Travels With Linda
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Have Faith. Spring Will Come

2/22/2015

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Linda at the Katy Prairie Birding Platform

A trip to the Katy Prairie and another to the Brazos Bend State Park resulted in some quality time trying out my new camera and lenses. 

I know the camera has great reviews and the lenses are first-rate, so the problem with the photos lies with the photographer who is still trying to figure out how everything works. But some of the photos turned out, and I invite you to look through them.

Gator Babies. Can Spring be Far Behind?
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Mama Gator and Kiddies
What better proof do you need that spring is on the way than babies?

Look close at the alligator in the picture to the left and see the little ones on her back. Along with these two, there were four others in the water or mud. 

She probably started with a clutch of about 30, but everyone likes a tasty baby gator. Probably 2 to 3 will make it to maturity.

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Beaver Lodge
Beavers in Texas? 
Who Knew?
Our trip to the Katy Prairie included a serendipitous tour with the Conservancy's ecological director. One of the things he showed us was a beaver lodge on one of their new ponds. The lodge is small and only about a year old. 

I must admit, I didn't even know there were beavers in Texas! 

The birds you see below will be up north in just a couple of months. Just keep the faith. Some photos are pretty good, and some are not so much. It's a learning process, and the elderly don't alway learn real fast. I am, as they say, a work in progress. Just click on any of the photos to make it a slide show.

Thanks for visiting. Leave a comment - we enjoy reading them.

White Ibis in Flight
Pintails in Flight
Looking for a Tasty
Snowy Egret
Snowy Egret - See the Yellow Feet
Snowy Egret
Juvenile White Ibis - No, He's Not White
Crawdad for Lunch
Mr. & Mrs. Blue-winged Teal
Redtail Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Shoveler on Approach
On the Wing
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A Day on the Lake

2/15/2015

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"Cruising down the river, 
On a Sunday afternoon 
With one you love, the sun above 
Waiting for the moon."
Lyrics by Emily Beadell
Picture
Linda Surveying the Lake
Well, it wasn't a river, it was a lake, and yes, it was Saturday, not Sunday.  But close enough. I was with the one I love cruising the lake on Valentine's Day. Who could ask for more?

The weather was absolutely lovely, sunny and about 72 degrees (sorry Boston). We didn't see any eagles, but we did see two osprey, and that was fun. 

After lazing about the water for 3 or 4 hours we headed to a romantic dinner of hispanic cuisine at a little bistro we know - okay, so it was two specials at the Taco Cabana. Then it was home to fall asleep in front of the TV - the finish of a perfect Valentine's Day. 

Thanks for visiting!

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Osprey in Flight
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Over the Bow
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South Texas

2/15/2015

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White Pelicans
So we have returned from our mid-winter trip to South Padre Island. Since I do not restart my tutoring until the week of January 12, we decided to head down to "The Valley," southern Texas which follows the Rio Grande. We chose to keep on the coast staying in South Padre Island, a resort town at the very tip of the Padre Island, which is the world's longest barrier island (well, it is Texas).

Our idea was good, but our timing was less than fantastic. Like the rest of the country, we had a cold snap with temperatures 20 to 25 degrees below normal. Along with the chilly weather, there were winds up to 30 mph and lots of rain. But there is not much to complain about as the entire country was having cold, lousy weather. In fact, any time I wanted to feel a little warmer I would go to the Internet and check the temperature where my daughter lives in St. Louis or my brother's home in the Buffalo suburbs.

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South Padre Wetland
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Want to Buy a Pelican?
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Port Isabel Light
Port Isabel
Separated only by a causeway over the bay, Port Isabel and South Padre Island are separated by time as well. Port Isabel is, in fact quite old, established as a town just after the Mexican revolution. It became an important port for cotton before the Civil War. And because of the importance of its harbor, the North and South fought over the town.

A typical Texas coastal town, Port Isabel has all the standard trappings, boat tours (see the dolphins), fishing trips and piers, restaurants, and, of course, gift shops. It is also very much a working town with a large commercial fishing fleet. It is a bit reminiscent of the small Maryland or Delaware coastal towns of the 1950's.


PictureSouth Padre Condo Row
South Padre Island
South Padre, on the other hand, is a new resort community at the tip of the barrier island. It is just three streets wide and has lots of high rise condos that line the beach. The main street is commercial with a tee-shirt store every other block, and restaurants in between. The street facing the laguna has the older buildings, while the Gulf side has all the new construction. South Padre, while sort of bright and shiny, feels like a town without a soul. 

Laguna Atastacosa
We took some time one afternoon and drove to the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge which borders the Laguna Madre. Our plan was to take the 15 mile driving loop, but the road was closed to protect the refuge's ocelots. While ocelots are throughout South America, they are rare in the U.S., found only in the southern tip of Texas. There are only about 50 in all of Texas and 12 of them are in the refuge.

Instead of the driving tour we walked some birding trails close to the Visitor Center. Lucky us! We saw three birds you just can't see anyplace in the U.S. except south Texas (aka "The Valley"). Other-wise you must go farther south into Mexico or Central America. 
Three Birds
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Green Jay
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Great Kiskadee
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Plain Chachalaca
The green jay is just an absolutely gorgeous bird with a brilliant blue head, black bib, bright green body and yellow on the underneath of its tail. I wish I could say the photo does it justice, but alas it does not.

The bird in the center is a Great Kiskadee, a flycatcher with a bright yellow breast. It has a bandit's mask on its eyes (like a raccoon), but the mask does not really show in my photo.

Finally is the plain (ugly?) chachalaca, a rather large bird that usually stays on the ground or very low branches. Seeing the chachalaca was especially exciting for me as I had never seen one before. Getting the photo was interesting as the bird was on the ground and very low branches in some very thick brush.

Thanks for dropping by!
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    Two septuagenarians and a 35 foot motorhome towing a car – what could possibly go wrong?

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    You and I have memories
    Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
    ---
    McCartney & Lennon

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    RVing America...
    one state at a time

    "On the road again,

    Goin' places that we've never been,


    Seein' things that we may never see again,


    And we can't wait to get on the road again."

    ---
    Written & Performed by
    Willie Nelson

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TRAVELS WITH LINDA
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DON & LINDA SIMMONS