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Yesterday morning, Skip and I took a long walk on the beach. After we got back to the condo, Skip had a wee snooze and I baked a chocolate cake with Reese's pieces for Valentine's Day. After lunch Skip had a nap and I did some knitting. We then went out and did some grocery shopping. Then we headed back to the convention centre to see what was there. It was high tide. There was no sign of the skimmers but we saw two soras, a couple of great blue herons, the resident moorhen, some mottled ducks and a great egret. The spoonbills were fairly close and were unperturbed by the redheads and wigeons that were nearby. Today we headed to the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge south of Alamo, TX. It boasts 397 species of birds and interesting wildlife such as bobcat, collared peccaries (javalinas), coyotes and ocelots. We took the tram around the reserve and got a guided tour. As far as birdwatching is concerned, it was a very disappointing trip. We saw a bunch of red-winged blackbirds and Skip saw a chachalaca. And that was about it. It seems the best birding is on or near water. I think a return trip to Sabal Palm is in our future.

We had barbeque for lunch at Willie's Barbecue in Alamo, TX and then headed home by way of the Valle Vista mall. I bought myself a commemorative (of our wonderful first holiday in southeastern Texas) pair of diamond stud earrings. They have screw backs which is a good thing because I have a habit of pulling them off by mistake and almost washing them down the drain in the shower. They really do look so much more sparkly than the CZs I had been wearing.

Tomorrow the weather is not supposed to be very good - cooler and rain. We will be going to a market at the convention centre and possibly some birding there if there's a lull in the rainfall. If the bad weather persists we may go to the movies.
Posted by Geri at 21:13