The adventures of Rachel

On Saturday while we were working Rachel decided to investigate the trap which has been set in the Courtyard with the intention of catching a raccoon who has been raiding the birdfeeders. As you can see in the photo-the trap works! She really wasn't very upset with her surroundings when we rescued her.

For every bad thing there seems to be a good one lurking in the future. On Sunday we came to South Padre Island for a little vacation from our vacation. A couple of days at the beach. Rachel is sure that the balcony outside our room was constructed just so she could bird and people watch. This is her favorite spot.

Like Rachel, Bill and Linda are enjoying the beach-we can see the waves from the balcony. The weather is what I call jacket weather-about 70 during the day with partial sun and partial clouds. S Padre is a nice place. We are enjoying our little getaway. Tomorrow we plan to visit Laguana Atascosta Wildlife Refuge and will be spending the night in Westlaco. On Wednesday we plan to check out the Don-Wes flea market and then get back to Falcon in time for the New Year and the Penn State bowl game on Thursday.

Christmas in Texas

Yesterday was warm and sunny here at Falcon State Park. The Park Rec Hall staff hosted a holiday dinner of turkey and all the trimmings which was very good. Bill and I exchanged gifts in the morning, took a nice walk on a trail and then attended the turkey dinner. After the dinner we took a ride around the park and got to see the vermilion flycatchers again. They are beautiful. The photos above just give you a hint of their beauty. They perch on a tree and dart out to catch insects in the air and then return to their perch to await more food. We watched one flycatcher who did a great acrobatic display as it stuffed itself on insects, up, down and around in the sky! Our holiday away from home was lonely without family and friends but at the same time was exciting because of the new and different things we were doing. I hope everyone had the best holiday ever.

JAVELINA

This is a collared peccary-locally called a javelina (pronounced HAVE a lina). We saw this one on the park road just a short distance from our campsite this afternoon. This animal is NOT a pig-it is related to rodents. This is the first time we have seen one although our campsite is littered with what we think is javelina scat. They are supposed to be stinky, unfriendly animals. We were excited to see this one and his/her two companions.
We went bird watching in the park today and Linda saw her first vermillion flycatcher. The most beautiful colored bird. Bill has taken some photos and that was planned for this blog entry until we happened upon the guy above. Stay tuned we'll get the flycatcher here eventually.
Our weather today is cool and cloudy. Not so good until you realize that we have the highest temperature in all of TX today according to the chatter at the Recreation Hall this morning. All things are relative as they say-we have shovelled no snow nor have we gotten close to the freezing mark with our temps. Tomorrow is to be back into the 70s with 80s later in the week. We have to remind ourselves that this is Christmas week. We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday week-we are.

Rare butterfly

This beautiful butterfly is a Mexican Silver Spot. They are seldom seen anywhere north of Mexico. Bill caught this one in the butterfly garden here at Falcon State Park. I guess he was confused about which side of the lake he should be on-since the south side is in Mexico. He is just one of the many things we have seen for the first time since we have been here.

An update on our activities:

Sunday we attended church at a Falcon Heights Church which is very near our location. It was an uplifting service.

Monday we made a trip to Rio Grande City (28 miles) and stocked up on food, did some Christmas shopping, ate at Whataburger and looked to see what was available there in Rio.

Tuesday (today) was laundry day. It is amazing how many clothes two people can wear in approx. 2 weeks. Laundry facilities are available in the Recreation Hall here in the park-so while the laundry did its thing-Bill went birdwatching and Linda visited with the Rec Hall volunteers.

Tomorrow we are going to Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge for an Holiday Pot Luck Lunch and party.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday we will be working back at the Birding Center.

One thing we have learned-the weather here is just as unpredictable here as it is at home. Yesterday was forcast to be 84ish and sunny. We went to Rio in shorts and sleeveless Tshirts. A front came thru and the temp dropped about 20-25 degrees in a couple of hours. We were frozen. People who have been here for awhile told us today that we should always take a jacket because it can change that quickly with no warning. We just put it in perspective-we were still much warmer than we usually are in December. We are enjoying being Winter Texans.

Learning the area

The first photo above is of the Rio Grande River not far from where we are staying. The far shore is Mexico. The second is of the Roma Bluffs World Birding Center Visitor Center in Roma, TX. We worked at our volunteer jobs at the Visitor Center for 3 days this week. It has been quite a shock to our systems to work 3 days in a row. Rachel is especially tired today. It was a time of learning new things. The Birding Center is located in an historic building on the square in Roma. The building is large and has been used in many ways over the years. The floors are original hand made irregular brick and a lot of the original wood work is still in its original condition. An interesting building to spend some time exploring. Part of my job includes learning the history of the building and other historic buildings around the square. I've been learning my job in the visitor center while Bill and Rachel (she is volunteering too) spend their days in the courtyard behind the building. The courtyard has bird feeding activities and a butterfly garden. We have seen many beautiful birds-most of them we have never seen before.

The weather here is lovely. Temps most days have been in the 70s with nighttime temps in the 50s. We had a short cold snap that kept temps in the 60s and 40s at night for a couple of days. At that time the wind was quite brisk (25-30 mph). Sure a change from the weather we are used to in PA at this time of year.

We are here!

Here is a photo of our home away from home for the next several months. The area is called high desert. Looks are very deceiving. Altho grasses and vegetation are brown they are teeming with life. The number of birds, butterflies, etc is unbelieveable. Right now at 11:15 AM the temp outside is 75 and is supposed to reach 85ish this afternoon. Very different from our home in PA.
Today we are getting settled and tomorrow we go to our volunteer jobs at Roma Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge.

We are ON the Road

Tonight we are in an RV Park off I35, just north of Waco, TX. We have been travelling for 3 days. The only sights we've seen have been thru the windshield. A few observations: There is snow in the higher elevations in VA, Tennessee has wonderful roads and great signs, Arkansas has terrible roads, Snow geese winter in Arkansas, Hawks are really plentiful in Texas and (duh!) Texas has lots of cattle. We have aprox. 500 miles to reach our destination. Hopefully then we will be able to get some photos.