Birds so far (just at the airport):
1. Rock Pigeon, Columba livia
2. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
3. Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura
While waiting here at the airport a rain- and hail-storm passed through! Looks like flights were delayed a few minutes, but nothing serious.
Okay, probably all for now, I've used up half of my free twenty minutes.
Ciao,
Sue and Jorge
Wednesday afternoon. Transactions at the Midland-Odessa airport went smoothly, our backpacks came through the carousel without delay, along with luggage of only a dozen other people on the hour and a half flight from Dallas-Fort Worth. We picked up our reserved Dodge Caravan from National Rent-a-car - $30 per day, unlimited miles, a 2010 model - it was the cheapest vehicle in their rental fleet.
Heading out from Midland Odessa Airport southwest to Alpine, we took in the sights of oil fields with pumpjacks, storage tanks and small refineries, strong winds blowing trash across the open expanses, and gradually, the soft gray-greens of desert plants.
Our route took us west on Route 20 as far as Monahans, south on Route 18 a short distance to "farm route" 1776 which crossed the Pecos River, enroute to Interstate 10 west of Fort Stockton. Continuing south of I-10 our road was renamed Route 67, and headed in a southwesterly direction to Route 90 just east of Alpine.
I'm going to use a color-coded system for our trip birds. If the name is in boldface it's new for the trip, and red is a life bird for Jorge, blue is a life bird for Sue, purple is a lifer for both of us.
If a bird is new for our North American list, but not a life bird - an example is the Vermilion Flycatcher, a common bird in Uruguay - I'll color it anyway, and make a note.
Birds near I-20 around Odessa and Monahans
4. Great-tailed Grackle, Quiscalus mexicanus
5. Brewer's Blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus
6. Western (probably) Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta
Crossing the Pecos River we had:
7. Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, fighting the wind
8. Mexican (maybe) Duck, Anas platyrhynchos
9. Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis
10. Bewick's Wren, Thryomanes bewickii
Continuing south to Alpine we had:
11. Chihuahuan Raven, Corvus cryptoleucos
12. Cactus Wren, Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
13. Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, several kettles totalling 70 birds in downtown Alpine
Pulling into the Antelope Lodge in Alpine:
14. White-winged Dove, Zenaida asiatica
In Alpine's town park:
15. Say's Phoebe, Sayornis saya
16. Eurasian Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto - new for our N. Am. lists
17. European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
18. Killdeer, Charadrius vociferus
19. Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus
20. Canyon Towhee, Pipilo fuscus
21. Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Aimophila ruficeps
-- four Mule Deer, Odocoileus hemionus
22. Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia (the southwestern form, very rufous)
23. Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus (southwestern form, very pale)
24. Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus
Leaving the park just after sunset, we made a quick stop to pick up some camping food at the Thriftway grocery store, then got ourselves to a restaurant before the 8pm closing time. A Tex-Mex place recommended by the front desk clerk at the Antelope Lodge, it turned out to be simple verging on the point of ridiculous. Everything came from a can, or a freezer bag, the staff began to mop the floor with bleach (ackkk!) while we were still eating - and only soda to wash it down. After a very long travel day, we were looking forward to a beer with our Tex-Mex. Nobody mentioned that we could step out to the nearby package store and bring a can inside... Whatever.
Okay, back at the Antelope Lodge, we got organized for the day ahead. Perhaps here a brief description of our quarters is in order. We found this place on the internet, one of the cheaper accommodations around, and chose one of the smaller rooms. Nonetheless, we have a kitchenette, closet-ette, bathroom-ette and comfortable bed. The room, and exterior of our duplex unit, is decorated with colored glass, art and artifacts, and is quite pleasant, although unheated.
At the motel office I had to sign a paper promising that we would refrain from washing our boots in the bathroom, and further we would NOT use the bath towels for cleaning said boots. Remember, we're in Texas. They offered clean rags for such activities, which I accepted, since our boots were pretty dirty. Adjacent to the motel office was a gift shop featuring gemstones, rocks, minerals and cut glass items - these same had been used for decorations throughout the Antelope Lodge complex. All decorative items had been glued in place, and by signing the above-mentioned paper, I was additionally promising that we would not attempt to remove such items from our room.
It's late, and we have another really early morning tomorrow - up and off to Big Bend National Park, to meet my sister Karen for some hiking and more birding.
ciao
Sue
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