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| A stunning Northern Cardinal male |
From San Antonio we aimed for a state park – south Llano
River. It was a terrific little park and I enjoyed very much our look around.
They had a number of viewing stations set up which provided numerous species
with seed and water – both useful commodities in this semi arid region. The
stations had Cardinals, Field, Chipping, Black-throated Sparrows, Spotted and
Canyon towhees [the latter a lifer], Mourning, Inca and White-winged Doves.
Enroute I saw another Armadillo plus deer – White tailed and Chital [an introduced
species]. We had seen a herd of blackbuck on the way in…
The kids had a great time collecting a few sticks for
kindling for a fire. For Matthew the fire and all connected were pretty much
the highlight for any trip to the United States. The fire was useful as we
cooked and ate out of doors for as long as we could until the cold drove us
back into the RV. That night the temperature raced below zero, catching us a
little unprepared. The morning’s light though quickly drove the temperature up
and over the zero mark.
A good stop overall and a real bonus was seeing a large
flock of turkeys making their way across country.
The park's description from their website;
The park has two miles of river frontage, a large pecan bottom, and typical Hill Country areas. The 523-acre, wooded bottomland is home to white-tailed deer and the Rio Grande turkey. The bottomland represents one of the most substantial and oldest winter turkey roosts in the central portion of the state. Observation blinds are provided to offer visitors a glimpse of the turkey moving to and from the roost. Other animals include wood ducks, white-tailed deer, squirrels, jackrabbits, javelinas, foxes, beavers, bobcats, cottontails and armadillos. Several exotic species such as axis deer, black buck antelope and fallow deer are often spotted in the park.
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| A White-winged Dove |
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| Strolling |
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| A Verdin |
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| A Field Sparrow |
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| Megsy the birder |
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| Turkeys |
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| Black-throated Sparrow |
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| Black-throated Sparrow
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| Female Cardinal |
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| Western Scrub Jay |
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| A Field Sparrow |
Ken,
ReplyDeleteEven I, noted sparrow sceptic that I am, have to admit that the Black-throated Sparrow is way cool (though not quite epic).