Mission Accomplished! We have pictures of the rare Spotted Rail

Yesterday we failed in our mission to find the rare Spotted Rail. If you are confused about what that last sentence meant, you could read the last blog entry for the long explanation. The short explanation is that a bird that is seldom seen in North America is hanging out at the same state park we are visiting. While some birders have traveled many miles to see this bird, we didn't even know the rare Spotted Rail existed until yesterday (when we failed at our attempt to find it).  

But we're going to do better today! Instead of taking a leisurely walk to the 75-acre lake like we did yesterday morning, we are on a mission to get there earlier today. So we drove the pickup, and noticed the parking lot was already quite full. Sure enough, we found over twenty people with telephoto lenses pointed towards the edge of the water. The rare Spotted Rail had been seen earlier, but they were waiting for him to appear out of the reeds on the water's edge. So we took our place in an open spot behind the yellow tape. We have to say that we feel a little funny with our small point-and-shoot camera amongst these two-foot-long telephoto lenses and tripods.

We had only been there thirty seconds, when we heard a hushed whisper, "There he is! There he is!" Then began the symphony of cameras clicking as the high-speed shutters of those expensive lenses went into high gear.

Most of the shore of the lake is covered in 10-inch-tall grass. That makes it difficult to photograph an 8-inch bird. But today this rare bird decided to take a short walk in the only short-grass shore line. It just so happened that open shore line was right in front of us! Mission accomplished!

Mark was standing right behind, and he took a picture with his cell phone that shows just how close Denisa was to the rare Spotted Rail in the lower right corner.

Our rare bird stayed out in the open for less than a minute, and from all the clicking of cameras we're guessing that there were hundreds of pictures taken in that minute. It was like we were part of the bird paparazzi, snapping pictures as fast as we could. Then the Spotted Rail flew back into the reeds, and didn't come out for quite some time. Because of the great open-view sighting of the rare bird, most of the real photographers packed up and left. It obviously couldn't have been better lighting or a more open sighting. There really was no reason to hang around. But we're easily entertained, and we love taking pictures of more common birds as well.

As children we went on more than one "snipe hunt." We weren't sure what we were looking for then, but we found out today that this little bird with a long pointy beak is a snipe.

The Sora Rail was back today,

as well as this duck with a too-big-bill.

We hung around long enough to see the rare Spotted Rail again, but this time he was hidden by the grass on the shore.

We were certainly blessed to get that wide open shot of this red-eyed-green-billed rare bird earlier!

It was another lovely day to be outside, so we explored other parts of Choke Canyon state park. We probably wouldn't have seen it ourselves, but someone pointed out this coiled indigo snake.

We watched as the snake poked his head out of that thick coil . . .

and then slithered his five-foot-long body through the grass to relocate in a more protected area. We later found that these nonvenomous indigo snakes are good to have around because they are ophiophagic. That's the new word of the day. Ophiophagic is the word meaning snakes that eat other snakes. So indigo snakes eat rattle snakes. See if you can use that new word in a sentence today!

Among all the birds we have spotted in the last couple days, we also saw a few fishermen at the 75-acre lake here at Choke Canyon State Park. Some of those fishermen obviously aren't carefully disposing of their fishing line. It looks like this bird used the fishing line to suspend her nest between the branches.

Denisa is glad to see that her new favorite vermillion flycatcher is back today. You just can't take enough pictures of a bright red bird!

After accomplishing our mission so early in the day, we drove the pickup back to our campground so we could explore the rest of Choke Canyon State Park on our bicycles. We love a flat park with no hills! We bicycled into the cabin area, and found that this was also a favorite hangout for this group of collared peccaries. 

We thought it was special when we found a single javelina at the lake yesterday. Well, today we found that these guys are everywhere!

We found a herd of thirty javelinas close to the cabins, including this mother with her young one.

This state park is a no-hunting zone, so all the animals are feeling very safe. They know that the only shots coming their way are camera shots.

We're feeling very safe here as well. Even though Choke Canyon was out of our way, we're glad we're here. We're also glad that our mission has been accomplished. We now have pictures of the rare Spotted Rail (the bird we didn't even know existed before yesterday)!

The mission: In search of the Rare Spotted Rail

 Choke Canyon State Park is the last of our long list of new-to-us Texas state parks on our trip down south. This is our seventh new Texas State Park this year! This is a particularly remote park, so we assumed we would have no problems getting a camping site in January. We were surprised to find only two openings during the week, and nothing available this weekend. What?!? We reserved a three-night stay during the week. As we pulled into the park, the ranger handed us our vehicle passes and asked, "So you're here for the bird I guess?"

We obviously had no idea what she was talking about, so she had to educate us. The Spotted Rail is a water bird that normally lives in Central and South America. But for some reason, a single bird has  flown too far north and has taken up residence at Choke Canyon State Park. Birders from all over are flocking into the park in hopes of a glimpse of this rare bird. That explains the full campground!

We got information from serious birders we met in the campground, and we googled pictures of the Spotted Rail. Now we know where and how to look for this rare bird. So even though we didn't even know this bird existed 24 hours ago, we are now on a mission to find it. We took off on a hike toward the last sighting, and got exercise on the way. As we walked by the lake marina, we had to chuckle at this heron, waiting patiently for scraps at the deserted fish cleaning station.

But the Spotted Rail hasn't been hanging out at the big lake at this state park. He's taken up residence at the smaller "75 acre lake" that is about a mile and a half from our campground. Denisa is easily distracted from our mission, and she kept stopping to take pictures of the dainty vermillion flycatchers in the trees close to the lake.

These are flashy red birds, and to novice bird-watchers like us they were the find of the day.

When we asked the ranger about kayaking, we were warned that there are alligators at Choke Canyon. 

That sign just gave Denisa another reason to try to snap another picture of that vermillion flycatcher, dining on a bug he had just caught.

When we got to the smaller lake, we knew we were in the right place when we saw the long line of people with big cameras. There were around 15 people staring at the edge of the water.

Caution tape was laid out in the grass, warning birders not to get any closer to the area where the Spotted Rail had taken up residence. The last sighting--just 30 minutes before we arrived--was when the bird flew from the green reeds at the edge of the lake on the left, to the clump of green reeds on the right. So we stood and watched and waited . . .

Then we sat in the grass, staring at that clump of reeds. Whew! This bird watching is tough work.

One of the bird experts said that the Spotted Rail usually rests in the afternoon, so he might not be out for a while. So we decided to take a walk around the lake. Many birds have come south to avoid the cold weather up north, so we had plenty to keep us occupied. 

We like to call this the "candy-corn-nose-bird" because of his brightly colored beak. But it's more common name is the common gallinule. We were glad that this bird is so friendly and comes close to the water's edge for a picture--and doesn't need to rest in the afternoon.

There are plenty of birds that vacation here just for the winter. Since we're certainly not bird experts, we have no idea which are the vacationers and which are the locals. We only know that the bird below is a white ibis because we heard the real birders talking about it.

We're not sure what this rather plain-looking little bird is, but Denisa loved the way the camera kept him clear and blurred the background behind him.

Being on a lake meant that we got good looks at the ducks that came close to the water's edge.

We saw the ebony and ivory combinations of the black-legged great egret hanging out with the white-beaked black-feathered coot.

Even though we are novice birders we think that this is a great egret, with his black legs and toes and a huge wing span when he flies.

A very similar-looking snowy egret, has a smaller wing span, and brilliant yellow toes. He wiggles those brightly-colored toes when he is standing in the shallow water fishing. When a fish thinks he is going to nibble on a tasty bright yellow worm, the egret nibbles on that fish.

We've waited a couple hours now for the Spotted Rail to finish his afternoon nap, and we're back at the water's edge. Several of the experienced birders are taking pictures of this Sora Rail on the edge of the water. This is a cousin to the bird on our mission today, and we're told that normally this would be a great find.

We went for another walk close to the lake, where we see a crested caracara falcon perched in its hunting pose on top of a dead tree branch.

Since we've been watching for the resident fauna today, we should report that we also found some interesting flora. These are unusual flowering succulents.

Hiding among the prickly pear cactus, these tall red blooms were a fun find on a day when we weren't having any luck with our mission of finding that silly spotted rail. After some very detailed googling, Mark finally found that this plant has several names--Mother of Thousands, Alligator Plant, Mexican Hat. Too bad we weren't on a mission to find this interesting plant today.

We also found some huge fish carcasses on this less-traveled side of the lake. Mark stepped into the picture  just to give scale to that large fish body.

This is also where we found our first wild javelina. These guys have very poor eye sight, and we certainly saw him before he knew we were around. In fact, he kept walking right toward us, and we had to make some commotion to let him know we were watching him.

As we walked around the lake, we used our binoculars not just for bird-watching, but for people watching. We've been hanging around the area for four hours now, and the group of birders staring at the reeds has thinned some. But with our binoculars we can watch them even from this distance. If we see them perk up and start snapping pictures, we can race to the other side of the lake in a hurry to complete our mission and see the Spotted Rail.

With those binoculars pointed heaven-ward, we spotted this flock of sand hill cranes flying in formation.

We didn't see any excitement among the birders on the shore, and we began to feel sorry for those that made a long drive to see the Spotted Rail today. We'll be here for three nights, so we still have more opportunities for this bird sighting. So we continued our walk, enjoying the beautiful weather that we have been blessed with for our hours spent outside. It's then that we began to think that perhaps spotting a javelina wasn't a rare thing.

We spotted several more, grazing their way across the grass. These are actually collared peccaries, and that slanted white collared stripe shows up nicely in a side view photo.

We are determined in our mission to spot the rare Spotted Rail, but we have eaten all our snacks by now and Denisa is getting hangry. But we don't want to miss getting our photo of this rare bird. So Mark leaves Denisa in charge of the camera while he walks the 1.7 miles back to the campground to get the pickup and more substantial snacks. While he was gone, Denisa took some more bird pictures, but the Spotted Rail didn't show up.

We are obviously very determined to complete our mission, but the sun was sinking so low in the sky that we recognized the lighting would be terrible even if the Spotted Rail decided to show himself now. So we used the opportunity to watch the sunset over the lake, knowing that we were only a short drive from our motor home for the night.

So we didn't complete our mission of finding the rare Spotted Rail today. But we enjoyed another day of nature, wandering with many more of God's feathered wonders. We're glad that we wander slowly, and that means we have another day to accomplish our mission tomorrow!

An International feel to a drive around Texas Hill Country

We really enjoyed our full-hook-up site in Blanco State Park. Based on its name, Blanco is obviously a town with Spanish roots. Even people like us with limited Spanish skills know that Blanco means "white" in Spanish. So we're counting it as one of our stops with an "international feel" today. Now we must tell you that Blanco makes the list of the "most mispronounced Texas city names." Instead of the predicted Spanish pronunciation of /Blahn-koh/ the locals actually say /Blank-oh/.

After our snowy day of rest in Blanco, we made a chilly loop through Texas Hill Country.  Driving 24 miles from Blanco brought us to Luckenbach, Texas. We hummed all the way down the road, as this town was made famous by the song from Willie, Waylon, and the boys. We didn't expect much activity on a cold Monday morning, and we didn't get any. The post office/general store was the only thing open today.

Even though the sign on the front of the general store reads, "Live Music Daily," the only performer on stage today was wearing gloves. So we're a bit suspicious that she wasn't really playing that metal guitar.

This little town is known for hosting famous and not-so-famous country singers. Last time we visited here, we found a circle of people playing guitars and singing under these old oak trees.

We also found that Luckenbach can handle a more formal performance, as we poked our head in to see the indoor barn with a lighted stage.

In our quest to visit many new-to-us Texas state parks this trip, our next stop was nine miles down the road to Old Tunnel State Park. For visitors in January, the only thing to do is the one-mile nature hike through the trees. But from May to October this tiny park hosts international visitors from Mexico.

During those months you better have reservations to get inside this state park. People flock here to see the three million Mexican long tail bats fly out of the old railroad tunnel each evening. You can barely see Denisa in the upper left-hand corner of the picture below. It must be quite a sight to stand there and watch three million bats spiral out of that tunnel in a counter-clockwise direction. The Mexican long tail bats make their home here in the summer, gobbling up 25-27 TONS of insects during each of their sunset flights.

Besides Mexican bats, our drive today brings us to another international visitor. The tiny axis deer are also called "spotted Indian deer" because they were introduced to this part of Texas from India in 1932 as a game animal. We didn't get a good picture today, but we've seen these tiny deer in this area many times before. An adult female is only 28 inches tall at the shoulder, and they keep their spots their entire life. So the adults are often mistaken for a fawn.

Besides the tiny axis deer, we also saw herds of white tail deer. Hill country should be called deer country!

On this international drive through Hill Country, we saw evidence of the area's strong German roots. The narrow paved roads we are driving have old signs written in German.

This road is part of the "Country School Trail" which leads drivers to many of the one-room rock school houses that were built by those German settlers in the 1800's.

Driving on to Fredericksburg, we stopped in at the new Texas Rangers Heritage Center. The planned museum is still in the works, but the just-completed pavilion and bell tower are beautiful. 

We stood beside the statue depicting the changes of the Texas Rangers over time.

Right next door is Fort Martin Scott, another of the old Texas forts built in the 1800s. It was a quick walk through the surviving buildings, because it was cold and windy in Fredericksburg this afternoon in January!

We thought about eating at one of the traditional German restaurants in this traditionally German town. But we ended up with yummy sandwiches at the Dutchman's Meat Market instead. We made a walk down Main Street, where we found that our favorite bakery closed just minutes before. We got another feel for the international influences in the area by standing in the Marketplatz beside this weihnachtspyramide in downtown Fredericksburg. This Christmas pyramid is a fore-runner of the Christmas tree. It was made in Germany, and has been displayed here in Texas since 2009.

So even though we are still in southern Texas, our big coats and gloves make it feel like we are somewhere up north. And given the international feel of the sights we have seen today, we could be anywhere in the world!