A great place to bird...

Texas is a great place to bird. Most of the migratory bird species that nest in North America will pass through Texas at some point. I visited the San Antonio Botanical Garden my second day in town and the birds appeared to be as thrilled with it as I was. It's a gorgeous park, sprawling over 33 acres, it includes several greenhouses featuring different collections as well as trails which pass through representations of three of the typical habitats of Texas: South Texas, Piney Woods and Hill Country. Before I knew it three hours had passed and I was a bit tired and hungry. Fortunately for me the Garden has a nice cafe where I was able to revive with a bowl of lamb caldo and some tea.

On Saturday, a wonderful woman I met through the Yahoo! Group SATXbirds forum picked me up at my hotel and we spent the day birding together. We visited the headwaters of the San Antonio River, then headed for Warbler Woods, which is a private estate that is kept as a nature preserve and sanctuary. The birds were pretty quiet that day, but it was still an incredible spot and I hope to return for another visit. After that we had lunch at a fabulous Texas barbecue joint called Harmon's. The chopped pork sandwich was to die for and the ambiance couldn't be beat - there were even horses tied to a hitching post out back. Following lunch we headed out to Mitchell Lake Audubon Center where we found a couple of wonderful birds - a Green-Tailed Towhee and a Least Grebe.

I haven't sat down and completed my trip checklist yet but when I do I'll be updating this post with it. You can see plenty of photos over at my Flickr account in my San Antonio Collection.