Another Week at Bentson Palms Resort

29th October (Monday)
McAllen Glass called to let me know my glass saw was in. Went over and picked it up, back by noon for lunch. Another nice day so just rested, read, and watched the birds at our feeders.

30th October (Tuesday)
Up this morning, had breakfast and the off birding to Estero Llano in Weslaco. We have been there several times before but is always an intersting bird place to go. Lots of wetlands with waterfowl, Shrubbery for hummers and butterflies, and a Alligator pond with a 14 footer. Also, a bird I have never seen before. I walked right by it, but bright eyes Denice spotted it in the bush debris scattered on the ground. It is a pauraque. It is a night jar, a bird that feed at night.


Wikipedia Description:
This medium-sized nightjar is 8.7-11 in (22–28 cm) long and has two colour morphs, the plumage being variegated greyish-brown or rufous-brown. It is long-tailed and has broad rounded wings. The buff 'eyering' and 'facial stripe' contrast with the reddish sides of the face.
The adult male Pauraque has a white band near the wing tips, and the outer tail feathers are mainly white. The female's wing band is narrower and the white in the outer tail is more restricted. There are seven subspecies of the Pauraque, differing in size and greyness.
The male Pauraque's song is very variable, but includes a whistled weeeow wheeooo, ("who-r-you"), soft puk puk and a whip given in the courtship flight as he flutters around the female. Her call is a rapid succession of whip sounds.
They blend into their surroundings and if you are not real observant, will never see them. I have to tell on Denice. She had been here before with a real "Birder" and had it pointed out to her, but that was 6 months ago. Way to go Denice!!

31st October (Bewitching Day)
Rest day -- Its hot!!

What did we do today - in a word "Nothing"
Fed birds, watched birds, and ate - didn't lose any weight today!!
No Witches or Gobblins tonight

1st November (Thursday)
Early Morning (9:00AM) walk this morning over to Bentsen State  park to see the birds. Caught a shuttle up to our preferred blind. The operator of the shuttle was a very knowledgeable park guide, Roy, who stopped along the way to point out interesting things and sites in the park. When we arrived at the blind there were no birds, but soon they started to appear. Roy had explained that the feeding of the birds had not started but would very soon. He says the bird feeding program has been cut back, but the feeding is actually only for the birders, not the birds themselves as they can look after themselves without a problem.

We spent an hour there before trudging back home to ELTORO. Along the way we stopped to take a few pictures of the little Screech Owl as he sits in his favourite perch in a big Mesquite tree. It is amazing how a bird can camoflage himself so well into his surroundings. At 10 ft away I was completely unable to make him out even though I knew ezactly where he was. I took a photo of the area in question, then zoomed in on it and lo and behold there he was staring back at me. I'll include the original picture and you see if you can see him.

2nd November (Friday)
Took Denice over to McAllen this morning to Alure Nails to get her a manicure/pedicure at 10:AM. In two hours she came out stating, "I am beautiful again." I dutifully replied, " You always are beautiful!? Got to make a few Browny points once in a while.


Well, made a committment today as to what the next year is going to look like vacation wise. Reserved oursite here in Bentson Palms Resort for one year. They have a program called 6+6 that is you rent the site for 6 months at the regular rate and then the next 6 months is free. The site is prtetty well yours to do as you please. Trim trees, plant flowers or what ever. You can come and go as you please and they will not rent it out to anyone else. So you can leave for a week or a month, and it will be open for you when you return. All sites were prettywell taken so the site of our preference (Site 518) was not available until March 15th, so we reserved it for 1 year from that date. We will camp around the gulf area when we return in January until March 15th, then get ourselves set up here again for a month or so, then store ELTORO here in our spot for the summer and just drive the jeep home. Then we will return in October again.  
3rd November (Saturday) Sixty mile drive back to Salineno to one of last springs favourite bird watching places, only to find it had not opened for the season yet, even though the brochures stated it would be opening on the first of November. Must remember that everything runs on Mexican time down here, so it will likely open some time in the next couple of weeks. On the way back stopped at another site in Roma Bluffs. Seemed nobody around. I tried the door and it seemed locked, but then I saw a sign stating "Heavy Door, Pull Hard'" so I tried again and it did open. Inside was a lady who I guess was just lonley, and she talked, and talked, and talked. She showed us their butterfly and bird gardens, and even gave us some feed for the birds. Took us an hour to get away from there. Stopped in Roma for some Chesters Chicken as it was now dinner time. On down the road toward Mission, a car passed and threw a rock at us, a nice little star dimple. On the way up we had noticed a windshield repair guy along the road so we kept looking for him on the way home. Didn't find him, but did find his brother. Repaired the crack for $15 - Good job too.
4th November (Sunday)
Forgot about time change this morning so were up and around by 5:00AM - went for a walk around the park, had breakfast, and were ready for the day by 7:30AM, So what are we going to day - Let's go to South Padre - settled, and we are on the way by 8:00AM. Its a 90 mile jaunt, so arrived about 10. Immediately went to the World Birding Center and did the board walk there. It was hot (85 °F) but some clouds, so not too bad. Finished up there and went to Schlitterbahn for all you can eat shrimp, As always, GREAT!! After lunch drove up the Island to beach access #5 and drove out on to the sandy beach. Being Sunday, there seemed like a million people and kids romping in the waves, but after negotiating through them for a mile or so they started to thin out. After a couple of miles we found what we were looking for, a lonely stretch of beach all to ourselves!  Now it was our turn to enjoy the surf for an hour or so, but all good things must come to an end, and it was time to head back to our Texas winter home in Mission. Arrived there near dark.  A GOOD DAY!!!