Bird Lookers

I can't believe we have become those people...well, not really but sort of we have. We are not true bird watchers as we do not set out on excursions for the primary purpose of watching birds (yet...) but when we are out and about we do look for birds! It's fun! We have made a few stops that are known birding areas and we take our looking glass with us on walks and hikes. Without a doubt we have definitely enjoyed the sightings in this area, so colorful and there are a few varieties that one can only see here without traveling to South America. The Kiskadee and the Green Jay. We spotted them before we ever learned their names! That's pretty awesome in my book, so we have become bird lookers!

While at Falcon State Park while hiking we spotted several colorful birds and had no idea their name. After stopping by the RecHall on our way out of the park we got a quick education from one of the volunteers of the Wildlife Refuge from up the street. She was so gracious and helped us to learn a lot in just a short time. Then while at the Bentsen State Park we encountered another volunteer who shared her knowledge with us as well. We feel so smart now...you know what they saw a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I think we are on the edge of that! 

 Green Jay from South America

This guy is MiRVs favorite. He caught a glimpse of him while we were at the county park and I was a tad bit jealous as I did not get to see him. Then while we were at Bentsen we saw a dozen or more of them. They are quite brilliant in their coloring and extremely mobile; it was not easy to get their photo! The Chachalaca is a large chicken like bird that we have also seen but quite common here since they are from just across the border in Mexico. They are noisy and often take over the feeders and they were even hanging somewhat upside down while eating, funny to watch and see.

Mr & Mrs Cardinal

The Cardinals are so red! I mean we have Cardinals in the Midwest but these guys are quite vibrant, more so than I remember in our part of the woods! Anyway they are flitting around everywhere in the parks here and quite fun to see. 

Lastly, the Kiskadee, again, one that migrates up from South America. Incredible bright yellow with little mask over the eyes. They are just beautiful and fun to watch, they scold and chatter to each other a lot, some might say they are too loud and obnoxious at they call back and forth but I thought they were just very social and they are my favorite so far. We also saw an oriole that has a gorgeous orange breast but we didn't see him in time to snap a photo. Maybe another day!

The Kiskadee! And as a bonus the Cardinal was in this shot!

We are back in the city after a few days out in the boondocks. We took a little field trip farther west to check out a state park and some longer term parking options. Found out that cell signal is either NON EXISTENT or you are pinging off the Mexican towers and will be charged outrageous fees for using said towers. We were certainly thankful for wifi at the Ranger stations! Even so we are considering returning even if it is a little off the beaten path it felt safe. The night time temps are what's holding us back as we would be opting for no hookups. It's been quite comfortable on most nights without heat but when it drops into the low 40s I am partial to a bit of warmth from our Alde; though snuggling works as long as it warms up during the day. We also need sunshine to keep our solar going and so far it's been sort of hit and miss on that. The weather is certainly NOT consistently sunny so doing a bit of circulating (driving) is good for supplementing our solar!

#OWT

#birdlookersgonewild