Author: Steve

Egyptian Goose.

Okay, maybe not exactly elegant.

And family.

Yesterday we were sitting on the deck having morning coffee.  Today, the temperature didn’t get out of the thirties!  Ouch!  Oh, woe is us.  We’re not exempt from the polar cold.

Except that it won’t be like this for long.  We’ll hunker down for three days of arctic blast, then we’ll be back in the eighties, enjoying extended warm weather.

A red-shouldered hawk.

The harris’s hawk pictures from a couple nights ago; that’s a southern bird.

The red-shouldered hawk, mostly an eastern bird, is more widespread in the U.S.

Have to wonder a little how that disjointed red-shouldered hawk west coast population got there.

And we’re home.  A little cold in the 60s and rainy all week in the Hill Country.  Perfect weather here as we returned today.  85 degrees.  The polar hit happens Monday.  We’ll be cold in the 40s for three days, then back in the 80s.

Now it’s March, and we’re at 4,106, 292, 47, 138.  Miles, birds, hours, counties.

Miles remaining to get to Fairbanks (We’re a little closer right now, but really we’re farther away because we have to go back home again before we start.).  Number of bird species remaining to get to 500 for the year (By the middle of January we only needed to get one new bird a day for the remainder of the year.  We have that, and a cushion of 12 species at the end of February.), number of hours of continuing education remaining to get to the 80 hour requirement (it didn’t change much in February, but I got all the ethics hours done!  I only need about 4 ½ hours per month to get to zero.), and number of counties in Texas we haven’t recorded at least one bird in (That won’t change until we head north and cover new ground).

The dash air is fixed, the speedometer has been recalibrated, and the right outside mirror replaced.  Tonight, we’ve left Pipe Creek and are camped at Quiet Texas RV Park again.

2019 trip home from Pipe Creek

250 miles to home.  We expect to be there tomorrow night.