sandhill cranes

Here on Galveston Island, spent the day out birdwatching (a really successful location to do that)... but the emphasis is on the cranes and hawks this time of year.
My favorite all-time bird here is the brown pelican, which right now is not so much in evidence .... don't know if the cold weather has them hunkered down somewhere or what, but we haven't seen the huge groups of them "gliding in formation" like we have in warmer weather. I know they haven't migrated, because they are permanent residents of the islands around here.
But this time of year a fairly large group of the migrating sandhill cranes are here on the island. And I mean they are scattered everywhere in fields (and sometimes back yards).  We drove a lot of the wetland areas on the west end of the island and saw groups of from 3 to a dozen or more in many, many locations.  In any given group there will be one or two lookouts, with the rest busily feeding.
We saw a lot of ducks, several hawks (redtail I think), and I saw my first rail !

We have been sitting here in one spot almost a full month now ..... using the furnace heater almost every night.  Monday morning we woke up to about 40 degrees outside ...... and close to that inside.... we had run out of propane during the night.  So, we stowed everything away, disconnected from the utilities, and drove the motorhome out to the west end of the island and filled up the tank.
Well, ...... the dogs know the moving drill really well .... and Bugsy especially is interested in "time and place" it seems.  He monitors the front windshield, the passenger side window, and most especially the smells.  It is by the smells that he can tell if we've been there before (which I really think he is interested in).
So, we packed up, drove probably 15 or so miles down the island, stopped in a campground that sold propane, then turned around and drove back.  About halfway back, as we joined the seawall boulevard, Bugsy appeared to get really curious.... almost anxious, and kept looking at us "questioningly".  When we turned off the seawall onto the campground road, he certainly knew where he was; seemed very happy about it ...... and told the other two dogs "hey guys, we're back".

I often wonder what they think and say to each other.  I think they sometimes think we are crazy ..... but I think they really love traveling with us.  I know we love having them.

FYI, we had until recent days been planning on going to Alaska this next summer ..... but we are kinda rethinking the timing ..... maybe we'll wait till 2014.  I'll keep you posted.
Later, Marilyn