Tummy-timewas not usually this happy.

In April, we went to Texas for Ellen and Helmut's wedding. Natually, Mike highjacked almost the entire week for a birding trip. Here we are at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, where we had very nice views of a Brown Thrasher (250K) feeding its chicks, and Purple Martins (120K).

The next day we visited Pedernales Falls (120K) State Park, in the Hill Country southwest of Austin. Recommended! Limestone riverbeds are weird-looking to someone used to the igneous Rockies or Cascades. We didn't see the hoped-for Green Kingfisher, but did get the famed/endangered Golden-Cheeked Warbler, along with other fun organisms. From near the site where the photo was taken, a Canyon Wren could be heard calling from the rocks across the river, seen just above Wren's head. An impressively loud little bird.

On the airplane and back home (80K), we harrassed Wren with a counting game, which she found surprisingly amusing, though she didn't seem to learn to count.