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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hamhed" data-source="post: 3159424" data-attributes="member: 70825">Sunday 28thThe forecasted rain came that night changing our overly optimistic plans to try the Anzalduas pipit field again.  Instead, we left Alamo and headed north, not sure how far the wet weather extended.  We made an early stop at Delta lake (<a href="http://www.co.hidalgo.tx.us/index.aspx?NID=394" target="_blank">http://www.co.hidalgo.tx.us/index.aspx?NID=394</a>) and saw a few Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Royal Terns, Neotropic Cormorants and White Pelicans (they really were everywhere) but the blustery wind and continued rain didn’t tempt us to stay long.  Back on Highway 281 and headed north, we passed a field with an estimated 150 Sandhill Cranes and not long after another farm field with a couple of hundred Snow Geese.  The rain became more intermittent at we put miles behind us on the nearly empty highway.  A timely stop for restrooms and 20 minutes of birding was at a rest area south of Falfurrias, where a Painted Redstart has been for several weeks.  Amazingly, it didn’t take long to find the bird.  Getting pictures in the drizzle and dim understory light was a more time consuming feat.  A very exotic bird among the Titmice, Yellow-rumped Warblers and House Sparrows.  Other birds a few Eurasian-collared Doves, Green Jays, both of the common woodpeckers and a Bluebird or two.    Gray skies started to clear a bit as we pulled into the south unit of Choke Canyon State Park (<a href="http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/choke-canyon" target="_blank">http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/choke-canyon</a>).  Along the entry drive, Roadrunners were seen in the open shrub habitat.  One Great Egret and some far off mergansers in the lee of a peninsula were the only birds on the vast, wind-blown lake.  In the parking lot, Liz managed to find the sole Pyrrhuloxia of our trip.  Our last sighting of the very vocal and colorful Green Jay was here.  The campground was closed, eliminating a third of the park.   Beaten by the wind and cold, we spent maybe 45 minutes here. We decided to try another part of Choke Canyon, the Callahan Unit, 12 miles further west.  Not keen to leave the warmth of the car in our tropical weight clothing, we did a driving tour of this section first.  I pulled over at a small mixed flock and was very surprised to see an Audubon’s Oriole, unmistakable in yellow and black.  The whole flock was gone by the time I got out with the camera and we never did relocate the Oriole despite spending another 30 minutes there.  Not surprisingly, that was to be our best bird for Choke Canyon.  White Pelicans were seen again, giving Turkey Vultures some competition as most regularly seen bird.  A pair of Caracaras and a Red-tailed Hawk completed our raptor list.  Closer to the ground, we saw Savannah and Chipping Sparrows, Cardinals and an Orange-crowned Warbler and both of the regular Woodpeckers.  We had enough of the constant wind and cold by mid-afternoon so we again drove northward, reaching our third Airbnb location in the northeastern suburbs of San Antonio 90 minutes later.  It was definitely the “burbs” and we didn’t expect any real birding but our room was warm, clean and neat and perfectly located for tomorrow’s visit to Warbler Woods (<a href="http://www.warblerwoods.org/" target="_blank">http://www.warblerwoods.org/</a>).</blockquote>

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