Tuesday, April 11, 2017--Lost Maples State Park

     The Sabinal River flows through Lost Maples State Park. Instead of a bridge this water crossing, lowers road so that the high water can go over. 

     We lucked out today! Volunteers Les and Jane offered a 4 hour bird walk this morning! AND the sky was very overcast with the threat of rain. That meant we could safely leave Sofie in the motor home with all the vents open, and BOTH Paul and I could go on the bird walk. If it had been sunny, we would have had to draw straws. (Sofie tries to be worth our sacrifices.) 

     Les and Jane have been coming here from Wisconsin each Spring for 16 years to volunteer leading bird walks. There were 9 of us in all, very nice folks.  Birds songs were plenty, but with all the leaves it was hard to see the birds. 

     Ball moss grows on the trees and eventually the branches die. It even grows on electric wires across roads. 

     Old Man's face wildflower

     Ladder back Woodpecker and Audubon Oriole

     Monarch butterfly and Antelope-horn Milkweed--one of the Monarch's favorite foods

     We had a smattering of rain; the beautiful but pesky wild morning glory

     White-eyed Vireo; wonderful habitat

     Twisted Leaf Yucca; Scarlet Leather blossom

Really Big Trees; lots of places for birds to hide

     Pink Penstemon; female Black-chinned Hummingbird on nest

     Lovely pond marks end of bird walk. We turn around and go back. Also,  a Yellow-throated Warbler

     Blue butterfly stunner! 

     One curiosity was a female Fuertes Red-tailed Hawk on a nest in the clliff—absolutely no belly band and a sub-species only seen here and a place in New Mexico.

     Carolina Chickadee and Lincoln's Sparrow

     The scrub jays here are called Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays, just as loud and showy as ours. We had 24 species in all—the trip leaders had 30 species as they counted “heard birds” and we only counted birds we saw.  Lost Maples is one of the few places to see the Golden-Cheeked Warbler. We did not see it, but Les and Jane kept hearing them, sounding like a Mexican hat dance. I never even heard it. Today we were able to see five life birds in all.  Black-crested Titmouse, Cave Swallows, Audubon Oriole, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Yellow-throated Warbler. 

       The scrub jays here are called Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays, just as loud and showy as ours. We had 24 species in all—the trip leaders had 30 species as they counted “heard birds” and we only counted birds we saw.  

     Lost Maples is one of the few places to see the Golden-Cheeked Warbler. We did not see it, but Les and Jane kept hearing them, sounding like a Mexican hat dance. I never even heard it.  

       Today we were able to see five life birds in all.  Black-crested Titmouse, Cave Swallows, Audubon Oriole, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Yellow-throated Warbler.

     There is absolutely no cell service or signal in the entire park, and though the visitor’s center was purported to have internet, it was so weak and slow as to be negligible. We quickly gave up on it. So, no blogging again, although I can do the write up on the computer to be ready for posting when I get internet again.   

      Internet is necessary to Blog~ and to post each photo.  Posting photos is what takes the time, especially with an off-and-on again signal. With poor internet, it takes 5 minutes or more per photo! Tedious.

     This afternoon we had a brief thunderstorm with a little rain. It freshened the air. It appears that our coach air conditioner has had a miraculous recovery. We are surrounded by beautiful, Spring-green trees in a blissfully quiet, peaceful State Park.

Today Our Eyes Were On 

New birding friends

Peek-eye views of wonderful birds flitting around in the tree tops, many of them new to us

Majestic pin oaks including the largest in Texas

A few of the remaining “lost” maples that once filled this area

And many natural wonders of this fascinating area.