Palo Duro Canyon Texas State Park (birds)

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

 I was able to park and just walk in a small area near the car in clear terrain (keeping watch for snakes) and see all of these birds. There were also a few who avoided me a little better, sorry for that.

A few Bullock’s Orioles.

A couple of little woodpeckers.

(This one cracked me up, as he peeked around making sure the coast was clear for him to lunch on the “no picnicking sign”.)

A cute little Lark Sparrow perched on a rock.

A few Finches, I kept scaring the poor female off her nest. She built under a picnic shelter and each time I passed under the shelter she scared me as much as I scared her.

But my prize of the day was the privilege of seeing, in real life, with my own two eyes, a Painted Bunting. I had only seen this bird in my bird book and thought it would be cool to see one but I feel especially special that one happened to be at the canyon during the the short time I was there watching.

So bright and colorful, people often mistake the Painted Bunting for an escaped pet tropical bird.

He wouldn’t let me get any closer but I hope you can see how beautiful he is. I soaked up his song while my men waited for me at the car.

Identification
An adult male Painted Bunting is arguably the most distinctive songbird in North America, with the combination of a deep blue head, red underparts, a green back, and a red rump. While not as brightly colored as males, female Painted Buntings are also distinctive. The female has an overall greenish plumage which is more darkly colored above than below.
~quoted from Audubon (They left off the red eye ring mentioned on other sites.)

Isn’t he beautiful?! I got too close apparently and off he flew. I enjoyed my time in his presence and hope you have too.

As we drove out of the park Dennis pulled off to the side and I shot this bird from the car. I’m pretty sure it’s a Western Kingbird.

A little further down the road we scared few vultures off from their meal but one paused long enough for a shot.

Palo Duro Canyon Texas State Park (flowers)

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon of Texas? After playing at the Cadillac Ranch for a while we headed south of Amarillo to Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

The Canyon is 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide, and has a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. Its elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level. It is often claimed that Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States. The largest, the Grand Canyon, is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6,000 ft. deep.
~quoted from Palo Duro Canyon dot com.

Although this was my second time there, the funny thing is I really haven’t taken any photos of the canyon. The first time we were there we biked like crazy, wiping out, brushing ourselves off and biking some more. This time the guys hiked to a cave to explore a bit and I guarded the car (not really) and snapped photos of flowers and birds. I’ll show you some of the cool flowers I saw today then we’ll do the birds tomorrow. If you want to see the canyon I’m afraid you’ll have to click the link up there.

Along the road - Route 66

Texas Route 66 themed rest area.

Taken with the point and shoot as I was too pooped to carry the big ‘un.

Let's all go to the Cadillac Ranch

We only cut across the northeast corner of New Mexico and after the little stop at the Volcano we made it quickly to Texas.

Doing some geocaching along our way, we discovered this neat cemetery just outside the Texas Boys’ Ranch.

This is a grave in the nearby pet cemetery. Notice the tennis ball on top of the cross.

We spent the night in Amarillo and bright and early the next day we went to the Cadillac Ranch. Although we had driven by the Caddies many times over the years, we had never stopped and walked up before.

Due to the fact it was raining I left the big cameras in the car, so all these shots were taken with the point and shoot.

You are encouraged to leave your mark on the cars. So while I walked around snapping a few photos, Haden shook the paint cans lying around trying to find some paint.

Looks like someone spent some time there.

There’s a virtual cache there and Haden found some paint so the guys painted our handles on the car with the tires that don’t turn. Check - another cache found by bandits and Lil’ Banditto.

And Haden made his own mark. Proof we were there.  But the funny thing is, our marks are most likely already painted over.

Terlingua, Texas

It seemed a few of you were curious about the piano in Monday’s post and I couldn’t resist telling more of the story. Five years ago, we were living in the very bottom of Texas and decided to go to Big Bend for our honeymoon. Along the way we found the neatest little Ghost town, Terlingua.

That piano was right inside the door of the building, The Perry Mansion, pictured above. We were so intrigued by the building and really wanted to explore it but we were good and stayed out (and safe). I wonder if that building is still there?

Here you can see that building in the background of another dying building. What’s up with that rock line?

I thought this little Bronco truck was so cute I wanted to take it home. But only took a photo.

Oh heck, just enjoy this pictures of the area. Maybe I’ll make it back there someday but if you go before me, take lots of photos and share them, please.

The word Terlingua means three languages.

(yes, that’s my finger, see Joy, I can take bad ones.)

Prior to 1967, Terlingua, Texas, was an abandoned mercury-mining town near the Mexican border, about as far from anything else as it could get. But that year, humorist H. Allen Smith published an article in the New York Times titled, "Nobody Knows More About Chili Than I Do," which included his recipe for chili with beans. A response came back from Wick Fowler, a Dallas newspaperman whose hobby was cooking chili, that if you knew beans about chili, you knew chili didn't have beans.

A showdown between the two men was arranged in remote Terlingua - the first chili cookoff ever - and the winner was to be crowned the world chili champion. Though the contest ended in a tie, the event was a wild success, and Terlingua was deemed the "Chili Capitol of the World." Annual cookoffs have been held there ever since.

Quoted from the Tabasco website.

Isn’t this area great? I love all of the southwest and have been gone far too long! Then combine the southwest with cemetery and oh my! I spent way too much time there, as you could probably tell by the photos.  The cemetery photos are actually better in the bigger size but you'd have to go to flickr to see that.  There are a lot of wooden crosses there.

While we were there we found a little shop (I think that’s it in the photo but am not really positive) and bought an autographed photo book of the town, THE TERLINGUA AREA PEOPLE AND NATURE. And not too far away is a very nice golf course, believe it or not. We were told by the locals that famous people fly in often to play the course. Can you imagine a green in that desolate, desert area? Can you tell I love, love, love the area?