More Critters at Bentsen Rio Grande State Park

We realize that the beach is too far to visit so we continue to visit the natural areas nearby and take refuge with the critters that reside down here longer than the Winter Texans. Nearly every time I ride my bicycle into the state park next door the beautiful Blue Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus cyanogenys) love to sun along the front entry. Some of the ones we have seen are up to a foot in length.Up close their beautiful blue color is visible just under their belly. We are finding there are other interesting critters here in the RGV!

But it really is the place to come for the birds and as a result I have a few more photos of a Golden Fronted Woodpecker which by the way can actually be found all through the north into the brush lands of Oklahoma. Also a fun little bird to watch at the suet feeders are the Black Crested Titmice. These excitable little birds will flit into the feeders grabbing a bit of suet or peanut butter from the holes in the log feeders and retreat just as quickly.

However, I still just love watching the Green Jays and hope that I never tire of doing so since we will be here a month. There is one feeding station in the state park with a watering hole and the Green Jays often enjoy bathing there.

Before the cold weather that just hit the area (temperatures here overnight plummeted into the upper 40’s F and will only rise into the 60’s F) we decided it best to spend some time rearranging the outside bins and and cleaning them out. We were able to identify a few things we have been looking for and we also were able to pull a few things out that will be delivered to our son and his family for safekeeping since we aren’t using the items. This once a year (for us) task is now complete so we will just hunker down and pout about not being able to wear shorts and flip flops for the next few days…

South Padre Island, Tx…

It was time for another road trip from our park in Mission, Texas and we decided that we needed a beach fix. Only problem was we are 90 miles away from the water. We both love spending time near the ocean and on the beach. What were we thinking when we decided to stay in south Texas so far from the ocean for the winter???

Well the weather was perfect in the area and with temperatures in the high eighties it was time for us to make the easterly 90 mile dash across state highway 83. The road is great and moves quite well considering that there is a seemingly continuum of towns from Mission through Harlingen. Los Fresno is the last small town we passed through on the way to Port Isabel and South Padre Island. We certainly watched our speed based upon the number of Law Enforcement cars we saw.

 

Port Isabel itself is a quaint little beach town with the typical beachy shops selling boogie boards, sunglasses, towels, swimsuits and sunscreen. There is also a small number of restaurants and one we heard about we had planned to stop at before leaving the area. But the only thing between us and the beach was the causeway and we didn’t dawdle around the town of Port Isabel…

We drove north on South Padre Island past all the pay to enter parks and pulled into beach access number four and parked the SUV, collected our beach stuff, our lunch and walked a short distance across the sand to the waiting surf of the Gulf of Mexico… Ahhhhhhhhh, how pleasant it was to breathe in the fresh sea air with that smell of salt air and the sound of the waves crashing into the beach. We sat down and prepped our lunch only to look up and see a group of cowboys on a beach ride, how fun! While eating our lunch we were watched carefully by a group of sea gulls and it was entertaining to see them fighting over territory and squawking at one another.  After lunch on the beach and a couple of hours relaxing, sunning, wading in the surf, and collecting shells we were both put back into a great mindset…. Yep, we should have stayed closer to the beach… What were we thinking???