Choke Canyon Historical Facts tell us of the prehistoric findings before and during the making of Choke Canyon Reservoir between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas. Recently, Bud and I drove up to what is now a state park - a beautiful, scenic, area with the bit unknown 26,000 acre watering hole!! Its water volume is 695,000 acre feet!!! It's been dubbed South Plains Texas's secret. And it is an ideal area to see all kinds of wildlife. From many migrating birds from the north that come south for the winter and stop over...to resident year 'round birds like jays, vultures, and wild turkeys. On this particular day trip, Bud and I saw alligators, ducks, ospreys, hawks, egrets, vultures [both black and turkey], doves, herons, white tailed deer, armadillo, flycatchers, sandpipers, sparrows, woodpeckers, and more.We also found a cache of an ancient palm forest with beds of petrified palm wood!! This, another little known fact, is the state of Texas's state rock. Most states within the USA have official flags, fossils and minerals, etc. I make use of this site listed oftentimes.
I, personally, like to think of this area as the beginning [or the end of- depending on which direction you're traveling] of Texas Hill Country. Rolling, gentle sloping hills dot the plains. Three Rivers flow through....the canyon and state park is just a few miles from the aptly named town of Three Rivers, Texas. Just outside the town's boundaries, nestled in the dense brushlands, driving the highway toward the state park, you'd find a medium security federal prison [correctional facility], where, right now, a notorious computer hacker is serving a sentence with release date of 2017.
Anyway, once you get past all this...the highway marks two different entrances to the state park. South and Calliham. We drove to Calliham and entered there. We ended up at 75 acre lake which, in a way, is a bit reminiscent of some of Louisiana's landscape. Swamp and large trees jutting up from the grassy berms...
Sharing a few other photos, I took during the gray, overcast day-- -- --
Along the banks of the reservoir
Golden Fronted Woodpecker
75 Acre Lake
[last photo is zoomed in of one photo already shared, the next to last in this lake series -of a silhouetted osprey atop one of the tree branches]
Some Bird Life...
Egrets, Blue Heron, Spotted Sandpiper, Green Jays