The San Antonio River, Roosevelt Park Trailhead, South

Friday, December 16, 2011

Today's photos:

This afternoon the temperature was back down to the mid to upper 50s with a biting north wind. My walk was relatively short from the Roosevelt Park Trailhead south to the Steves Ave bridge and back. I was on the trail for just over an hour.

In that short time, I took a multitude of photos. It has not been unusual for me to begin a walk, like today's, doubting if I'll find anything at all worth photographing and end the walk with so many photos, it becomes an editing challenge. There are enough additional photos from today for at least three more posts and possibly more. It will take a while to really go through the entire set.

For now, the photos above tell the general story of today's walk. 

The American Robin

The American Robin is a common bird found in all areas of the continental United States. The one place I can almost always count on seeing them is in the Headwaters Sanctuary in the Olmos Basin. There is a fairly large flock of robins that have made this area in the basin a permanent home for many years. These photos were taken on my walk on Friday, November 25:

There are three additional species of robins: White-throated, Rufous-backed and Clay-colored. These three are rarely seen as far north as the Rio Grande Valley.

Hardberger Park; Water Loop Trail; A Warm, Wet Winter Day

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Today's photos:

This morning it was drizzling with some scattered heavier showers. The precipitation let up early in the afternoon and the temperature headed into the low 70s. It occurred to me it would be a perfect afternoon to walk the Water Loop Trail at Hardberger Park. I definitely was not disappointed.

While we still need a lot more rain to come out of the extreme drought, the vegetation is lush from the rain we have had the past few months. Nothing is more beautiful than seeing water flowing in what have been powder dry stream beds. The photos tell the rest of the story.