In a little under 24 hours, Pamela and I will be boarding a plane and winging our way towards Harlingen, TX. I'm quite excited about this trip for several reasons. First - it's a vacation (and really, who doesn't enjoy time off and traveling someplace!) Secondly, there are some fantastic birds there, and even a few chances at some 'lifers' that I've missed on previous trips. NARBA (the North American Rare Bird Alert) has posted Rose-throated Becard, White Collared Seedeater, Blue Bunting, and Masked Ducks all being seen in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in the past week. Third, on our last trip a few years ago, I was attempting to digiscope with a dying camera, and even though the photo ops were great, I wasn't very happy with what I came back with. I am really hoping to get a few more good pics of even the more common species (like the eye-popping Green Jays). Fourth and finally - this year, we will be attending the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, and meeting lots of wonderful birders from across the US (and around the world).
On another level, I am also hoping that this will also provide me with an opportunity to break this blog-writing funk that I feel like I've been in for a while now. There have been a lot of big changes in my life of late (nothing really that blog-worthy on a birding blog) that have really reduced the number and quality of my posts. I plan on bringing my laptop with me to Texas, and I believe that we'll have free Wi-Fi at the hotel where we are staying, so hopefully this post will soon be followed by some regular ones from the Lone Star State!
