2007/02/02
Canoeing Down the Rio Grande
When we visited the Santa Anna Wildlife Refuge a few days back we saw a sign indicating that you could go on a canoe trip down the Rio Grande River so we signed up. And today is the big day — it wasn’t raining and the road to the drop off point was accessible so off we went. By co-incidence a neighbour across the road from us (that we met on a bird walk) signed up for the canoe trip as well. They are much better birders than us as they have been birding for about 20 years so we were happy they were on the trip and could identify birds for us. A full load headed down the river — 6 canoes with 3 people each. As we were going with the current and weren’t in a hurry as we wanted to look at birds, I thought it was an easy float — Ed, who was the tail gunner, said there was more paddling involved than I thought — knew there was a reason I sat up front. It was a wonderful experience and a great way to see birds from a different perspective. We saw three green herons, a black-crowned night heron, all three types of kingfishers (ringed, belted and green), cormorants, anhingas, a least grebe, yellow-rumped warblers, a ruby-crowned kinglet, ducks, hawks, a great kiskadee and several other birds. The day would have been perfect if it had been a bit warmer.
Back at the campground it was fresh cinnamon rolls baked by Rosetta — they were oh so good. Then 17 of us headed out for dinner. The excuse for dinner out was “hello” and “good-bye” — we are leaving and heading west on Sunday and two couples (one of the couples went to college with one of our neighbours 40 or so years ago and have kept in touch) arrived today. Mexican food was the choice and we went to a place called Panchos. The restaurant is fairly large and has several rooms and we got a one to ourselves. The food was excellent especially the Charro beans, a spicy Mexican pork and beans style soup.
It was a little foggy when we set out.
floating down the river
A Harris Hawk was spotted in the campground sitting on a pole ---- Ed caught the hawk as it was leaving.
Back at the campground it was fresh cinnamon rolls baked by Rosetta — they were oh so good. Then 17 of us headed out for dinner. The excuse for dinner out was “hello” and “good-bye” — we are leaving and heading west on Sunday and two couples (one of the couples went to college with one of our neighbours 40 or so years ago and have kept in touch) arrived today. Mexican food was the choice and we went to a place called Panchos. The restaurant is fairly large and has several rooms and we got a one to ourselves. The food was excellent especially the Charro beans, a spicy Mexican pork and beans style soup.
It was a little foggy when we set out.
floating down the river
A Harris Hawk was spotted in the campground sitting on a pole ---- Ed caught the hawk as it was leaving.
