Every Day is a New Day

The brown pelicans love to splash onto the water to stir up some grub.

Happy New Year!

Every day is a new day. We are grateful for the chance to start new things in our lives.

The black-crested titmouse is a local variant. Love the "mohawk"!

A new question we ask each other pretty much daily is, "What are we going to do for nature today?" Ideally nature and exercise go hand in hand, so it is the same concern we address on a daily basis. It's just that being here in a location that is different in many ways from our home in Illinois, we are trying to take advantage of our limited time to see and experience local nature.

Black-necked stilts and their pretty pink legs.

Since the Rio Grande Valley is known for its bird watching, and there are many avid birders all around us, seeing nature inevitably leads to bird walks, guides, hikes, tram rides, and conversations with many people about birds. We learn on almost a daily basis new places to go and see birds!

Here are some of the latest bird-watching exploits:

The board walk at South Padre Island Nature and Birding Center is a fantastic way to get in amongst the birds in the marshy area on the shore of Laguna Madre, a saline intercostal waterway.

There's a lot of Spanish moss around here!

Near the Visitor's Center at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.