9 February 10 - 15 February 10
Praise God for small town Baptist churches. After last weeks debacle we found a church just like we left in Ohio. About 50 people, the pastor does two services in different towns, and the message was right down the line from scripture.
We had our share of fun days along with a little rain. Yes, yes, I know it snowed up your way. We visited two different National Wildlife Refuges(NWR), thank you Uncle Sam for the foresight, and saw many different animals and birds. There is always the story of the one that got away - we even have that this week, of sorts. We went to Atascosa to see more inland birds and the other wildlife there. They are known in the south of Texas as having the only non-captive Ocelots in the US. This is a Central and South American cat that also makes its home in South Texas. Atascosa has a population of about 100 which can make them fairly hard to see as they are spread over 90,000 acres. They do everything big in Texas. We had walked a couple of short trails and watched a number of different birds before we left on the 17 mile drive around part of the bay. This is across the bay from South Padre Island. We started out rather slow and were overtaken by three or four vehicles which I just pulled off and let pass. After they were almost out of sight we started up again going slow. About 100 yards ahead we saw an ocelot come out of the brush and walk up the road. To far for pictures, but Miriam had the glasses on it and could tell it was the real thing. It had a tail and the only other cat in the reserve is a bobcat. As we made it to the place the Ocelot left the road we could see some deer in the brush. One of the Rangers the next day said it was probably hunting.
You people in the East have your Bluejays, but what do you think of the picture of the Green Jay.
I haven't done all the looking yet to be sure of what the bird is holding a crab, but I watched it sneak up on the crab for 3-4 minutes. It would take one step veeerrry slowly then hold a pose and whoosh it was having lunch. No, there are no retakes of those.
The gator never had lunch while we were there, but he doesn't look like he has missed too many meals. Was like that for hours just waiting for something edible to swim by. The ducks in the area gave it wide berth.
Friday and Saturday were spent at Santa Ana NWR west from our home and right on the river. There was a warning about one of the trails – when you arrived at the river turn left or you would trigger the alarm for the Border Patrol. Friday was uneventful, but Saturday started with a bang – metaphorically speaking. As we walked from the parking lot there were four Spanish – Mexican looking younger people coming toward us from the trail area. As I went in and checked in Miriam stayed outside and saw the action as I was hearing one side of a conversation with the Border Patrol. They were illegals, as they are called, who we did NOT see get caught – if they were. As we started walking out one of the trails we see this dark flash go across and I have the camera up and ready, but not quick enough. I was lucky because there were three – Havalinas – wild pigs. I have the picture of it, even if the cat was too far away.
Next week is move week again. We will be going north from where we are, but only a couple of hundred miles. We will still be south of Houston.
Pictures:
Green Jay
unknown bird with crab - is it really lunch time?
American Alligator
Havalina - it didn't smell like a pig
Wall – your tax dollars at work? If it is ever finished.
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