Sunday at Canyon Lake

It had been an atypical trip so far, but then, that was the idea. It wasn't planned to be a camping trip but rather a visiting old friends trip. And it was working as planned, until last night when I couldn't go to sleep because I hadn't had any exercise but was mentally exhausted from driving and shopping and hanging out with people I didn't know very well. None of my favorite things.

Sunday should be better. The only things on the agenda were fishing at the crappie dock and a long, bird-watching walk. Maybe two. Maybe I would get a good picture of that little falcon.

Later: it was better. The best! We went down fishing in the morning, after sleeping late and getting a good breakfast. Except I exploded my egg in the microwave.

At the dock, since I wasn't getting any bites, I started watching birds and what a watching there was! I'd seen a flurry of sparrows earlier and decided they were song sparrows, but there was one with a white eye-ring that escaped me. Then a pair of osprey I watched for a while. I absolutely adore osprey.  And to think that when I was a kid in the 1970s I might have never had a chance to see one! (They were one of the worst victims of the DDT/eggshell thinning of the 1960s.) But now I've seen lots!

After they sailed away, a pair of bald eagles came a-circling.  They're truly magnificent.  On top of all that excitement, the bushes were full of little birds--mockingbirds and Carolina wrens, of course, but tons of sparrows and some small-beaked bird that worked the low scrub in the rocks by the water. He looked like a kinglet, but larger?  And a yellow-rumped warbler or twenty for sure.

When I finally remembered to check my phone, I found I'd missed a call from Norman and one from Theresa. She and Bob were ready to come visit, if we wished. And we did!  After that some people came down to the fishing dock to chat. Nice folk--they'd traveled all over the states The guy originated in Texas and the lady in Oregon. They appeared to divide their time between the two places and many more in between.

While I was chatting I heard the rattle of a kingfisher! Soon I spied him...he found a perch on the branches of trees by the water and stuck to it...for like...forever.  He just didn't move, so I could never get a good look at his markings. He seemed small enough to be a green kingfisher...but was probably just the same belted (blue) kingfishers I've seen all my life. In all the time I watched him, and tried to photograph him, he didn't move.  So I'll never know for sure.

Theresa and I had a delicious walk out the peninsula to the boat ramp, where we found Bob still putting his kayak in. He'd misplaced his seat during the move and was still getting his gear together, so it took him longer than usual.  We continued our walk to the end of the peninsula, through the tent camping area (closed for the season) and back to the RV. There we ate grapes and chatted, and by the time we walked down to see if Ed was nearing shutting down his fishing, the sun was starting to droop.

We helped Ed pack up and haul the wagon up the hill, then quick-stepped over to the boat ramp. Bob had already come up but we were able to ate least help him lift the kayak onto the truck and over. Izzy and I accepted a ride in their truck back to the campsite--what a wimp!  But for the day, I'd gotten in a good bit of walking.

By the way, on our walk I saw one of the little falcons again and it was definitely a Kestrel. So probably no Merlin this trip. No matter.

Odd for a Sunday, but that night, the campsite was filling up!  Mostly older people--I saw only one kid and pretty much nobody who looked younger than us. Bob's suggestion was that they might be coming in for the Wurst-fest, or some such thing, going on in nearby New Braunfels that week.