Still here -- in La Feria, TX

La Feria -  82º with lots of south wind.
     Well, with constant company I haven't had the time to do posting to blog.  One couple of friends left this morning after being with us for 10 days and another couple will be here tomorrow.  Almost sorry I gave out our address!  Sounds like these people will also stay 10 days -- maybe we should at least put a shorter time limit on it.

   Yesterday, after church here in the Rec Hall, we went to lunch at IHOP in Harlingen and then drove north and east looking at a lot of ground trying to find the Laguna Atascosa Wild Life Refuge.  We were in the area of Arroyo City so looked up a friend of Phyllis's from the Clarinda, IA area back in the 1950's who lives there now.  This is east and a little north of Rio Hondo, TX.   After a short visit with them, and exchanging e-mail addresses, etc., we went to the Refuge.

It is a huge place along the ....... waters on the west side of Padre Island.  It has all sorts of wild life, including some of the very last ocelots known to exist.  We didn't see any of them in the thick brush areas.

We discovered they had a tram ride that left at 4:00 pm and returned after dark that was a 15 mile ride and exposed you to a lot of the area.  We got our coats and blankets out of the car and did need them when we were going down the coast of Laguna Madre. 
Here is Carolyn & Al Ruhde sitting behind us.

 Here is our tour guide talking to the tram driver.  She is a recently college graduate and unable to find work so was doing this volunteer job for a place to stay while gaining some experience.

We saw a lot of birds feeding on the water at that time of afternoon.

We saw many of these on a provided picture on the tram.  (I must credit Carolyn Ruhde for most of these photos)

Long Billed-Curlew

Redhead ducks

Snow Egret

Redhead Ducks

We stopped and spent time at a raised deck lookout and watched some Nailgi Antelope in the distance through binoculars and a scope the guides had.  Were unable to get photos of them with our cameras, but here is a provided picture.

These are not native to the area, or even United States, I believe.  This is photo of panel on the lookout.

Click on any photo to enlarge them.  One of the guides took our picture -- you can see it is getting near dusk.

There were a lot of birds in the area.

We were able to watch this Crested Caracara from a close distance for some time.

We went through lots of different kind of flora.

As it got dark they turned a couple bright lights on the bushes.  A few eyes of animals and some birds were spotted, but could get no pictures.

It was late when we got back to the park.
More later when I will fill in some trips earlier in the week.
Lynn