February 29th is a free day in my book - so we took a break and headed off to Harlingen's World Birding Center. The park had tons of visitors today so ours was not an original idea. . . .
I had never seen Guayacan, Guaiacum agustifolium, blooming until today - Wow! What a beauty! I don't have any in my yard - but will be adding one or two this spring! This is an understory tree as it only grows to 8 or 10 feet. This one was nearly as wide as it was tall. The bark can be made into soap, so this plant is also called soapbush. This Valley native would look great in any landscape!
On the north side of the park, there are large plantings of prickly pear cactus. Lot of buds beginning to pop out. I'll have to check back in a week or two and see if they're blooming!
This is a piece of citrus "staked" on this tree. I know that orioles and woodpeckers both love fruit. Volunteers had placed citrus halves all over the park - especially near the photo blinds.
There are many ponds all over the park - but this American Coot was the only water bird we saw - it must have been naptime.
I thought this grass was especially pretty. I don't know its name and am too lazy tonight to look it up! Feel free to educate me!
This little sweetie is the other half of my "we". I must admit that playing on the "dinosaur eggs" was her favorite part of our excursion!
Special thanks go out to the Arroyo Colorado Audubon Society and the Cameron County Master Naturalists for all their work in this park.
6 comments:
Neat park. I love the "dino eggs" and am surprised to see the prickly pear budding already. Thanks for showing us the sights.
What a great way to spend that "extra day". I wish I would have thought about doing something similar. In four years, I'll have to remember to make the 29th special.
Jan Always Growing
My kind of day, it looks like a great park
Mary Beth, I know how fun the other half of 'we' can be on those day-jaunts. I will have my 2 year old all day tomorrow. He just loves to play in Mimi's backyard and he also goes to the plant nursery with me like a champ.
Thanks for sharing your excursion with us it looks like a great place to visit.
Thanks for taking us to yet another part of Texas that we'd love to see - you appreciate the cool stuff, Mary Beth!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Pam, Jan, Russell, Meems, and Annie - So glad you joined my granddaughter and I on our little excursion! It was such a fun afternoon. . .
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