Friday/Saturday (Feb 14-15)

We are enjoying this park once again.  There are a lot of birds we cannot identify and a handful we see well enough to know exactly what we are seeing.  The campground is loaded with woodpeckers, particularly nesting pairs of Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers.  We have had them land in trees within feet of us and find them such amusing birds.  Saturday morning a pair found some acorns that David had carried from Maine and put into a hole on a small slab of concrete, the male and then the female woodpecker took turns pecking at these and fiipping them out onto the ground before selecting one with which to fly off. 

We also have a pair of Western Bluebirds nesting in a tree right beside the camper.  We have been watching them come and go, in and out of a small hole in the tree branch.  The male is such a pretty bird.  At one point a woodpecker landed on the tree and the next thing we knew there were two bluebirds dive bombing it and driving it off!

This stunning male was within about 6 feet of the camper.  Such a handsome bird.

We may be seeing more birds as a result of putting out some seed.  Paul brought both seed and a bird feeder and it didn't seem to take very long for the birds to find the food.  He says that that the birds communicate about such things (of course we agreed).

Friday we spent some time talking with one of the park rangers about birds and critters.  He told us there were not so many of the unusual birds right now as it was too early for them.  He also noted that people didn't seem to be reporting sightings as much so they didn't know really what species were in the park on a daily basis.

In the past, the park had been overrun with javalinas (little feral pigs), but in our visit in 2011 and again now we haven't seen even one.  The park ranger said they became scarce with the prolonged drought, but we wonder if instead they were exterminated becausde of the trouble they were causing campers.

A vew of the river not far from the campground.

Great Blue Heron early morining.

The Heron above "hangs" out in the evening and early morning in a pond area that is part of a nature walk starting from the campground.  

David is standing on the bridge near area where the heron hangs out!  We were watching fish in the pool, something we had not seen in 2011.  Maybe they have been placed there for the birds?  But there are schools of them that you can see as darker areas in the water.  We are not sure what they are, but the length is about 8 or so inches.  

Saturday after breakfast we got ourselves out for a hike before the heat came.  We went on a trail called the Ore Terminal Trail and after about an hour or so decided that we'd try another trail in hopes of finding some shade so backtracked and took the Straw House trail into a lovely canyon where we got some shade and then headed back to the truck.

Here we are headed into the caynon.  

This is our "selfie" in the canyon.  

The trail was mostly loose stones and was not the easiest surface for walking which did affect the length of our hike.  Two and a half hours was plenty long enough for being in the bight sun.

Maybe there will be yet another hike today, maybe not.  Right now we are all taking a rest!