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| The group - surprised by a cold turn in the weather - Phil, Gary, Laurie, Ray, Ceri, Sheryll, Arthur, Sandra, Steve, Mike and Leonie |
The final few days in Texas took us on a long drive from Winnie to the east of Houston to the Hill country to the north west of San Antonio.
Here, we made our base at Neal's Lodges located at Concan on the Frio River. FRom this base we explored two main areas in addition to the habitats around Neals'.
The first of these was Lost Maples State Natural Area and, secondly, South Llano River State Park. Both parks are managed by the Texas Government and both are gems!
Both of these parks were chosen primarily as they are home to two 'specials'. The first a Golden cheeked Warbler which is a Texan breeding endemic and the second, Black headed Vireo a limited area breeding migrant. Both parks were host to a wider range of species and both promised and delivered new birds and mammals for us!
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| An endangered Golden cheeked Warbler |
From the Lost Maples website;
The park showcases many Edwards Plateau plants and animals.
Lost Maples holds steep and rugged limestone canyons, springs, plateau grasslands, wooded slopes and clear streams. The fall foliage of our large, isolated stand of uncommon Uvalde bigtooth maples can be spectacular.
The foliage changes color the last two weeks of October through the first two weeks of November, depending on the weather. The park is very popular during the fall and is often crowded.
Look year-round for rare species of birds, such as the green kingfisher. The endangered black-capped vireo and golden-cheeked warbler nest and feed in the park in spring and early summer.
Other wildlife includes gray fox, white-tailed deer, armadillo, raccoon, bobcat, rock squirrel and javelina.
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| Lost Maples view from the heights of the ridge |
Llano showed us a great variety of birds and allowed pretty good photo opportunities due to their excellent range of blinds [hides] that had both feeders and water features. We saw Black headed Vireos as well. A soaring Bald Eagle here was a pleasant surprise as, according to the park's literature it had never been recorded in spring. It was our first [and only] record for our trip.
The park has two miles of river frontage, a large pecan
bottom, and typical Hill Country areas. The 523-acre, wooded bottomland is home
to white-tailed deer and the Rio Grande turkey. The bottomland represents one
of the most substantial and oldest winter turkey roosts in the central portion
of the state. Observation blinds are provided to offer visitors a glimpse of
turkeys moving to and from the roost. Other animals include wood ducks,
white-tailed deer, squirrels, jackrabbits, javelinas, foxes, beavers, bobcats,
cottontails and armadillos.
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| Summer Tanager |
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| Nashville Warbler |
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| Orange crowned Warbler |
We saw porcupine at Llano - an excellent mammal indeed!
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| American Porcupine |
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| American Porcupine |
Spotlighting around Neals revealed a few mammals - Racoon, Striped Skunk, White-tailed Deer and Grey or maybe Kit Fox.
On our last night in Texas we enjoyed the awesome spectacle of the Frio Bat Flight - some 10 to 12 MILLION Mexican Free tail Bats leaving their roost and crowding the skies for an evening of foraging. The bats flew out in a continuous stream, ultimately creating murmurations in the sky in every direction. After an hour with the flood of bats still undiminished we left seeing a nine banded Armadillo on our walk to the vehicle.
On our last day we spent a few relaxing hours in San Antonio before finishing at the Airport.
A great Texan tour!!
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