10th April
Another day with a long drive. We drove to the end of the peninsula where a ferry takes traffic across to Galveston. Here the ferry is considered part of the road system, as at some other ferries we've taken already including to Mustang Island, and vehicles and foot passengers cross for free.
We waited our turn to cross and as in the late sixties song the seabirds were flying in the sun (and lining the dock), we could hear the sea winds blowing but as the weather was good no crashing waves on this occasion.
Ferry to Galveston
We stopped in at Brazoria National Wetland Reserve and had a look from the boardwalk. Chris was going to take the short walk, however was engulfed by legions of blood-thirsty mosquitoes and only having worn shorts decided against exploring further.
Lesser Yellowlegs
Broad-banded Water-snake
Loggerhead Shrike, nesting in a large Yucca in the car park
Sora Rail, sightings into double figures by this point of the trip
Over ambitious Great Blue Heron
We finally arrived at Kerrville, a town rather more like the towns we are used to seeing further north. A lot of the Texan towns had large areas that looked run down and past their best, others just didn't seem to have much at all outside of the usual chain fast food eateries. Here we were staying at the independent 'Inn of the hills' and it was extremely nice. It was one of those places that made you wish that you had a few more nights there. Breakfast was also excellent with plenty of choice although not included in the room fee.
11th April
We left for Kerr Wetland Management Area just after 8am seeing our first Raven and only Wood Ducks of the trip on the way. The park didn't open yet but there was a walking trail near the perimeter fence that we could do before the heat got up too much. Initially we didn't find the trail and headed along a vehicle track. This was a lucky mistake as we had out best views of Golden-cheeked Warbler as well as Ashy-throated Flycatcher, Nashville Warbler, various sparrows and Black-chinned Hummingbirds.
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Black-chinned Hummingbird
After back tracking we found the track but it wasn't as good as the route we'd taken
in error although the heat was stifling bird activity it was not yet 10am.
White Checkered-Skipper
By this time the park was open so we drove to the main entrance, on the way seeing a pair of Road-runner. We saw Road-runner a few times and they are just as likely to be seen in a tree as on the ground.
Greater Roadrunner
The park had several blinds that could be driven to, then walked to. We got some good views of new species here. The seed, fat and drip points behind the blinds brought some nice views, mainly of species already seen frequently, but there were more interesting birds in the trees.
Black-capped Vireo
Golden-cheeked Warbler
Bell's Vireo, a distinctive songster that we heard often in the
area once familiar with the song
12th April
South Llano River State Park had various blinds that provided good photo opportunities of visiting birds, whether seed, fat or water was the main draw.
White-crowned Sparrow
Bewick's Wren
Nashville Warbler
Black-crested Titmouse
Woodhouse's Scrub Jay
Spotted Towhee
Black-throated Sparrow
Cedar Waxwing
Brown Thrasher
Canyon Towhee
Leaving the park we drove to Kickapoo where we hoped to book in and be able to see a large colony of Mexican Free-tailed Bats leave at dusk. We missed the office staff but this is one of the parks that has campers and remains open without staff between Friday and Monday. We were pleased to have only a short walk to the cave as the light would be failing before they left the roost.
The bat cave
It was impossible to capture images of bats leaving as numbers had not built up and there was no dark spiral of wings and furry bodies in the dimming light, but we were still pleased to have managed to experience the natural spectacle.
We departed for the next hotel with a two hour drive ahead of us. It was the night of the 'Pink moon', the full moon casting a lot of natural light over the desert darkness. As we drove, an animal dashed in front of the car from left to right about 20 metres ahead. It was catlike, but slightly larger than a domestic cat, certainly not a mountain lion. But the head was small and round with small ears. Relatively short legs with the bounding locomotion of a cat moving at speed. The tail looked thick and was almost as long as the body and formed into a curving line that waved about as it ran. Colouration appeared greyish in the lights. Then it was gone. We knew what we hadn't seen, not a cat, dog, squirrel, skunk, armadillo, fox or coyote. Too small for a puma but features fitted that best of all.
On reaching the hotel we immediately searched for what it might be on the internet, The only animal we could find, independently of each other, was an animal considered extinct in Texas with the last confirmed sighting in 1986.
So, that was extremely interesting, if only we'd had a dashcam in the car! No evidence other than our observation, but without a photo or video we can't do anything with it. Never mind the fact that we were driving through the right part of the state and right habitat with no sign of human habitation for miles.