Camping at Garner: Day 1 & 2

{All pictures taken within Garner State Park.}


This Roadrunner made an appearance and was running along the road within the park. Isn't that appropriate? - a Roadrunner on the road? Ha! Not very punny, huh? Oh well. Dan had heard the commotion about the bird and quickly snapped a picture of the critter.


Wild White Petunia


Unidentified flower


Tufted Titmouse. "Whatcha looking at?"


Humongous Fly . Actually, this is probably an ordinary house fly. It had landed on my leg and I decided to practice with my Macro lens. I was shocked at the details that popped up within this picture. Can you believe this bugger has stripes?!? And, hair?!? These details are usually undetected by human eye. It is awesome!


Cardinal


We spotted a Woodpecker several times and tried to take pictures of them. This was the only halfway decent picture that we captured. I believe it is a Ladder-backed Woodpecker and a male one at that.


Our friendly "killer" rabbit, the Eastern Cottontail, with the red-eye removed. Not bad.


These Caroline Wrens are flighty creatures - they're constantly moving and flittering about in the woods. I was shocked when I managed to snap this picture at the right moment. Poor Dan, he hunted and stalked them trying to capture one with his camera and never succeeded. I was just lucky.


A Lark Sparrow visited us briefly. I was shocked with this also. You don't see many of these around.


We headed out on the road again, probably for ice, when we spied a flock of wild Turkeys. I grabbed my camera, hopped out the truck and snapped this picture. I think it's rather cool looking...



A dragonfly. This one was leary of me; but, I was patient and he got to be trusting of me and just sat there for the most part. I absolutely love the dragonflies along with the damselflies. You see them all the time down at the river. it's because of them that I have a dragonfly charm on my James Avery charm bracelet in honor of Garner State Park.

Okay, I have a question for you all. What happens when you leave your campsite to go down to the river, go hiking, go to the camp store or go anywhere else? Here is some evidence of what happens.


Vultures will swoop into your site to check things out. Actually, they are scavenging for garbage. I've seen trash bags left on the ground ripped open from these creatures. So, best thing to do is to hang up your garbage during the day and throw them into dumpsters at night.

Camping at Garner: Day 5

{All pictures taken within Garner State Park.}

One of the very first things we saw was this critter – a Roadrunner. He showed up the very first day we were at camp and made appearances every so often using a path between two campsites. Dan snapped this cool shot of him with a bug in his beak.

I spied this damselfly the very first morning on the “trail” down to the river. I had decided to explore the area behind our campsite and shoot things. This became a routine of mine every morning while at Garner. I would grab my camera after breakfast and go exploring.


I wouldn’t have known this little critter existed if it hadn’t moved. I am not sure what this is. It is either a moth or it is a part of the family of skippers (a group of butterflies). I do know that he/she is one tired (worn out) little thing.


Flame Acanthus

I think most people do not realize that wildflowers that grow throughout the year – it’s not just springtime when the popular bluebonnets, paintbrushes, and others bloom here in Texas. In case you don’t know it, I love wildflowers of all kinds.



I accidentally flushed the Eastern Cottontail out from hiding. He was behind the Prickly Pear. He scared me half to death. But, once I realized he was a harmless thing, I quickly tried to get pictures of the critter.


Tropical Sage


Common Wild Petunia


Meadow Pink

These are some of the wildflowers I spied on the very first morning while exploring. Pretty cool, huh?



And then, we’d settle down back at camp and watched the birds. We had set up a platform feeder along with a bell feeder to attract them. I had also spread bird feed on the ground to attract the ground feeders. The first bird to show up was the Cardinal. Dan snapped the one on the ground.


We went riding somewhere (I forget where) when we spied this Roadrunner with a lizard in his beak. I got out of the truck to try to snap a picture. It’s not a very good picture; but, it captured what we saw. It was a pretty darn big lizard.


Sticker Burrs-- the bane of our existence. These things kept catching on the shoelaces of my sneakers. I decided to forgo the sneakers in favor of sandals. I rarely had a problem with sticker burrs after I tossed my sneaks. I was more comfortable in sandals anyway.


I spied this Funnel Spider’s web at the base of a tree near our tent. I shifted to point the camera inside to see if anyone was home…


Holy Hannah! A Funnel Spider is home. I have to admit that it scared me when I first saw it through the lens - it looked so close! By the way, I am loving my macro lens. I still have a lot to learn about depth of field, lighting and more…



A Hackleberry Emperor landed on a tree nearby and I immediately got up to snap a picture of it. Surprisingly, it was very cooperative. I stalked it until I managed to get the second picture which pleased me to no end.


A view of the Frio river near our campsite. We always ate lunch and then we would go down to the river to cool off as it was blazing hot during the late mornings and afternoons.

Camping at Garner: Day 3 & 4