Entrance Sign (click on this and the other photos for additional sets of images):
We flew out to visit our son and his wife and five children in the Texas Panhandle. Our grandchildren wanted to visit Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, located south of Amarillo, in Canyon, Texas. The refuge held some surprises today. Over the past 15 years, we have visited Buffalo Lake many times, but this was the first time we saw Mountain Bluebirds. A flock of about a dozen of these beautiful birds entertained us. As usual, we saw many deer, but we also saw two other furry and spiny creatures.
Mountain Bluebird peers at me intensely (click on photo for more views):
This Mountain Bluebird flew down to forage in the grass, landing only about ten feet away (click photo for more views):
Bluebirds often hover in place for a second or two, and sometimes glean in trees or in the grass while hovering. I did not capture this behavior, but did catch this one just leaving a perch (click on photo for more views):
Many meadowlarks were singing. I only heard the carols of the Eastern Meadowlark:
The children were delighted when their Mom spotted a clump in a tree that turned out to be a porcupine (click photo for more views):
Also representing the mammalian class, two coyotes watched us. This one allowed me to approach within about 100 yards: