It was close to a year since Andrea and I had been on a photo adventure. Little did I know when I planned this trip, we would have a rather rough winter with her mom dying. So I was really looking forward to us getting away for a few days to enjoy some bird photography.
This time we were headed to Uvalde, Texas to photograph at the blinds at La Lomita Wildlife Photography Ranch. As always though, no trip we take can be complete without some odd stories. For this trip they all seemed to occur on the day we flew out to San Antonio.
On our layover in Tampa, yes drawing a straight line from Rochester to San Antonio takes you through Florida, Andrea and I happened to order the same fast food meal without knowing it and to say is was one of the worst burgers we ever ate would be an understatement. Unfortunately, that was only the start of our food adventures for the day.
The rest of the trip to San Antonio went smoothly, including our luggage being first on the carousel. So shortly after landing we were in our SUV and headed southwest for our hour and a half drive to Uvalde.
When I was checking us into the hotel, the person at the desk let me know that I had two reservations, one in my name and another in Andrea's. Apparently a glitch in their system caused a double booking. I said we would only need one room, to which she replied, “So you want to cancel the second room?” At that point my jaw actually dropped and my head tilted. “Well...yeah.” was my reply.
Next thing I know, she messed something up and canceled both rooms. After 10 minutes of trying to fix things, she finally had to re-book our room. In her incompetence in canceling both rooms, we got hit with a no show fee. Later that week, I called about the fee and it was finally returned after a rather unpleasant conversation with the hotel manager.
To top off the day of fun so far, Andrea wanted to get pizza from Pizza Hut. Let's just say it rivaled the burger from Tampa in its awfulness.
So with our trip off to a rousing start, we awoke the next morning, ate and headed off to the ranch to meet Greg and Laura, who would be our guides then next three days.
They drove us back to the Pyrrhuloxia (peer-uh-LOX-ee-a) blind and we set up for the morning. It wasn't long before the birds appeared, including the blind's namesake, which is also known as the desert cardinal.
There were two birds in particular that I wanted to photograph, the green jay and the painted bunting. Within an hour we had multiple sightings of each bird. Over the course of the next three days, we saw countless numbers of them.
As the morning passed, we got to know Laura and Greg better and learn more about the Ranch and its owner Doc. The morning flew by as we laughed through stories we shared.
After lunch, we returned but only Greg was there. Laura had a slight medical issue so she couldn't join us. This time we headed back to the Green Jay blind, which is set up for afternoon photography. Andrea and I spent the next few hours taking pictures and getting to know Greg better. We really go along with both of them because they're a lot like us in their humor. We did see a couple of new birds as a nashville warbler and spotted towhee came through. Also orchard oriole and bullocks orioles made an appearance. Soon it was time to call it a day and we headed back to the hotel and dinner.
The next morning, Andrea wasn't feeling well, so I went on my own. Greg and Laura were waiting for me and we headed back to the Roadrunner blind for the morning.
It was a rather cloudy and rainy morning, but that didn't deter the birds. Along with the usual cast of characters we had seen the day before, I was able to photograph a white-eyed vireo, hooded orioles, long-billed thrashers, lesser goldfinch and a vermilion flycatcher. I also was able to photograph a mexican ground squirrel.
In the afternoon, we headed back to the Green Jay blind. The only new bird I saw was the black-crested titmouse. Besides that, it was the orchard oriole and painted bunting show. Males of both species were plentiful and after the morning rains, had come out in the sun to feed.
Quite a few male and female painted buntings took advantage of the blind's small pond and had a bath. Before I knew it, day two was complete. We were heading elsewhere for day three so we had to meet Greg and Laura at La Lomita at 6:30 AM to head to our destination.
For our last day of photography, we were headed to Doc's main place, the Transition Ranch, which is located outside of Brakettville, Texas. It was an hour drive to the middle of absolutely nowhere. Even Google Maps didn't know where we were.
The ranch is a 2400 acre property that Doc uses for wildlife photography along with some other things. He's a retired veterinarian who enjoys wildlife photography.
We set up in the morning blind and just like the other days, the birds didn't wait long to appear. Andrea saw some new species, both the black-crested titmouse and the yellow breasted chat. We also saw the male and female summer tanager, which I had only poor photos of before. Lastly, we both saw a new bird, the woodhouse's scrub-jay.
As the morning progressed, storms started to come through and eventually we got clobbered by a very heavy rain and wind, which lasted for a good fifteen minutes. Fortunately the lighting never got very close so we just hunkered in the blind. After the storms rolled past, there wasn't a cloud in the sky for the rest of the day.
After having lunch with Greg and Laura, we came back to the afternoon blind and Doc dropped by. Since we had time before the birds would normally appear, he invited us to take a tour of the ranch. So Andrea and I pilled into his 4x4 UTV and took off down a bumpy road even further into the middle of nowhere.
We learn about Indian mounds and how to spot them. Doc has a few on his land. He also explained how the ranch got it's name. There are just a couple of counties in Texas where the northern, eastern, southern and western range maps of many bird species overlaps. The ranch happens to sit on part of this land. These are known as transition zones, hence the name. Depending on where you are on the property, the birds can be completely different.
After an hour or so, we came back to the blind for our afternoon shoot. With a clear sky, the painted buntings came out in droves. Scrub jays and hooded orioles made multiple appearances.
Just like the previous two days, the afternoon quickly went by. But before it came to an end we had one more unique visitor. As we sat quietly, a greater roadrunner came in from the right side of the viewing area. The bird hung out on the rocks for a few minutes before getting a drink at the pond. In all we were able to spend a good amount of time watching this bird. That was a great way to finish up the trip.
Doc came back over to the blind as we were packing up and the group of us talked for a while. Eventually we took some group shots and said our goodbyes. We were flying out the next day to go to Houston to see Andrea's brother and his wife, before heading home.
In the end I was able to photograph ten new birds and a new squirrel. I also was able to get either better or first photos of four to five other birds that I had only seen once or twice before. All in all, we had a great time with Greg and Laura and we hope to travel back down to see them again.
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