Coyotes

We have a pair of coyotes that come through the park at least once a week.  They might smell the corn that everyone throws on the ground for the deer.  The deer always keep a watchful eye on them when they run through here.  This place is full of wildlife.  We've only seen the deer and coyotes but everyone tells us there are quail, turkey and wild pigs that come through the park as well.

We have had dreary weather for the last week or so and are going to see more rain and clouds for another week.   Its not cold -- its been in the 50's and 60's and even into the 70's once in a while.  We miss the sunny, dry days we had in Yuma.  I guess being this close to the coast we should expect this kind of weather.   At least we won't see any of that nasty, cold white stuff on the ground down here. 

Houses on the Water

Port Mansfield is full of houses built along the canals that run through town.   You have your boat dockage right out your back door.  The canals all join up into one main channel that you follow out to the Laguna.  Most of the property here is rental property.  They rent out the houses by the day and week and in the winter they will rent by the month.  Winter is the slow season down here for fishing even though the fishing is still pretty good.   There are some beautiful houses but then right next door could be a small dumpy looking place.  There is some new home building going on here.   Its easy to see how a hurricane could come through and reek total havoc.   A lot of the houses are built on concrete pilings "stilts" to help keep them above storm surge water. 

Its typical Texas here -- very windy -- some days and at least some wind most days.  Being so close to the salt water we are seeing rvs, boats, bikes, etc rusting away here.  We bought some black rustoleum to try and stay on top of the little bits of rust we are seeing on our stuff but we do not want to stay here too long and have major rust problems. 

Birds of a Feather

We are enjoying the different birds we are seeing down here in south Texas.  The bird picture is a gold-fronted woodpecker.  It has an interesting yellow spot above its beak and a pretty red spot on the back of the head.  This one is looking for bugs on a palm tree.  These woodpeckers are only found in the southwest part of the U.S. 

At least once a month a group of ultralite flyers comes to the RV park in town that is closer to the small airport.  There were at least five of them up flying one weekend.   They look like they are having a good time.  They have their meetings and potlucks at the RV park.  These guys haul their flying machines in the back of their 5th wheel RVs.  Its an RV like ours only with a "garage" in the back where they can store their machines.  Most people use these "toyhauler" RVs to haul their 4 wheelers or motorcycles.  This is the first time we saw ultralite flying machines come out the back end of one. 

Our Own Manger Scene

Jim has been busy feeding the deer that hang around the RV park.  The deer are everywhere in town as well.   Everyone feeds them and they are almost pets / pests.  Many times during the day they will just lay down right in our little yard.  I will be reading in my chair and look behind me and there they are lying down.   We've also had a pair of coyotes come through the park at least twice a week.  The deer keep a wary eye on them as they travel through the park. 

Port Mansfield is kind of a strange place.  Its not incorporated and is run by the Port Authority so there is no government per se only some kind of board.  The only group that seems to do anything is the chamber of commerce although they don't seem to do much.  One of the locals was saying that there are a few rich home owners that sit on the "board" and they don't allow much of anything to change here.  Its too bad since it is known as one of the top ten salt water fishing hotspots in the country. 

Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge

We've been checking out south Texas.  We went to two wildlife refuges.  The first one was Laguna Atascosa which is just north of South Padre Island on the coast.  It attracts a lot of ducks and birds that are migrating.  They had a special deer hunt going on the day we were there so some of the areas were closed off for hunters only.  The road to get to this refuge was one big pothole.  We would not go back because of the road.

We also went to Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge which is down in the Rio Grande Valley.  It is on the Rio Grand itself so its as close to Mexico as you can get.  A few years ago the Rio Grande flooded and took out a lot of the structures in the refuge.  They have rebuilt the trails and overlook decks.  We got to see our first Green Jays and Chachalacas.  The Green Jays are beautiful with their pretty blue heads and bright green bodies.  The Chachalacas are the size of Grouse or small chickens.  They can fan out their tail feathers like a turkey.  I think they are hunted like other game birds.   

Port Mansfield

We are now staying at a nice RV Park in Port Mansfield, TX.   The park is full of deer so Jim has started feeding them.  One guy in the park gave Jim a bag of animal crackers to feed the deer.  It turns out that the deer love them.  All the stores sell deer corn because it is not illegal in Texas to feed deer.  Its kind of sad that you can have deer feeders and then shoot the deer that you have lured in during deer season.  There are hundreds of deer that hang around Port Mansfield.  They are in everyones yards and they are fairly tame.   They are also very small so not much meat on them.

There are several boat launches in town that dump you into the Laguna Madre.  Everyone that is staying in this town fishes.   The Laguna is over 10 miles wide and several hundred miles long following the coast down all the way to Brownsville.  The Padre Islands separate the Laguna from the Gulf.  You can get to the Gulf through the Port Mansfield cut.  They actually dug a channel (cut) through Padre Island in order to get out to the Gulf.  The Laguna is only 1 to 5 feet deep so you need a fairly flat bottomed boat to fish it. 

Very Nice and Very Odd Water Creatures

I'm still sharing pictures from Padre Island National Seashore.  We saw these wonderful Red-headed Ducks.  They are the first ones I've ever seen.  There was a whole pond full of them.  Its amazing how many birds come to the southeast coast of Texas for the winter.   Walking the beach was a challenge with all the jellyfish that washed up on shore.  The high tides must strand them on the beach and they were all over the beach.  I found out this pretty blue one that was still moving even on the sand is called a Portuguese Man O War.  Yes, their sting is poisonous but I don't think its deadly at least not the small ones.   They aren't really a true jellyfish.  They are some kind of polyp with many polyps forming one organism. 

There were other plate sized jellyfish with pink tentacles all over the beach as well but I couldn't figure out what they were called.  From what I read they can still sting even after they are "dead".   We accidentally stepped on a few while walking (we had shoes on) and they are very slippery -- its like stepping on ice.   People were fishing in the surf  and others were enjoying the water.  I couldn't believe none of them got stung.   Although people must get stung because there were notices at the visitor center on how to treat the stings (use vinegar).