Walking and Birding - Sun., Feb. 9

Been working a lot lately, so haven't taken time to blog. A full day was planned today, starting with a 13K Volksmarch along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River.

At 9:00 a.m., our friend Susan met us at Travelers World RV Park where we started our walk. First stop, Mission San Jose to sign in for the walk.

We walked along the San Antonio River, seeing many birds along the route, including a flock of black-bellied whistling ducks.

Black-bellied whistling ducks

Other birds we saw along the way...

Great egret

Red-shouldered hawk

Red-shouldered hawk from back

Great blue heron.

Intellectually stimulating conversation covered the book "1421," speculation about life in other parts of the universe, the Army, Volksmarches we will do in the near future, the ultralight experimental aircraft her husband is building in California and the movie "Monuments Men" - made the 13K (8.06 miles) fly by.

We also saw Mission San Jose, ruins of the old Hot Wells Hotel and Mission Concepcion on Mission Walk 1. When we started the walk it was foggy and cold. About 2/3rds of the way through the walk, the sun came out. At that point we were back by the RV park. I changed out of my sweatshirt into a T-shirt and Susan M. did the same. Much more comfortable.  We finished the walk in less than three hours in sunny, warm weather.

Back at the 5er, I ate lunch, took a shower, then at 2:00 p.m., Lydia from our RV park met me for an afternoon outing to Mitchell Lake Wetlands Audubon Center. We also picked up Steve and Margaret at their RV. Off we went to see what we could see.

The admission to Mitchell Lake Wetlands jumped from $2 to $5. Wow! Luckily, I joined so I did not have to pay. Lydia is former military so she got in for $2.

We drove to the Duck Pond where we saw:

Buffleheads

American white pelicans

We also saw Northern shovelers, black-necked stilts, American widgeon, mockingbirds, a roadrunner, what I believe was a Northern harrier attacking a small bird, and a vermilion flycatcher. Again, the weather was gorgeous.

Later, Bob and I went to dinner at Sam's Burger Joint where we chowed down turkey burgers. He had regular fries and I had sweet potato fries.

Tonight we are watching "The Beatles: The Night that Changed America - A Grammy Salute." Excellent! Bob and I remarked it makes us feel young again.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are singing. Travel Bug out.