SA State Park Birds

So Paul and I might have a new favorite hobby.  Ever since we bought a bird book in the Smoky Mountains we've been trying to spot and identify birds.  During the day we'll sit out and watch for them.  Just outside our hotel and around the base we've seen a blue jay (we named him Jay; clever, no?), white-winged doves, mockingbirds, western kingbirds, house sparrows, and grackles.  A few weeks ago the Kindle daily deal was The Audobon Bird Guide app for freeee so that helps us identify them.  We also got a Birds of Texas book from the library last week and that helps too.  AND Paul bought binoculars with some of his birthday money so now we're basically pros.  Turns out bird watching can be really fun.

On Saturday we went to San Angelo State Park to birdwatch.  It was about 100 degrees out.  We brought all of our gear, but forgot the camera.  Here are some of the cooler-looking birds we saw.

Pyrrhuloxia

 

Greater Roadrunner

Bullock's Oriole

Summer Tanager

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

Curve-billed Thrasher

We also saw Turkey Vultures, a Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and a few others that we failed to identify.  AND we saw a jack rabbit, a huge wild pig, bison, a Texas long-horn herd, and prairie dogs, which were all awesome too.

Our life list now has 27 birds on it, only counting the ones we've seen since our hobby began.   Next weekend we plan on birding at the lake and we'll probably go every other weekend too.  It's nice to spend some time outside but since you don't have to do much to watch birds we're able to stay cool in this desert weather.

The Great Smoky Mountains Day 3

Our last day in the park started out rainy and stormy, so we went to breakfast at a diner in town and waited out the rain a little bit.  Then we went out to try our luck on some more hikes.

It was still a little rainy when we drove up Lakeview Drive past this view of Fontana Lake.  I was glad that we had the umbrella.

Then we went to hike the Tunnel Bypass Trail and it was really fun.  First we walked through this long tunnel.  It was so dark in the middle that we couldn't see our feet.  Can you see the opening way at the other end?

The rest of the hike was so beautiful.  I kept hoping that we would see another bear, but the only wildlife we saw were some birds that were taunting us with their chirps.  At least it stopped raining!

After hiking, we went for another picnic and by the time we were finished we were surrounded by at least 6 crows.  It was a little eerie, like they were about to attack us or something.  Luckily they waited until we got in the car to swoop down on our table and scrounge for leftovers.

We went back to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center to finish out the day.  We walked around the historic farm and then found an awesome spot to skip rocks into the river.  This also reminded me very much of Waterton.

Paul was really good at skipping rocks and throwing rocks across the river.  Here he is playing a game I think my uncle Tom taught me in Waterton.  You try to throw as many rocks as possible out of one hand before your first one hits the water.  (sorry the video is sideways).

I was okay too but hit myself on the chest.

We hiked the rest of the Oconaluftee River Trail, saw some birds, and then went back to Bryson City for more ice cream and to rest from another long day.

These last pictures are for my dad.  The NC entrance to the park is on the Cherokee Indian Reservation so most of the signs have English and Cherokee on them.  Neat eh?  This and the fact that there are juncos should be enough to convince him to come for a visit!

We had such a great time exploring the Great Smoky Mountains, and it turned out to be one of our favorite vacations of all time.  Mountains really have so much to offer and Paul and I are dreaming of owning a mountain cabin someday so we can hike and bird to our heart's content.

And for those of you who are curious . . . we ended up identifying 15 birds (but hearing and spotting, like, a billion more!): Carolina Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, American Crow, American Robin, Morning Dove, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Mallard Duck, Eastern Pheobe, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-tailed Hawk, Carolina Wren, Pigeon, Goose, and I swear there was a 15th.

The Great Smoky Mountains Day 2

We started out day 2 in the Deep Creek area of the park.  This area is known for its lovely babbling creek and for 3 even lovelier waterfalls, and we decided to hike to all of them.

The first was Juney Whank Falls.  We hiked up about half a mile to see this 90 foot waterfall.  We sat for a while and eventually spotted an Eastern Pheobe living under the bridge (that's a bird). 

Me hiking back down from the falls.  Do I look 23 weeks pregnant?

The next waterfall was called Tom Branch Falls, followed by Indian Creek Falls.  Both waterfalls were about 25 feet tall.

By this time my need for a bathroom was excruciatingly urgent, so we only wandered a little farther along the trail and then headed out to have a picnic.

Afterwards, we drove to the Cherokee Indian Reservation to see Mingo Falls.  I read somewhere that at 120 feet tall, Mingo Falls is one of the tallest and most spectacular waterfalls in the southern Appalachians.  Neat!  It was beautiful!

Mingo Falls was probably the best waterfall that we saw.  We had to climb approximately 160 stairs to get to it, but it was worth it.

Next we went to Mingus Mill, an historic gristmill on the other side of the park.  We watched a little demonstration of how the mill works and then took a short up-and-back hike along Mingus Creek.  On the way, we tried to find birds but all we could do was look towards their chirping for movement.  We decided that we need binoculars if we are ever going to be anything but amateurs.  

Then we decided to drive back up into the mountains to see the view at Newfound Gap.  It was once again gorgeous.

While we were up there we saw some Dark-eyed Juncos!  These made me think of home because my parents are always telling me about the juncos they see in their backyard.  They are pretty fun to watch.

My hiking buddy!  and me.

Then we headed back to Bryson City after some dinner.  Paul posed in front of the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad train for me right before we went for ice cream.  I got a chocolate-dipped waffle cone with two scoops of ice cream and for a minute I thought I was in Waterton.  I can't wait to take Paul to Waterton someday, because I just know he would love it.

That night we sat out on the porch in an attempt to improve our birding skills.  We saw a cardinal that pooped on our car and we named him Pete.

The Great Smoky Mountains Day 1

We thought that we would NEVER see San Angelo again, but Paul has been sent here on a TDY (temporary assignment) and now we're here.  For 7 weeks.  But, like we always do, we took advantage of the long drive (24 hours) to see some of the country we've never seen.  This time it was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.

Our first day was a half day so we only had time to see a little bit of the park.  We stopped at the visitor's center and the ranger said it would be a good idea to go up to Clingman's Dome, the highest peak in the park, to see the views before some clouds rolled in.  So we did.  The views were spectacular!  Of course they would be at 6600 feet.  We got caught in a little bit of fog but were still able to see pretty far.  Mountains are awesome.

On our way back down to the parking lot from the observation tower we saw a black bear and her baby cub!  They moved behind the bushes before we could get a good picture though.  We also started our search for birds . . . we bought a birding book at the visitor's center and spent the next few days pretending to be birders.  Birding is so nerdy and so fun.

Then we drove to Bryson City, NC to check out our cabin.  We found this gem on VRBO.com and it was exactly what we wanted.  The views from the deck were gorgeous!  Paul sat out on the deck every morning reading and watching for birds.  It was basically paradise.

That night we went to dinner at Jimmy Mac's in Bryson City and got huge hamburgers and key lime pie.  We planned out our next day and went to sleep.