This blog is short, so we're showing "dessert" first

We've heard the expression, "Life is short, so eat dessert first." We've often followed that advice, as we love our dessert! Well, today we are following that same advice on this blog. We're starting it with the sweetest bird of the day. Even though this was the last bird we spotted on this day, this Painted Bunting is as sweet as dessert to us. This blog is short, so we show "dessert" first. Isn't this a beautifully colorful bird? That's one of God's wonders!

This "meal" of birdwatching started with a four-mile bike ride from our camping spot to the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park just down the road. Half of that bike ride is on the road, while the last half is on a nice off-road path that is used heavily by walkers and bikers in this area.

This state park is the headquarters for the World Birding Center, and most people visit here to see the birds. If this was a bird-watching meal, we should start with the meatiest bird of the day. The big chachalacas look a little like a chicken.

If your Spanish grandmother called you a little chachalaca, that means that you were a noisy child. These birds are loud talkers!

At the first stop inside the state park we also spotted several kiskadees. Denisa has a hard time deciding which picture is best, so it's just easier to include both in this smorgasbord of bird pictures.

The doves were also at the bird feeders, and Denisa has two pictures again. But at least they are two different types of dove. This first is an Inca dove, and . . .

the second is a white-tipped dove.

All these birds can be seen at the very first feeders just a few feet into the state park. A little crowd had formed watching the diversity of birds. But suddenly, they all flew away. A more experienced birder recognized the reason immediately. A Cooper's Hawk swooped in and landed in the tree above the bird feeders. We could barely see him through the branches and twigs. None of the birds wanted to be his dessert, so they flew for cover. 

This state park is home to many birds, but it doesn't attract many water birds because it has so little water. The Rio Grande River is very close, and this little oxbow off the bigger river is the only place we usually see ducks. 

No ducks close by, so we headed down the paved park road. This is a great place to ride a bike because the road is flat and cars aren't allowed inside the state park. So all we usually have to dodge is an occasional park tram filled with visitors. Now we also have to dodge the border patrol pickups. Since the park sits right on the U.S./Mexico border, we always see the border patrol presence here. Today we also had to dodge a flock of wild turkeys crossing the road. Again, Denisa couldn't decided which picture was best, so she included two.

Because this state park is so close to our campground, we have visited it many times over the last eight years. We know that our favorite bird blind is in the corner of the park, so we always make it a point to stop here. Today it didn't disappoint us, as we got (you guessed it) two different pictures of this female oriole.

Last winter our favorite bird blind had no birds because the feeders couldn't be filled. An aggressive javelina had taken up residence here, and the rangers couldn't get close to keep the bird seed stocked. We're glad to see that the ugly old javelina has moved on so we could get two pictures of the Altamira orioles that were enjoying the bird seed today.

We consider these lovely fine-feathered friends to be more of God's wonders! Green jays are only found in the very southern part of the United States, but they are quite common here. We saw many of them today, but we only kept two pictures.

The resident javelina has been traded in for this south Texas rodent. Mark likes birding, but he might like fur better than feathers. Can you believe that this was his favorite find at the bird blind?  It wasn't Denisa's favorite. She only has one picture of the rat!

The high point of Bentsen State Park is literally the Hawk Tower. We had to park our bikes and walk into the thicket to walk the ramp up to the tower.

Since we have a theme going today, we might as well have two pictures of the Hawk Tower. From here we are looking straight south and can see into Mexico.

While the rest of Texas seems to be in a drought, this southern tip of the state has had more rain than usual. We can't remember ever seeing water from the Hawk Tower, but today there is a little pond in view. Denisa took a picture of the only water birds we saw today--two males and a female blue-wing teal.

We almost didn't take this walk up the Hawk Tower. We talked about the fact that we have never seen anything from this tower before--especially no hawks. But this is an unusual day because this guy was in clear view as we walked up the ramp to the top of the tower. We include two pictures of this Harris's Hawk--one of him gripping the branch with both feet . . .

and one with him balancing all of that weight on just one foot.

It's a nice loop bike ride through Bentsen State Park, and we finished our ride with two more little birds we saw on our way out. Here is a Lincoln's sparrow . . .

and a mockingbird. Thanks to our friend Mary for helping us identify our birds today!

We still had the four-mile bike ride to get home, and we decided to take a little detour. We had heard that the campground just down the road from us has bird feeders set up. We decided to stop in for a fast look. We found that a very unusual bird had just flown away as we arrived. We hoped that he would return--and he did. It was a perfect dessert ending to a very good bird-watching day when that beautiful multi-colored Painted Bunting returned to the feeder just a few feet away from us. Just like the rest of the day, Denisa couldn't decide on the best picture. So we include the one at the beginning of the blog--because life is short so you should eat dessert first--and the one at the end. Bon appetit!