This Blog is for the Birds! And Getting Ready to Leave....

Roseate Spoonbill

We've been to the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center twice now. We love it. Some people have posted negative reviews, saying that it's too commercial with the alligator ponds, the tortoises in confined spaces, etc., but we love it. Quite a bit to see there....

There are beautiful boardwalks--3300 feet in all, that wind in and out of the Bayfront and marsh areas, five bird blinds, there's an observation tower five stories high, kids and adults can get to hold snakes (EWWWWWW! says Sparky, not for me!) and small baby gators (Sparky has done that) and get their picture taken for 10.00 plus the admission fee. Adults are 8.00, Seniors are 7.00. There is a great nature center as well, plus there are also guided birding tours that are starting to open back up every day at 8:30 AM. Spoonbills, reddish egrets, alligators, shorebirds, songbirds, you never know what you will see on a day that you visit.

Little Green Heron just watching the world go by

Golden Front Woodpecker, a frequent visitor

The Hugh Ramsey Nature Park, part of the World Birding Centers, was 15 minutes from Sunshine RV Park and Sparky walked 3miles a day there almost every day... A park filled with hummingbird feeders, lots of nature paths and trails, although short in length, you can easily walk 3 miles around and around and in and out of the trails. 

At first it was a very dreary and gray area after being hit hard by the frost. But then....spring started its wonderful greening up of the area, and the park became more and more beautiful each day. Sparky watched this Century Agave plant for weeks, as the asparagus looking bloom stalk grew and grew. It's now about 13 feet high! Sparky was hoping to see it bloom, but nope. It's not called the century agave for nothing. Not a hundred years to bloom, but about every 15-20 years it blooms, and it takes its sweet time to do it. Probably will be another month or two before it does bloom. When it does, it could have red blossoms or not, and will look like a little mini forest is perched at the top of the plant.

Buff Bellied Hummingbird

Stop to see the memory gardens people have donated, learn the names of the flowering bushes and trees that attract the birds, hummers, and butterflies, stop in the several bird blinds and bird station feeding areas in the park, and see what birds are passing through. And, it's a wonderful place to just sit and watch the birds and enjoy nature. 

Altamira Oriole duo

 The park has lots of branch debris  and piles and piles of brush, but it's a  nature park, it's not cultivated like some parks up north. Full of cactus, thorny trees and bushes, no wonder the birds love it here. Great cover! And if you look closely all around you, you might see some sleepy owls, too! The nesting boxes were empty for weeks and then all of a sudden one day, Sparky saw a little sleepy head peeking out of one of them.

Screech Owl in a Box

Many volunteers work hard to keep the park orderly, trimming bushes and trees, and watering the many memory gardens people have established in memory of their loved ones.

Black Crested Titmouse

Sparky is just sorry that full blown migration is a couple of weeks away yet (April, apparently is the peak) but she learned about many new species of birds from fellow birders, walkers and workers in the park, some birds which she had never seen before, either up north in Indiana, or down in Florida. The green jay, crested titmouse and the Altamira orioles were new to her. Her favorite was the Indigo Bunting, and she enjoyed seeing the changes in the feathering in the young ones from patchy to almost full sapphire blue coloring as the weeks went by.

We visited several World Birding sites in the area. Harlingen and the surrounding counties and nearby cities are LOADED with places to go see birds. Sparky's favorite state park was the Estero Llano Grande State Park, on of the world birding centers, about a 40 minute drive from the RV park. Here is where she learned of the Pauraque bird, a species of a bird called the nightjars. It's a bird that forages at dusk and at night for insects on the ground. It rests on the ground as well, and it one of THE most camouflaged birds in the wild. Can you see it?

The eyes are down towards the bottom left of the photo, and the tail is pointing to the upper right corner, and the face looks owlish. Here his eyes are just about shut. It took quite awhile for Sparky to pick him out of the leaf debris.

Northern Shoveler Duck-male

This particular state park has nice bird blinds, many hiking trails that you can walk or bike, a big marshy pond, lakes and other ponds nearby, and you could easily spend all day here exploring. Here is where Sparky saw a big alligator, meh...Being recently transplanted from Florida, no big deal, but the SNAKE??? Ewwww.....And that's a baby gator just in front of him.....

Sparky saw northern shoveler ducks, spoonbills, a variety of other ducks, pied-bill grebes (not a duck) and more at this park....Wait for it...Sparky was out walking the trails and here comes a BOBCAT just out for a stroll!!!!.....

It was LESS THAN 50 yards away....he looked at me and looked away. Sparky took a photo. He looked at me again and looked away. Sparky took several photos. Bobcats don't like to mess with humans, so Sparky wasn't worried. He also looked well fed on the natural wildlife found in the park, so Sparky really wasn't worried. (Hmmm, but the photos are a little blurry. Maybe Sparky was just a tad bit nervous? says E.) Nah, just excited. He was so cool! He was BIGGER than the bobcats we have seen in Florida, and had really cool patterning to his fur. 

at the marsh viewing area-blue wing teal ducks?

Ok, enough of all the birds and wildlife. We are going to leave you with a few recommendations for eating in the area. The whole time we were here, the area restaurants were extremely careful and great about spacing and sanitizing. Even with the Texas governor lifting the mask restrictions, EVERYBODY down here in southeastern Texas in Cameron county continued to wear masks indoors and out. It was pretty amazing how thoughtful and careful everybody continues to be with the virus still out there and circulating...SO---we did try a few restaurants in the area and thought these were great...By the way, there are a bazillion Mexican restaurants here in Harlingen, we happened to find a good one right off the get-go, so we stuck with that one! We are sure there are quite a few more....

Lonnie's Down Home Cooking in Harlingen--nice, basic, very reasonably priced breakfasts, great pancakes...

Russo's New York Pizzaria in Harlingen...OMG...the best pizza ever, (says both Sparky and Eldo) fantastic free appetizer of bread/pizza crust pieces with olive oil dipping sauce while you wait....

Tejano Grill in Harlingen--AMAZING onion ring tower, fabulous Mexican street tacos, and the best melt-in-your-mouth brisket ever, says Eldy. Tejano is Spanish for a Mexican-American inhabitant who lives in southern Texas, just in case you were interested. 

We are ready to leave this VERY windy and getting hotter by the day area of Texas. Time to head north in a couple of days, back towards Houston for a few days, then on to Kentucky......Sparky's focus will shift from birds to something else--(Food, probably, laughs Eldo.) OR, maybe learning Spanish or making some more crafts, who knows? At any rate, hope you enjoyed traveling with us in the Rio Grande Valley area and seeing birds up close and personal.  Bye for now!

Nature Walk in the Rio Grande Valley

Sparky is enjoying the Hugh Ramsey Nature Park more and more. She keeps discovering little corners and pockets of the park. 

The cactus are starting to grow again after the big three day cold spell that killed many plants and damaged others beyond repair. But Mother Nature is trying to bring things back in balance, as she always does. There are buds on most of the trees and buds on the cacti. Each one of those little buds looks like it's going to be a little paddle shaped prickly pear cactus leaf in the future.

Sparky rounded the bend on the Arroyo Trail in the park (about a 1/2 mile out and back) and saw this tremendous cactus/succulent. There are a couple of them in the same area. One looks very damaged from the frost. This one, not too badly damaged. But then.....

WHOA! Look at the flower stalk coming out of the second plant. It's gotta be about 12 feet tall! Sparky thinks this is a century plant or an agave species.

Here's a close up of it....It looks like an asparagus stalk! It's growing very fast. 

Sparky has been walking this area almost every day in the morning, and it is growing amazingly fast. It will be cool to watch the progress of it and see what it's like when it blooms.

There are other things starting to bloom in the park, too. Some bushes with pretty little purple flowers....

One thing very nice about this park is there are many MANY signs labeling the native bushes and shrubs, telling you what things are. They just don't look like much at the moment because they are trying to grow! These flowers on the left are wild growing flowers in a field of grasses...sharp thorny leaves but beautiful blooms. I'll bet this place really comes to life after a rain. They have only had about 1.5" of rain since September, so things are extremely dry in the park.

Sparky isn't all about the birds, you know....Well, maybe yes and maybe no. There are TWO orioles on this feeder, one is the common Altamira oriole on the left, and maybe an immature male on the right?

This down below is an oriole, Sparky thinks, but she's got to get some more resources at her disposal to be sure....She likes the Cornell Lab All About Birds website, for one...she thinks a female orchard oriole or a female hooded oriole. SOMEBODY will know out there!

When you sit and wait and watch for birds, the darndest things catch your eye...(At least when you are Sparky they do, explains Eldo.) She thought this spider was very very cool, and that it might be a ghost spider (?) having lunch right in front of her....EWWWWWWW! But isn't it cool?

Sparky thinks she will call it quits for today....(Good idea, says a relieved E.) We will be here for another two weeks, and boy, will we be ready to leave Texas by then. It's getting hotter...86 today...sigh...and winds of 20-30 mph almost every day. Come back and visit with us again, soon! Thanks for reading!

The Birds at Hugh Ramsey Nature Center in Harlingen, TX

Sparky has been to Hugh Ramsey Nature Park in Harlingen quite a few times now. The cactus were severely affected by the frost and a drought. They are dead and dying, and there is a pungent smell in the air. But, spring is here in the Rio Grand Valley, and little buds are starting to come back to life after the severe cold spell that lasted about three days a couple of weeks ago.... 

There are several nature paths that take you all around the park, going by ponds, evergreens, and protected areas where lots of birds congregate. There are ponds covered with duckweed, and although the scenery there looks pretty, Sparky hasn't seen any birds or ducks. The ponds attract kingfishers during the year, but none have been spotted so far. 

The trail paths are NOT handicapped friendly, are uneven, and there is a tiny bit of elevation change as far as navigating the ups and downs with some of the paths being very rutted. Some of the bird blinds are in sorry shape but still function. 

There is a new one, though, that was an Explorer Scout project. It looks really nice.

Altamira oriole

However, despite the bleak grayness of the landscape and the decaying cactus, Sparky returns again and again, because it's a nice place to get a little walk in, and there are several spots where there are bird feeders, suet cakes and treats for the birds, so they flock to these feeding areas. Some of the birds Sparky has seen are: the tufted titmouse, the Altamira oriole, hummingbirds, green jays, and various warblers.

Can you tell the oriole is one of Sparky's faves? Sparky also saw a juvenile indigo bunting (she thinks) at the feeders today...

juvenile indigo bunting?

And the tufted titmouse is a very small, fast flitting bird, so it was great to capture it quickly, even if it is a little bit blurry!

Tufted titmouse

There are ALWAYS chachalacas at the park...those bigger birds that run like road runners quickly through the bush to get from one place to another. Sparky thinks Chachalacas would make a great Mexican restaurant name here in Texas, haha. (She just likes saying the name a lot, laughs Eldo.)

Chachalacas

Another cloudy and windy day at the preserve....Fun to see these different birds that are so specific to this part of the country...Sparky likes this park more and more as she explores it. We'll see you around next time in maybe a different location!

Hugh Ramsey Nature Preserve

Add These to Your Harlingen, TX List of Things to Do

Harlingen, TX.      High: 76.     Low: 52    

You gotta visit Hugh Ramsey Nature Park more than one time while in Harlingen, TX. It's not the prettiest park. But it is a nature park with bird blinds, water, ponds, and narrative signage. Unfortunately, everything looks dead and dreary in it right now, except for the colorful birds flying around. It has a lot of trash along the river, the cactus suffered greatly in the 2021 freeze last week and a lot of them died. There are a LOT of big piles of dead branches/brush everywhere, and a couple of the bird blinds are in very bad shape. The park is struggling to keep up with maintenance, but every time Sparky goes, there are a lot of families there, so it's a much used and loved park with birders. Best time to go is during the week and early in the day. Look what Sparky saw this time!  A beautiful red cardinal, a yucca plant blooming, a rufous hummingbird, and a green jay. 

Oh! Almost forgot! Some chachalacas, a common Texas bird, (Sparky just loves to say that bird species name!) plus more javelinas! (see previous post for photos of the chachalacas and javelinas.)

art trail map

Be sure to see South Padre Island. This year, the island hosted an art trail with art galleries AND the Turtle Trail and the Sandcastle Trail. You get a map at the visitor's center on the island, and if you find all the turtle sculptures (10?) on the island and report back to the visitor's center with photos of each one and post on social media, they will give you a free tee shirt (if they haven't run out yet). So, off we went to see the turtle sculptures and a few sandcastles along the way. It was a really cool and windy day today, so we didn't stay long on the island. It started out in the low seventies, and by the time we got to the island, the temperature had dropped to 57 degrees! Yesterday, it was 87 for the high!

Once you've located the turtles with their cool stories about their names, the theme the artist was going for and the sandcastles, then be sure to stop by and see the wonderful Wyland's Whaling Wall at the South Padre Island Convention Center. (shown in the center photo). It's 4 miles north of the causeway. This is the Detroit artist Robert Wyland's #53 (out of 100), "Orcas off the Gulf of Mexico", and is the only one by this artist in the area. It takes up three sides of the convention center's walls, is 153 feet long and 23 feet high. Wyland paints enormous outdoor murals to draw attention to the dangers marine mammals face in the wild. This particular mural has a lot of species on it--the Orca, Yellowfin Tuna, Tarpon, Loggerhead Sea Turtle, King Mackerel, Red Snapper, Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle, brown pelicans, and more.

After living in SW Florida for seven years and experiencing the white crystal sands of Siesta Key and local area beaches, the brown sand here was a little bit of a letdown. BUT--clever smaller sand sculptures all over town made a dreary March day much more fun as we drove around trying to find the turtles and the sandcastles.

Sparky was tempted to try and get Eldo to stop at Kelly's Irish Pub, it's almost St. Patty's Day, you know, but we will save that for another time...

We will be exploring more refuges in the near future...Stick around if you like that sort of thing! If you're a foodie, Sparky has got you covered, too. We are sampling some of the local cuisine before we report on that. (Uh-oh...there goes the food budget, worries E.) But hey, that's part of the fun traveling and using a camping membership. You can try a few more eateries in the process of saving money at campgrounds! (Sigh...Sparky's logical process needs a little fine tuning, thinks Eldo.). Bye for now!

Things to do in Harlingen, TX

We always stop at a the visitor's center to get info wherever we go. We talk to others at our park and find out local eating places, places of interest, and then make a list of things we'd like to do. We stopped at the visitors' center in Harlingen, and Sparky scooped up bags of info on different areas in Texas. (Eldo heaves a big sigh here....it's a lot of brochures and heavy paper!) Here's the first stop on our list, lots more things to do coming soon in the blog. 

Hugh Ramsey Nature Park. A fellow park resident told us he saw javelinas (have-a-leen-as) and there are bird blinds and feeders there. We hit the jackpot within two minutes of arriving there and starting down the first path...a bird blind right away, a half a dozen javelinas, AND tons of birds flitting and flying around. 

A javelina is similar to a wild boar, and NOT a pig, although they resemble one. They are also known as a collard peccary, you can see why! They weigh 40-60 pounds and stand about 20" tall. They have poor eyesight but a good sense of smell. They have scent glands on their backs and rub against each other resulting in a "herd" smell, so they can identify their social group. They are usually in groups of 6-12. People say you can often smell them before you see them as they have a strong musky smell. (We didn't smell anything!) They can be aggressive if babies are near, so be careful if you see them! 

The bird feeders were exceptionally active the day we visited.

"Harry, is that you?"

We saw cardinals, hummingbirds, sparrows, and we think warblers....This little guy landed on the hummingbird feeder, but didn't partake.

We also saw a large bird that we found out was a chachalaca. It's a tropical, long tailed chicken-like bird. They are common in this area, love thickets and brush, and walk along the branches of trees. They are a tree loving bird rather than a ground bird. They can make quite the ruckus, too! They are kind of a weather predictor, they kick up a fuss when the weather is going to change or a storm is approaching.

(The name of this bird makes Sparky think of the "Scoop, there it is! Scoop, there it is, shakalaka, shakalaka" chocolate chip cookie dough/insurance commercial. What the heck does ice cream have to do with insurance? Sparky doesn't get it.

Sparky went back a day later, and NADA. NOTHING. No birds at the. feeders, no javelinas. But it IS a really nice park to explore with uneven paths and LOTS of different kinds of cactus that got hit hard by the three day freeze. Dang, those spines are hard and SHARP!

Sparky is in explorer mode. For those of you who read the blog the first time around when we traveled in a motorhome, when Sparky would see something that would catch her eye while traveling, she would yell out, "Eldy--STOP THE CAR! I want to take a photo of__________". Eldo always stops if it's safe to do so, so today, Sparky saw some different ducks in a pond on South Padre Island while we were driving around today. "ELDY! YOU GOTTA STOP THE TRUCK. I SEE SOME COOL DUCKS!" Eldy just rolls his eyes, (No, I don't! he says) but he finds the quickest, safe place to pull over. Isn't he sweet? Sparky had to get a photo of this duck....It's a redheaded duck--that's it. That's the name of it.

The Rio Grand Valley is world renown for birding, we hope to see many more species of birds as we spend more time in the area. It's almost the time of year for spring migration for birds to be returning to the north.  There are several really cool wildlife refuges in the area, we will check them out and get back to you. See you later!