A Common Mestra Butterfly. There were dozens of them out this afternoon. I must have seen 50 of them and got pictures of 10 or 12. They generally range from southern Texas down into Costa Rica. But they will be seen here and as far north as the Dakotas. We saw them down in the valley just last week, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen there here before.

It was a very nice afternoon. 

We were in the valley for the entire Thanksgiving week. We met some very nice people and visited several great parks and playgrounds. We had a very nice time. We posted photos from the first half of our stay on Wednesday 11-23. Below you will see photos from the Wednesday through Friday -  and a brief video. Hope you enjoy them.

The next time you are thinking of going to South Padre Island to play on the beach, remember this little video.

It was taken on the island, about 200 yards away from the convention center and just across the street from the Hilton Hotel.

 

Friends and family,

We are spending Thanksgiving week in the Rio Grande Valley. “The Valley” is the area where Texas, Mexico, the Rio Grande River and the Gulf of Mexico all converge. It is a wonderful mixing of cultures, habitats and wildlife. There are wintering birds here from all over North America. “The Valley” is the northern range of birds from Central and South America.

We went to the flea market in Brownsville looking for Mexican ceramics and instead found amazing “gorditas” and “taquitos” (Mexican food). We went to the Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge hoping to see an ocelot and instead discovered an enormous alligator, about 12 feet long. We went to the South Padre Island Birding Center to observe shore birds and instead discovered two more alligators, as well as an amazing assortment of shore birds.

We hope that you enjoy the photos.

Happy Thanksgiving from Dennis and Michael

The following pictures were taken by Dennis

And the following pictures were taken by Mike