Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge Part 2

                                     Wednesday 3/27/2013

We finished the 15 Mile Loop, 

then returned to the Visitor Center to walk on some of the trails there.

                         

We walked on the short trail and came to the alligator. He had climbed our of the pond to dry out.

Just a L shaped fence between us and him. 

He didn't seem to be bothered by our close presence.

Looks like he could use a manicure.

We then walked to one of the feeding areas and there were many Green Jays eating dinner.

Sorry so many pictures, but I was so thrilled to get these good shots.

Black tufts above his eyes.

He has yellow under the tail.

Such a pretty bird.

Blue and green on his back.

Black bib, yellow green chest, with blue cheeks.

Blue at the base of it's bill.

Northern Cardinal

This cardinal was at the water spout.

Female Northern Cardinal

Plain Chachalaca

Female Great Tailed Grackle.

After sitting quiet and watching the feeding bird, a birder told us about a bird blind.

As we walked over there we came to another feeding area.

Golden-Fronted Woodpecker
 This is my kind of birding! Feed them and they will come.

Another female Northern Cardinal,

and Green Jay.

On our walk to the blind, we spotted this bird just a couple feet from our feet in the brush next to the path.

Long-Billed Thrasher
At the blind we saw another one.

In the blind there were pictures identifying different birds.

At a feeder I got a better picture of the Red-Winged Blackbirds. In a previous post all you could see was the yellow in the wings

Red-Winged Blackbird

The Northern Cardinal can be found in southern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Texas and south through Mexico.  

Green Jay
Blue dot in the black area above the eye. Another good shot of the blue at the base of the bill.

White between the eyes.

Great-tailed Grackles.
We have one of these birds in our resort, and they made this really strange noise. The first time we heard it, we thought it was banging it's beck on the metal on a light post. But after watching it more we realized it is a sound they make. It sounds like rattling metal. The bird book calls it a loud clack notes.

Female Great-tailed Grackle bathing.

As we left the refuge I saw something scamper across the road.

It was an armadillo.

I saw one of these  another time along the northeast coast of Florida.

Such strange looking things.
One species, the nine-banded armadillo, (Dasypus novemcinctus), is found in the United States, primarily in the south-central states (notably Texas), but with a range that extends as far east as South Carolina and Florida, and as far north as Nebraska and midwestern Kansas. Their range has consistently expanded in North America over the last century due to a lack of natural predators. They have been found as far north as southern Illinois

Nine-banded armadillo
The word armadillo means "little armored one" in Spanish. The Aztecs called them Nahuatl, for turtle-rabbit.

Almost home again in Harlingen, Texas.

Note: I scheduled this blog to post in case we don't have internet in Choke Canyon State Park.