Down to Texas

(November 28th) Last year one of my favorite places to photograph was the Rio Grand Valley area. It was so productive and there were so many more photos I wanted from the area that I had to go back. South Texas has some of the most amazing birds, butterflies, and reptiles around. I tried to do it a little different this year. I timed it about a month later to hit what I heard was the peak in butterflies. Also, since Northwest/Delta no longer flies to Brownsville, I flew into San Antonio and drove down the coast. Part of the plan was to hit some new locations as well. The first stop was Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, famous worldwide as the wintering spot for the severely endangered Whooping Crane. Sure enough I saw a pair, but little more than specks about half a mile in the distance with no way to approach. As a whole, Aransas was a bit of a let-down with not much around when I was there. I did photograph my first Le Conte's Sparrow, but the pictures were very bad. My best shots were of an old favorite of mine, the Northern Mockingbird.

Aside from the cooperative mockingbird, I tried for a short time to photograph some secretive marsh wrens, but they mostly toyed with me. The rain started to come down for a while too. I found a mother American Alligator who was standing guard over a large clutch of maybe 20 or so young offspring. The little guys are quite cute and climb all over each other. For one brief moment the rain let up and the sun just barely peaked through, lighting up this juvenile. Considering I had a long 6+ hour drive ahead of me and that it was getting later in the morning and the wildlife was uncooperative, I decided to hit the road to Rio Grande Valley which I knew to be a sure hit.