It seems a good time to go back to my Texas trip photo memories before I lose track of it entirely. Day Two was a travel day from Del Rio, where we had spent the night, to Big Bend National Park where we stayed three days. Of course we birded along the way.
Yesterday I turned on the reluctant travel laptop to see if it was in any mood to let me look at my Texas pictures. Lo and behold I found more images, and the amazing thing is that I was allowed to process them, so here is everything from that travel day, including the domestic waterfowl below which adorned the first stop.
Viewer discretion advised: a Mallard menage a trois that might prove disturbing to younger viewers
Travel notes from my cell phone… I love the rugged terrain of Southwest Texas.
Rocks and what to do with them 
It was nice to revisit species I have seen before. Some I saw much better than on previous occasions, while others like the Rufous-Crowned Sparrow below, eluded the camera, even though fairly common. And then there were the life birds.
Bewick’s Wren
Cliff Swallows 
Great-Tailed Grackle Bash 
Clay-colored Sparrow 
The Morelet’s Seedeater is not exactly new, if I can believe I have seen a White-Collared Seedeater before. Anyway, it’s been split into its own species, so that makes it a life bird. We searched for this guy for a while and then he practically followed us around for the next quarter hour or more.
Morelet’s Seedeater 
It would have been nice to see a Western Meadowlark but this Eastern Meadowlark posed nicely for us.
I’ve glimpsed Ladder-backed Woodpeckers in New Mexico but have never seen them so well as on this trip.
Then to see some old friends really well…
We arrived at the Chisos Mountain Lodge in Big Bend National Park, checked into our rooms and witnessed this sunset outside the dining hall that evening.
Meanwhile back home, it’s intermittent thunderstorms and cooler weather. I am fond of rain, but not so much.
