Monthly Archives: January 2011

Skiing at Brookfield Orchards

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Although the Weather Channel predicted that the high today would be around 15 degrees, the sun shone brightly in a cloudless blue sky all morning, and shortly after lunch, I felt compelled to venture outside.  So I stuffed my cross-country skis, poles, and boots into my car and drove a bit over a mile to Brookfield Orchards.  Many years ago, the Orchard groomed cross-country ski trails, and although they no longer cut tracks for skiers, I thought they might allow me to go out on their land.  I checked at the Country Store, and they said, “Sure, you’re welcome to ski here.”

Last week when this blizzard dumped almost two feet of snow on New England, I was shivering in South Texas and didn’t really have a sense of how much snow fell on my hometown.  Well, there is still a lot of the white stuff, perhaps because the temperatures haven’t risen enough to melt much of it.

I cut this track going downhill from the picnic area:

On the north side of Lincoln Street, I could see another skier’s tracks:

These look to me like snowshoe tracks:

This photo should indicate that I really am in an orchard.

My older sister and brother-in-law gave me these cross-country skis for Christmas in 1977, which means I’ve owned them for over thirty-three years.  They are Fisher fiberglass skis which need to be waxed.  Today I chose green, and half-way through my outing, I stopped to re-wax with blue under my boots.  I’m not sure those were the right colors, but I don’t think I did that badly, considering that I ski once every ten years or so.  And what a great time I had!

Now let us take a moment to remember the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr, in whose honor we are enjoying a holiday today.  On the CBS Evening News tonight, I watched an interesting segment describing Dr King’s two summers working in the tobacco fields of the Connecticut River Valley; I don’t think I even knew he was associated with Simsbury, Connecticut.

Laguna Atascosa and Sabal Palm

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Today was my last day to sightsee in Texas, and although it was still overcast, thankfully, it was a bit warmer than yesterday. On the agenda for today were two birding sites, the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, and the Sabal Palm Sanctuary in Brownsville. Established in March 1946, Laguna Atascosa comprises nearly 90,000 acres in four units and serves as a sanctuary and management area for migratory birds.  Under the auspices of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the refuge also protects fish and wildlife.

From South Padre Island, we drove west and then north, and in about a half hour, we arrived at the Visitor’s Center, where we picked up maps and a brochure. After considering our options, we decided to drive along Bayside Wildlife Drive, a 15 mile loop, with one-way vehicle traffic. According to the brochure, we would be driving through thorn forest, coastal prairies, then along the Laguna Madre shore.  Along the mudflats, the literature informed us, we might see aplomado falcons, white-tailed hawks, or piping plovers. Inland, we might see deer, coyotes, or long-billed curlews, or if we were very lucky, the elusive ocelot.  (In fact, we did see a deer and a coyote.)

Here is a typical view of the Laguna:

Just as we were about to return to our starting point, my sister spotted a Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway)!  What a thrilling sight that was.  Back at the Visitor’s Center, I photographed these Green Jays (Cyanocorax yncas), another bird found in the US only in South Texas.

By then it was mid-afternoon, but we really wanted to visit Sabal Palm, so back to Brownsville we went, driving west on 510, south on 1847, then southeast on 511 to Southmost Road. Before we reached the Sanctuary, we saw the controversial Border Fence:

"Good fences make good neighbors"?

At the Sabal Palm Sanctuary Visitor’s Center, lighted at dusk in this photo, we learned that the National Audubon Society had closed the Sanctuary in mid-2009. About a month ago, operational management was transferred to the Gorgas Science Foundation, and the Sanctuary re-opened to the public on January 3rd.  Both locals and out-of-state nature enthusiasts were heartened at the news.  A recent press release described the reserve:

The Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary sits on a 527-acre tract of land on the Rio Grande River [sic]  in Brownsville and is one of the most uniquely biodiverse habitats in the country, containing one of the last vestiges of original Sabal Palm forest in the U.S. The Sanctuary provides breeding habitat for many endangered or high-priority birds and is a critical source of shelter and food for migrating and wintering species.

Here’s a photo of the Sanctuary’s namesake:

My sister and I were excited to see nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus), an iconic Texas mammal:

One of the critical tasks for the re-opening was diverting water back into the resaca, an oxbow of the Rio Grande, and thus restoring it as wetland habitat.

We wandered the trails for an hour or so, and shortly before the Sanctuary closed at 5, a staff member guided us along the newly buttressed boardwalk which allows visitors to birdwatch right at the water’s edge.