Author: Steve

160 miles north.  Choke Canyon State Park

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Choke+Canyon+State+Park/@28.4805441,-98.372636,27888m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x865d632f5fe66773:0x7e29f1a6fd1c17ee!8m2!3d28.4725962!4d-98.338962

You can zoom in and out on the map to see where we are.

Our view.

And later.

It’s hard to get a good photo of a marsh wren.

And a pine warbler in fading light.

It’s way out in the thornscrub.

They have a well-established bird feeding station there.

They have Cactus Wren.

Olive Sparrow.

Green Jay.

A shy Audubon’s Oriole.

Pyrrhloxia.

Orange-crowned Warbler.

Altamira Oriole.

…and my favorite, Scaled Quail

That’s a white tailed buck in the background on the left.

But that horse looking thing on the right?

Oh wait, here’s an even bigger one.  The first is just a juvenile.

It dwarfs the deer.

Big body.  Small head.  A Nilgai.  A very large antelope, imported and set free on the King Ranch in South Texas in the 1930s, it has since established a robust population in the back-country of all of South Texas.

It’s a native of India.

Steak, grilled shrimp, Judy’s rice with chopped green onion and tomato, tomato and avocado salad with a drizzle, and berries for desert.  The steak was the main course; everything else was so we could still feel good about ourselves after.

And Stanley and Dona.

A fine exchange of stories.  They know so much, especially about Alaska and Louisiana, that we need to know, and we have such limited time with them.  They used to live here at Sandpipers.  Henry loves them and always had to stop at their house every evening and we got to enjoy their hospitality.  But they moved away to Hammond, Louisiana, and are just back here for a visit.

…was resourceful.  He wanted the suet that was in the feeder for the birds.

He had to figure out how to get it.

Grab the chain.  Haul it up hand over hand.

No problem.