South to San Juan Dam

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, VFW Blvd Trailhead
downstream to San Juan Dam at Padre Park and back

Today's photos:

The newest segment of the San Antonio River Greenway from VFW Blvd downstream to San Juan Dam at Padre Park opened a short while ago. Today was my first opportunity to walk this new section of the Greenway Trail. With each new section of trail that opens, the enormous scale of the River Improvement Project becomes more apparent and more impressive.

In this set of photos, there are:

An European honey bee,

A neotropic cormorant (Phalacrocorax brsilianus) fishing. In the last photo of that series, the cormorant has just resurfaced with a small catfish grasped firmly in its beak,

A lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes),

My friend, the red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus),

A slider turtle,

And an orange sulphur butterfly (Colias eurytheme).

The second to the last photo is a view of the new river segment looking downstream from Mission County Park toward San Juan Dam.

The last photo is a view of the Mission San José bell tower and dome. This was taken from about the center of the VFW Blvd bridge looking toward the west southwest. One of the primary purposes of the River Improvement Project is to re-establish the historic link between the River and the Missions. The process of nominating the River Greenway and the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park as a World Heritage Site is well underway. Achieving that status will be an important recognition for both the site and for the San Antonio community.