Choke Canyon State Park and back to San Antonio

Late afternoon on the Bird Trail at Choke Canyon

After almost three weeks of hanging out and birding on the Texas Coast, we had to get back for some appointments in San Antonio.  On our way back we spent a night at Choke Canyon State Park on the shores of Choke Canyon Reservoir.  The park has a campground on the reservoir and a nice trail system consisting of at least four birding trails which we made it our mission to explore.  Each of the birding trails contain slightly different habitat and you are very likely to see hawks in "Hawk Alley," warblers on "Warbler Way," etc.   Around the reservoir there are many species of ducks and other water fowl and many migrating birds stop over in the park or winter there.  

Cypress root 'Creature' along the Guadalupe River

 

The next morning we left Choke Canyon and made a slight detour to have lunch with our friend Jose on his farm near Charlotte and to see his two new horses.  Jose treated us to steaks cooked over an open fire with all the trimmings.   Very full and happy we said goodbye to Jose and the horses,  climbed back into the RV and headed to San Antonio to stay at Guadalupe River State Park again.  

For the next several days we divided our time between the city, taking care of business and seeing friends and the park, exploring and taking long walks.  You might think we would be bored of Guadalupe River State Park by now, but in nature there is always something new to see or something you just overlooked. 

In the overlooked category, David and I discovered the Leaf Cutter Ant Colony near the river that (I can’t believe) we had not noticed before.  GRSP has a good sized colony of these ants which in garden, landscape or agricultural settings can be quite destructive.  But at the park, this colony is respected and used as an educational opportunity. 

 

Leaf Cutter Ant Mound

 

The ants go marching...

 

Don't get too close, they do bite!

 

The colonies can be quite large – 50 to 80 feet across and up to 2 million or more ants.  Leaf Cutter Ants do not eat the leaf fragments that they ‘harvest’ but take them underground to the nest where they use the material to raise a fungus garden.  As the fungus grows, certain portions are eaten by the ants and some is fed to the developing larvae.  The fungus is the only known source of food for the ants.  We spent a good chunk of time following the ants on their trails from the mounds, across the field to the trees and vines where they gathered the leaves and then back to the mounds.  Perhaps we are easily amused, but it was very entertaining.  

Entering the Discovery Center

 

Tessa and Kellen examining a fox skin

 

The next day our friends Sasha and Casey arrived with their children and of course we had to show the ants to them.  We also checked out the new Nature Center and that was very cool even if you are not a kid.  Tessa led us for a hike along the Guadalupe River and Kellen entertained us by leaping rock to rock in the river which was pretty amazing to watch.  A picnic by the river and a little more hiking and soon it was time for us all to go. Sasha and her family had things to do to get ready for school and work on Monday and we had dinner plans in San Antonio. We met David’s ex co-worker, also named David and his wife Sharon at, yes, you guessed it – Chuy’s.  What a great day!  Walk, learn something new, play with friends, eat good food and sleep – that's the way we like it...

Kellen is going to be a rock climber

 

In the middle of the Guadalupe

Picnic time

This leg of our journey might have been a little heavy on the ‘eat good food’ part.  We also met friends Cindy and John in Gruene at the Grist Mill one night and Bill and Candace in Boerne at the Creek Restaurant.  Then we visited Bill's ranch to check out the recently completed tree work on the new addition to his property. We were delighted to see about 30 male turkeys making their way through the trees on the ranch.  As we were leaving we noticed that the Great Blue Herons were beginning to stake out their nests along Cibolo Creek reminding us that our winter in Texas will soon be turning to spring.