July 4, San Angelo, Texas
Linda and I visited San Angelo State Park again. This year there’s been more rain, so it wasn’t a big surprise there were more birds, although the foliage made them harder to see. And…we saw almost no water birds, although the water level was much higher than last year. Again, besides the usual mockingbirds, mourning doves, grackles, scissor-tailed flycatchers, red-winged blackbirds, house finches, cardinals, pyrrhuloxia, canyon towhees, greater roadrunners, western kingbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, cactus wrens and miscellaneous hummingbirds common in these parts, we saw many curve-billed thrashers and bobwhites whose numbers had been depleted by the recent drought.
New birds for me included a female golden fronted woodpecker. That’s the eye candy we’re looking for.
On our way out, we spied a flock of at least eight wild turkeys. (That’s what I counted—probably many more were in the bush.)
July 5, Buffalo Gap, Texas
Jo and I visited the old cemetery. There’s a little brick memorial there, big enough to walk into. I noticed barn swallows around it, and as we approached, a hundred or so swarmed out and around our heads, chattering disapproval.
