Whew....what a day!

After heading in to the office this morning to take care of a few things, I drove out to Warbler Vista to do the Cactus Rock Trail to check on the golden cheeked warblers.  On the way up the steep drive, Peggy was coming down after refilling trail folders and sprucing up the bathrooms.  I invited her to accompany me on the trail, and she agreed.  As we hiked along, I thought we were going to be skunked, but about half way through the trail I began to hear their songs and we were suddenly inundated with about a half dozen warblers singing and chasing each other through the canopy of oaks and Ashe junipers.  We were just swiveling our heads around trying to keep track of them!  It was like deja vu from last year!  Very cool!

I'll be leading bird tours every Thursday and Saturday in April to see the two endangered species.  I worked with Sheila Hargis, from the Travis County Audubon Society, over the weekend setting up these tours, and this morning I had five emails from interested participants.  There were folks from Virginia and San Diego that wanted to reserve spots on one of the tours.  That was certainly a surprise to me.  I never expected such a response for a new tour.  Now, I'm under the gun to produce!  The funny thing about birds is they have wings and you can't always count on them to be where you want them to be.  :( 

This afternoon, I did some office work, but not for long.  It was too beautiful a day to be inside, so I grabbed my camera and headed outside.

The butterflies have arrived.

This one is pretty beat up, and I have found out what kind it is, but I just can't find my notes on it.  :(

I headed over to the blind that has been constructed as a karst cave replica and took this shot of a rock squirrel that is painted on the inside.  The walls of the blind have multiple paintings, by a local artist volunteer, of common inhabitants of the caves in the Texas hill country.

There is actually a pair of these rock squirrels that lives around the blind, and today I was lucky enough to see one.

He/she was watching me as intently as I was watching him/her.  I've been here two springs, and this is the first time I've had a chance to actually try to get a picture. :)

The red bud trees are also coming in bloom.

I'm once again experiencing  editing problems with blogger, so I'll close for today.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy