Birding At Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park

Before we get into the birding, I have to tell you about eating at Pepe's On The River. We were one of the first groups to arrive, and the waitress started to take our orders just about noon. There were some 22 of us, and about 1:30 we started to get our food. Needless to say we were not happy with the service there. Seeing as 8 of the folks never even got their orders at all, I'd say we would never go back. When we told them 8 still had no food, they told us that there was now 2 tables ahead of them and they would have to wait. We all figured we had waited long enough. They went away really hungry, and ended up eating elsewhere.
The group we were with is part of the Class of 2007 from Escapees. The class is one active group. Some other classmates were in Florida, and they had lunch at the same time. They called us and we all called out a big "HI". We took a group picture. Other than the food fiasco we had a terrific time. John and Susan Coleman, who worked with us for a while at CARE, were also there. She had told me they are members of the class, but I had not remembered. It was good to see them.
On Wednesday we met with Carol and Everett. More fellow volunteers from CARE. I took pineapple upside-down cake for dessert, and Carol made some kind of soup with lentils, and we had some good biscuits. We stayed the better part of the day just talking and exchanging ideas of where to go next. We'll see them down the road after we leave here on our way to Bourne.
Now for the birding. We left about 11:00 this morning. It was a chilly start to the day. We had to wait till it warmed up a little. For those of you who don't know, the wind blows here alot which makes it somewhat chilly early in the day. The State Park isn't far from us. We parked in the designated area, and walked to the visitors' center. The fee for the day was $5 each. The tram came at 12:30 and took us to the first stop. We got off there and started to walk. They have these cool bird blinds where you can watch the birds at the feeders. I had wanted to see the green jays, and boy I got my fill. We also got to see some beautiful orioles. The highlight of the day was seeing some javelinas. They look like wild boars. There was a group of about 10 or more. They were at one of the blinds where we were watching the birds. It was really something to see. Along with the Chachalacas and kiskadees we were pretty happy with what we saw. Wait till you see the green jays.
I'm looking out at the sunset as I write this. Just another beautiful end to another beautiful day.