The Skies Break!

(December 2nd) Today the heavy rain was finally over. The day began a little bit cool, but the clouds broke early letting in some nice sunshine. I headed out to Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park. Almost as soon as I got out of the car I found a cooperative Northern Mockingbird just as the sun broke the horizon. This is one of my favorite birds from my childhood and one that I miss in Michigan.

Right by the mockingbird, I heard some drumming that could only mean a woodpecker. A female Ladder-backed Woodpecker had found an ant's nest in a tree and was busy excavating it and gobbling up all the ants that poured out. It barely gave a glance to me as it was busy with more important matters - food.

As I walked the paths in the park, I came across a small flock of Plain Chachalacas. These birds have to be one of the loudest birds I've ever encountered. When they start making noise, the whole forest hears them. To me they seem like turkeys - perhaps due to their size and shape. I saw some great behaviors from them. One of the most interesting things was that two pairs that I saw were busy nipping the feathers of each other's necks. Maybe bird romance isn't that different from human romance...

The morning started out great - lots of other great birds. One of the things about Rio-Bentsen in the early morning hours is that you are almost guaranteed to see some javelinas. These animals look a lot like pigs, but they are actually a different type of animals. Pigs evolved in Africa and Eurasia and were not native in the New World until settlers brought them. Javelinas on the other hand are native to the New World. After a great start to the morning and the change in weather, I was finally able to start what was my intended daily plan for Texas: shoot birds in the morning, do macro work on butterflies during the midday, then shoot whatever seems best in the evening.