Direct Flight

Where the vultures take advantage of updrafts to conserve energy as they circle and soar overhead, the cormorants fly in a direct path from one location to another. When they are flying a relatively long distance, they typically fly in a flock in a V shape formation. Thursday, a flock of five Neotropic Cormorants flew downstream paralleling the river channel:

The vultures dance in the sky, but the cormorants always seem to know exactly where they are going and are in a hurry to get there.

This set of photographs was taken downstream from the VFW Blvd Trailhead along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Thursday, December 19, 2013.

Birds at Elmendorf Lake, Autumn 2013, Part 2, Bird Island

All the photographs in this series were taken from the northwest end of the large island looking across the lake toward Bird Island. There were only a few Great Egrets, one Great Blue Heron that was being extremely camera shy and more Cormorants than I could count. The only Cormorants I could clearly identify were Neotropic, but I suspect there were quite a few Double-crested ones as well:

This set of photographs was taken at Elmendorf Lake Park on Thursday, November 21, 2013.

Part 1
Part 3

Much to Celebrate

The Grand Opening celebration of the final completion of the Mission Reach Ecosystem Restoration and Recreation Project will be held this Saturday, October 5th. This is the largest urban riparian ecosystem restoration to be completed anywhere in the United States. While this celebration marks the completion of the infrastructure construction, an ecosystem restoration of this magnitude is generational, requiring up to 75 years to fully mature.

The project is the result of extraordinary cooperation involving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bexar County, The City of San Antonio, the National Park Service, the San Antonio River Foundation and the San Antonio River Improvement Project with the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) serving as the managing partner. Kudos to all those at SARA who have worked so hard and continue to work to make this project a reality.

In celebration, all the posts here on While on a Walk this week and next will be of photographs taken along the Mission Reach.

The cormorants were very active along the river this past Monday. This is the time of year when the Double-crested Cormorants begin returning to spend the winter. Numerous flocks of  nine to fifteen Double-crested Cormorants were flying upstream in the V-shaped formations most people associate with geese.

Meanwhile, a pair of Neotropic Cormorants were flying downstream:

This set of photographs was taken along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River not far downstream from the Southcross Blvd bridge on Monday, September 30, 2013.

Encountering Turbulence

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, Confluence Park Trailhead
from the top of the Mitchell St bridge downstream
to the San Pedro Creek confluence

Today's photos:

I never know with any certainty what I will encounter when I go out on my walks. However, what I did know with a great deal of certainty when I headed to the River today was that I would encounter high, turbulent water.

Over the past two days, a tad more than 2.5 inches of rain fell in San Antonio. If I was surprised by anything in particular, it was the relatively lower flow of water in San Pedro Creek which conveys the water from the westside creeks as it merges with the San Antonio River.

The swift flow and turbulence didn't phase the cormorants at all. One even managed to catch a fish in the turbid water. These birds are powerful swimmers capable of negotiating the rough currents. Meanwhile, mallards found refuge in quieter side pools.

Once again, there are at least a couple more posts of photos from this walk for future publication.

From the Other Side of the River

Monday, October 29, 2012

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, Theo Ave Trailhead downstream

Today's photos:

Last week the newest section of the San Antonio River Mission Reach, Phase 2, Greenway trail opened with a trailhead on Theo Ave. This section of the trail goes downstream along the bank on the west side of the river, crosses Concepcíon Creek over a pedestrian bridge and joins the main greenway trail at the pedestrian bridge over the river just upstream from Mission Rd. The closest parking to the Theo Ave trailhead is in Concepcíon Park. This new section of trail completes a loop from the Concepcíon Park trailhead.

The new section of trail remains closer to the river bed than the trail along the east side of the river. It also provides a new angle of view to the large embayment area in this section of the river.