Safari! -- Wed., Mar. 27

Hat? Check. Water? Check. Coat? Check. Exotic animals? Yes. Camera? Check. Land Rover? Nope. Gun? No. Food? Later.

Hey! What kind of safari is this anyway? A south central Texas Exotic Wildlife Tour, that's what.

Today required a 7:30 a.m. start for the two-hour drive out to Y.O. Ranch in Mountain Home, Texas. The goal? To photograph over 50 species of exotic animals from all over the world and to learn about the history of the ranch. Our two-hour group tour cost $32.95 each and included a chuckwagon lunch. Bob and I did this tour a year ago and we loved it. He did not go with my mom, sis and I as he had surgery to remove skin cancer this morning.

We made it to the ranch as requested at 9:45 a.m. to pay for the tour. At exactly 10:00 a.m. our school bus painted in giraffe camouflage colors left the parking lot. The bus bumped and rattled up and down a hill on the way to our first locked gate. Apparently the locks on the gates had just been changed from numbered combination locks to keyed locks. Our tour driver forgot the key. Oops.

Our driver/guide, Burna, telling us she forgot the key.

Back down the hill we bounced over the gravel and rocky road. She rearranged our tour to see the historic lodge first instead of last. While she was telling us the history and lay of the land, someone from the office brought over the gate key. She finished telling us about the buildings in the resort area and we were on our way.

Auodad from Africa, one of the first exotic animals
introduced to YO Ranch.

Spotted Axis deer.

The bar with fireplace reflected in the mirror.

See story below.

The above-pictured bull is from Africa. Normally the horns grow upward; however, this bull was born with horns facing downward. YO Ranch built special water and feed troughs to accommodate his horns. Wasn't that nice of them? This bull lived a long life and died a natural death.

Our driver had to go back up the rocky road to the gate. This time she unlocked it and we watched rheas up the road. The rhea is a flightless bird from South America. The male builds the nest and sits on the eggs. He may find a surrogate male to sit on the eggs while he goes out in search of more females.

Rheas can be gray or white and look similar to ostriches or emus.

The first paddock we came to had a plethora of different exotics. My sister, Jan, loves giraffes. Our guide spent quite a bit of time by the giraffes. A number of people, including Jan, were able to feed cookies to the giraffe. One man even got a giraffe "kiss."

Red deer (Europe, Caucasus Mountains, Asia) losing winter coats.

Blackbuck antelope does (India)

Two-year old giraffe

Momma giraffe

Close-up of female giraffe.

Mouflon sheep (?)

Beisa oryx (East Africa)

Wildebeest mom and calves.

Emus

Four horned sheep

Ibex

Blackbuck male (India)

Ostrich in foreground; emu in background

After leaving the giraffe/wildebeest paddock, our tour continued in a paddock with larger acreage. Again we saw many animals.

Scimitar-horned oryx (extinct in the wild since 2000)

Greater Kudu (East Africa)

Ellipsen waterbuck (Africa)

Dama gazelle

Giant eland (East and Southern Africa)

Giant eland

Dama gazelle visits the tour bus.

Zebra

Sika deer (East Asia)

Our driver explained to us that the school district for their area is the wealthiest school district in the nation. Grades K-6 have about 18 students. Instead of buying a large school bus, the school district bought a limousine. How about that? Little kids get picked up and dropped off by limo. 

At the end of our Exotic Wildlife Tour, we had a chuckwagon lunch consisting of sliced top sirloin, scalloped potatoes, baked beans, a roll and almond cake. Very hearty and tasty.

Our next stop on today's itinerary was South Llano River State Park outside Junction, Texas. This state park is a birder's paradise in the spring and fall. Wild turkeys roost in the trees by the river at night. Here you can see some of nature's gorgeous brightly colored birds: painted bunting, vermilion flycatcher, and yellow-cheeked warbler.

When we drove in the entrance road to the park, my mom no sooner said, "Oh, I'd love to see a wild turkey," when we saw eight! There were two toms vying for the attention of six hens. The toms were in full display with tail feathers spread to the max and their chests puffed out as big as they could go. The dominant, large tom kept himself between the young tom and the hens. I wish I had remembered to take a photo. We watched them for about five minutes. Quite the show.

At the Visitor Center, we saw a black-chinned hummingbird. Off to a bird blind we went. No painted buntings have showed up yet this year. The wildflowers haven't bloomed (not enough rain apparently). We did see a few birds...

Cardinal

Pine siskin or yellow-rumped warbler or Cassin's finch??

Eastern kingbird

Song sparrow?

House finch

Yellow-rumped warbler?

House finch

Lark bunting?

Cardinal bathing

The following bird used to be lumped in with the Eastern towhee and both were called rufous-sided towhees. The two bird species have now been named individually.

Spotted towhee

Spotted towhee.

All of a sudden our peaceful bird watching drew to a close. The birds shrieked off as we saw a hawk swoop in hunting the little birds. The birds did not come back. We headed over to another bird blind. There weren't as many birds at the second blind.

Definitely not a bird! Cool lizard, though.

Brown-headed cowbird.

Black-crested titmouse.

A very thirsty Inca dove.

Tufted titmouse

Goldfinch? Wilson's warbler? Anyone know?

Bird blind

Lots of turkeys at this time of year.

Trail from campground to bird blind. See how winter-like it still looks?

It was 3:30 p.m. when we left South Llano State Park. On the way back to San Antonio we took a scenic route through Hunt and Ingram along the Guadalupe River.

Long day, but a wonderful time.

Travel Bug, Mom and Jan out.