More Refuge

The day we left North Padre Island, we drove south on 77 to McAllen and then east to the little town of Rio Hondo. Its houses line the Arroyo Colorado, a manmade canal, that's quite picturesque. It sees a lot of local fishing activity as well as barge traffic. The county operates a park on the canal's bank and that's where we spent one night. Only one other camp site was occupied, but there was lots of fishing activity down at the boat ramp till  dark, and until midnight, fishing was allowed from the fishing docks.

Arroyo Colorado, Rio Hondo

The Pickle on the Arroyo

 The next day we drove to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. It sits on the mainland side of Laguna Madre. That's the water between South Padre Island and Texas. It sounds like a quick trip since we were just on North Padre and our campsite at Rio Hondo was really just over the Refuge's western boundary. But you know those refuge centers ..... miles of driving. This time on really bad roads. And a long detour. When we finally arrived at the Visitor's Center, it was closed. However, a friendly volunteer was waiting outside to help us with anything we needed to know. Which was: what are the chances of seeing an Aplomado Falcon, an endangered bird I had never heard of until our daughter Annie, texted us the list of birds seen at the Refuge a couple days before. The falcon was on it, and it caught my interest.
So we took the driving tour and scanned the sky for the sought-after bird. We didn't spot it, but we did see two Crested Cara Caras, green jays, and two javelinas (not birds.)

Green Jays

Yes, ocelots have a den in the refuge.

Javelinas