour and already it had turned out to be well worth the long drive from Houston.
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Rio Frio Bat Colony

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We arrived in Concan on Saturday afternoon and had an early dinner at Neal's Lodges. The food there is very good and is reasonably priced. Plus from  our table we were able to watch through the window as Black-chinned and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds flocked to feeders outside.

We weren't staying at Neal's on this trip because the accommodations are really over-priced. Also, it is irritating that the owners promise to stock the many seed feeders year-round but rarely do so.

At 7:00 Saturday evening we drove five miles down the road to join a tour to see the Rio Frio / Concan colony of 10-12 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats.

 

With several other vehicles we drove up to the cave where the bats come to have their babies every summer.

While we waited for the bats to emerge, the guide told us about the history of the cave and the guano harvesting that has taken place there for well over a hundred years. We were also entertained by scores of Cave Swallows flying in and out of the cave, by a Canyon Wren singing on top of an abandoned guano drier, and by a tarantula crawling around on the ground.

"Here come the bats," the guide said. We looked, expecting initially to see only a dribble of bats flying out. We were wrong. The bats immediately poured out in their thousands, many of them only yards above our heads.

The spectacle was overwhelming as a constant stream of bats flew out and then spread across the sky in huge clouds and streams. 

A couple of bats dropped out of the sky to land on their backs near our feet. One of them then turned over and crawled onto my sandal.

High in the sky a Peregrine Falcon  hunted among the bats.

As the sun set, the clouds of bats made a wonderful sight against the darkening orange sky.

From what we'd read before the trip, we been expecting a dramatic sight. However, the reality was even better than we had dared to hope. This really is one of the great wildlife spectacles. I put it right up there with viewing humpback whales off Maui or watching lions in Kruger National Park.

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Great Trip!

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We just returned from a great trip to the Hill Country. 

We started off in Concan, where we wanted to see the Rio Frio bat colony, the second largest bat colony in the world. The spectacle was almost overwhelming.

On our way to the bat colony, we dropped in at Neal's Lodges. Unfortunately, the seed feeders were mainly empty and the only birds we saw were Lesser Goldfinch (below), Pine Siskin and Black-chinned and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

The following morning I fitted in a quick visit to Cook's Slough in Uvalde. The prickly pear cactuses were still partly in flower. 

Birds were in rather short supply but three Wood Ducks were a pleasant sight.

So, too, were the many Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

We then headed up to South Llano River State Park, a site we'd never visited before. The four bird blinds in the park were the best we'd ever seen and so we spent most of our time there in the blinds. It was wonderful being able to photograph a range of birds socializing, eating, drinking and bathing. 

Painted Buntings were everywhere!

One blind also had Indigo Buntings.

Lark and Black-throated Sparrows were numerous, as were Black-crested Titmice (below).

We were rather too late for most Warblers but we did see a Magnolia and a Wilson's. A couple of Yellow-breasted Chats popped in to bathe.

The park also had other wildlife, like this snake that was hanging out next to one of the blinds.

I'll post a full trip report in a couple of days, as soon as I've finished editing the many photos I took!
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The End of Migration?

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The number of spring migrants passing through our area has declined significantly over the past week and it won't be long now until this year's migration ends.

I took my final trip to look for migrants last weekend, when I spent a morning at Edith Moore Nature Sanctuary in Houston. I saw half-a-dozen warbler species but they were tough to find and even tougher to photograph.

A Chestnut-sided Warbler almost evaded me completely.

It took quite a while, too, to get a shot of a Magnolia Warbler.

I couldn't manage any pictures of a male American Redstart but a female was less skittish.

During the week a handful of migrants visited the CyFair campus most days.

The nature trail had Yellow Warblers, plus Black-throated Green Warblers (below) and American Redstarts (below).

The small group of mesquite trees between the Library and the Technology Building used to attract lots of warblers. Then I didn't see a single migrant there last year. This week, however, several warblers have popped in to the trees, including several Common Yellowthroats.

I'm hoping that some warblers turn up later today and next week, but this late in the season you never know.
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Wordless Wednesday

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Young and Hungry

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Spring migration is more or less over now but the breeding season for our resident birds is in full swing.

Our Carolina Wrens were the first to produce chicks this year, followed by our Blue Jays. Now it is the turn of the House Finches. One male appears to be a single father, since he is constantly accompanied by four young birds, all of whom flap their wings and screech at him in hopes of being fed.

Feeling sorry for the male House Finch, we spread sunflower seeds across our back fence, so that the youngsters can feed themselves.

This strategy seems to be working, although the young birds sometimes get confused about who their parent is and start begging from each other.

Once they have picked up a sunflower seed, some of the youngsters find the task of shelling it overwhelming.



So they do the logical thing: They flap their wings and screech for dad!

Incidentally, our young Northern Mockingbird has already learned to be independent and he makes frequent unaccompanied trips to our suet feeders.

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