In October I went to San Antonio to visit family.  I took a different route than usual on the way there so I could stop overnight in San Angelo.  I’ve been following Bob Zeller’s blog Texas Tweeties for some time and have wanted to bird there after seeing all his wonderful photos.

On the way to San Angelo I stopped in at Bitter Lake in Roswell, NM.  It was pretty quiet there.  The fall migration has been slow this year due to unusually warm weather.  Here’s some of the birds I saw.

I noticed this one duck was reluctant to swim away.  Upon a closer look, I realized it had been injured.  Looks like it had a close call with a coyote or some other predator.

As I was leaving the refuge, I noticed a turtle crossing the road.  I got out and took a few photos before picking him up and moving him fully across the road.  I would hate for him to get run over.

I stopped to get an iced tea at Starbucks in Roswell and couldn’t resist photographing the grackles hanging out there.

Between Roswell and San Angelo, I came across this hawk enjoying the afternoon sun.

I arrived in San Angelo with about 2 hours of daylight left.  So I headed straight for San Angelo State Park.  It was quite active with birds and butterflies.  My first bird sighting there was a much hoped for one.  I saw several Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers busy catching bugs.   They weren’t very shy, so I was able to get some nice photos.

I saw a few other birds that afternoon.

I visited the bird blind there, but no birds were about.  But about 5 javalena came through to get a drink.

What I mostly saw were butterflies.  Lots of butterflies.  Most of them were one variety – Bordered Patch.  This was a new butterfly for me 🙂

 

As I was leaving that evening, I saw a vulture settling in for the night on a handicap sign in a parking lot.  It was pretty much dark, but he was tame and let me drive right next to him and use a flash.  🙂

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the sunset as I left.

I got up early the next morning for another quick birding outing before heading on to San Antonio.  I first stopped in at Spring Park to see if I could see a Great Kiskadee that has been see there.  But no luck.  All I saw were deer….lots of deer….

I then headed back over to San Angelo State Park to see if the birding was better in the early morning.  It definitely was!  As I approached the entrance to the park, I saw a roadrunner busy hunting for breakfast.

I hiked several trails through the park and saw quite a variety of birds.

 

After hiking awhile, I visited the bird blind one more time before I had to leave.  It was much more busy with birds in the morning.

White I was sitting quietly in the bird blind, a Gray Fox made a very brief appearance.  I managed to get a couple pics before it was gone.  Very exciting!  I’ve never seen one in person before and so close!

Sadly it was time to put the camera away and hit the road.  I really enjoyed my short visit to San Angelo.  Hopefully I will get another chance in the future to visit again.