Balmorhea State Park

I learned something today about coots. That's one reason birding never gets old. So much to learn. I'd been seeing occasional reports on ebird of Red-Shielded American Coots. To me they looked like all the coots I've ever seen in my life, so I consulted our reviewer, Steven Cardiff. He said all American Coots in our country are the Red-shielded variety, so it's the same no matter how you report them. 

Today I went back to Balmorhea but this time, instead of just birding the lake, I quit before I was too exhausted to bird the state park there also. It had been under reconstruction for the last two years so today was my first time there since it reopened. These photos shows the long row of spiffy new canpsites. All they seem to lack is AC.  😀

My assessment is that the campgrounds are significantly improved and updated, but the rest is much the same.  I was pretty tired by the time I got there, but enjoyed it nevertheless. I'm not usually able to get close enough to ducks for good photos, so that was fun, even if they were just common species (2 Lesser Scaups and a Ring-necked Duck).

Once again, I didn't see the caracaras, but not surprised. The best bird of the day was a Gray Catbird at the state park that, regrettably, I wasn't fast enough to get a photo of. Here's where I saw it, which is still my favorite spot at the park. You can't really tell from this photo, but there's a small waterfall there. It carries water from the spring-fed swimming pool to the cienega in a spot I've never seen anyone else, even though the park was quite busy today, as it usually is.