Meteorologists tell us that fog is created with a cold air/warm air conversion. It was 84 degrees when I left around 6:30 in the morning, heading toward Calallen, Texas. Taking highway #44 from Corpus Christi, I drove into ground fog along the way. All I can say is: "I wish the cold air was surrounding me! 84 is just too hot that hour in the morning." At my first stop, the fog lingered in the valley as I searched the horizon.
By the time I arrived at the park, I stopped at the hawk watch platform. It was now posted due to the virus pandemic. And the annual hawkwatch for recording the raptors' migration begins August 1st and continues thru to November 15th. A long time. But the group of volunteer recorders is a large number, so I understand the caution. Since it was around 7 a.m., I figured I was safe to open the 'gate' and climb the tower - I didn't touch anything or lean on the platform the whole time:
There, I saw green jays, woodpeckers, cardinals, sparrows, humming birds, tufted titmouse, doves, and mockingbirds. The cardinals and mockingbirds were in molting phase. Not too attractive.
Off I went to the field and valley area along the river road. Here, I saw mostly swallows. I was literally taken aback by the numbers! I did not resize this upcoming photo at all. It's right off the camera card, and VERY LARGE [a little over 1MB in pixel size]. But, in order to see just a 'few' of the numbers of swallows roosting, I had to keep it large for y'all. Click on the photo to embiggen it. Look on the 2nd from the top power line. You'll be astounded, I think...
PS at 5 a.m. I counted them in the photo: 155!
And, since this last image uploaded is so heavy in pixels, I will stop here and continue the rest of the photos taken along the river in the next post. To be continued...