Roadside Assistance Part 2

Feeling like we had a successful morning seeing the Roadside Hawk, and getting some epic shots, we had to decide how to spend the day.  Our original plan was to see the hawk, then bird up the Rio Grande a little ways, then head back to Bobs house in Palacios, and then I would drive back to my house getting home around 10:00 pm Sunday night.  But with our Jeep dilemma giving us an extra day in the valley we could take our time birding and end up wherever we ended up and still make it back to Mission to get the truck by 3:00 or 4:00 (hopefully not later) and race home.

Sorting through our options, Bob came up with a few good scenarios and asked me what I wanted to do.  Of course my reply was "I don't know, whatever you want to do".   He was pretty close to 200 birds for Hidalgo County and almost at 100 in Starr County and there were about four birds we thought I could add to my life list.  So we headed up the valley picking a few new ones in Hidalgo and worked the local cemeteries and small communities in Starr County pretty hard eventually getting him to the century mark.  Cemeteries make a great oasis in the middle of the rather harsh south Texas brush but also a place to dump unwanted pets apparently.  There were loose and pregnant dogs everywhere adding to the charm of the small border communities.  Birding the border is a very unique experience.  I found evidence of border crossing at one spot as indicated by a deflated raft lying near the river bank.

I've never felt unsafe along the border even at this spot where just a few hundred yards across the border there was a group of guys, probably drinking, listening to music at full volume from their truck, shouting across the river at me and Bob like they were taunting us.  I guess they thought we might have been border patrol.  But still felt safe as long as I stayed on my side of the river.

We rounded out the evening looking for Muscovy Duck in Zapata county. This is one of only two non review species birds that Bob needs in Texas so we figured we would at least give it a shot.  We stayed until sundown picking up one of the four life birds I was targeting on our side trip but no sighting of the elusive and shy duck.  Looking across the border deep into Mexico I snapped a quick shot of sunset.

We made our way to Laredo for a good nights sleep and discussed how to spend our extra day.  There were still three potential life birds we could try for.  We got Audubon's Oriole while looking for the duck the night before, and the other three were possible at a golf course along the river.  So in the early cold hours of the morning we made our way to Max Mandel Golf Course.  They allow birders to rent a golf cart and bird the course.  Pretty cool I thought but unfortunately it was so cold there was frost on the greens so we were unable to rent a cart but could still explore on foot.  I heard a Ringed Kingfisher perched on a snag down by the river for 437, and then finally saw it on the other side of the river in Mexico technically.  Then soon after flushed a Red-billed Pigeon from the river cane for 438.  All that was left was a bird that is pretty habitat specific to tall cane along the river and it showed itself for Texas Life Bird 439, Morelet's Seedeater.

So satisfied with how the morning went we headed back south towards Mission via Jim Hogg county to get ready to pick up the hopefully fixed Jeep.  The parts for the Jeep were supposed to be in by 11:00 or 11:30 but....

I'm sure you can guess where this is going.  The mechanic called and said the parts were in a truck that got caught in a snowstorm so they would not be there today.  Really? Snowstorm?  We were probably an hour from the repair shop and ended up out of options because I really did not want to miss another day at work. So we turned around and headed back to Palacios and eventually home.  Bob had to head down the next morning back to the valley to eventually get the Jeep back but made the most of it and got two more counties over 100!

Fantastic trip despite the setbacks and I'm sure Bob, looking back, feels the same. I will end with this beautiful shot of a Gray Hawk that was taken with the lens borrowed from Mr. Friedrichs