Biking, Birds, sunburn and friends

What a weekend, we began by biking about 15 miles to a local park to look for birds.  we did not see any new ones but did see a few of our birder friends. They try to put us on birds but.. we are not good at finding them.  we keep trying. We then went to the local state park to ride and bird. The morning was cloudy but by afternoon the sun came out, we got sunburned! that has not happened in a long time.  When we get back to Wisconsin we will look really dark compared to the ones that stayed behind! No sunburn in Birchwood this time of year.

Working on understanding the new camera.  I did take a few photos, they were all a bit blurry except for this close up of a Goldfinch.

Friday we headed west to Salineno, Roma and Falcon State Park.

We met up with friends Judy and Hermy (they were at Santa Ana last year, this year in Roma) at Salineno, a bird watchers paradise. We seen the three orioles: Altamira, Hooded and Audubon's. Of course I only got pics of the Altamira.

the kiskadee:                                                   a pair of Cardinals

we parked by the river..  across is Mexico

looked for the Zone Tailed hawk.. missed it by 30 minutes!

after a great lunch with Judy and Hermy:

we went to the State park and to Roma Bluffs

no birds in Roma but a few pretty butterflies

trying to get used to the new camera.. so lots of blurry pictures..   seen our temporary visitor center director at the state park.  we seem to run into someone we know at each park. 

Saturday after a bike ride (Eric) and a jog (me) we went to the Reveg area to thin our grass seedlings. took us about an hour to do 6 flats. then off to Estero LLano Grande State Park to look for a few birds.  did not see any on our list but did see a few good ones.

Anhinga                                                           little Blue Heron

Common Pauraque

 

there is actually 2 birds here, can you see them?

yellow crowned night herons                                       beautiful butterfly

Cactus flowers

and of course lunch time                                    Eric’s is all gone by the time we remember

                                                                        to take the picture! here is mine!

another hot and humid day. but a beautiful day. we are so fortunate to be here.

Sunday started out pretty slow. In fact the whole day was slow.  we just hung around, cleaning a bit, packing some stuff up, reading and looking at wildlife in our yard. playing with the new camera.

Northern Mockingbird                                                     House Sparrow 

Ladder back Woodpecker                                    Lizard?

 

Golden-Fronted Woodpecker drinking from the hummingbird feeder

 

and finally sunset, the barb wire kind of lends a harsh effect but still beautiful