pedernales falls state park

My Hill Country happy places.

We took a drive out through the Hill Country this week; out Highway 290 towards Fredericksburg. It was a beautiful day. We left early to beat the morning rush hour and stopped at Pedernales Falls State Park to visit their bird blinds. We stayed for less than an hour, but saw canyon wrens, ladderback woodpeckers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, lincoln and field sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, black-crested titmice, cardinals, spotted towhees, and more.

Field sparrow…

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Lincoln sparrow…

Along the way we stopped at the Pedernales River several times and saw wild turkeys, buffalo and longhorn cattle.

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Then we stopped at Wildseed Farms to buy fresh flower seed to plant after the last freeze.

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After lunch in Fredericksburg, we headed back east, making stops at the tasting rooms of Grape Creek Winery, and Becker Vineyards.

Our last stop, Hye Rum, was a new one for us, having opened only a few years ago. Monte especially enjoyed their barrel-aged dark rum. Check them out.

We made it back home before the afternoon rush hour.

All good!

Close encounter.

Apologies for all the bird pictures of late. But I’ve had a lot of birding moments since the new year began, so they dominate my thoughts.

This one was sweet. I visited Pedernales Falls State Park today, which has a wonderful pair of bird blinds. While I was inside one of the bird blinds, a little ruby-crowned kinglet hit the roof and fell inside the bird blind. He was stunned, and stuck in a narrow opening in the wall. I picked him up and set him on the floor. He eventually got his wits about him again and flew off.

It is rare that I can even lay eyes on these guys long enough to identify them. So I enjoyed getting an up close look at this little one. I had my telephoto lens on my Olympus, so I had to take this macro shot with my iphone. So tiny!

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Happy trails.

I went to Pedernales Falls State Park today to hike with a couple friends. They had never been, so it was fun to show them the different sights and trails.

We walked a bunch. After six hours or so, my Fitbit had logged almost nine miles. Whew!

Perdinaliss.

If you hang around Central Texans long enough, you will learn that we are fond of bestowing our own pronunciation on the names of some of our favorite local places; confounding out-of-towners, I’m sure.

One of those place names is “Pedernales” – the name of a river, a series of water falls, and a state park. Take note: locals refer to it as “per-din-al-iss.”

Whether or not you can say it right, you must go see all three. I took a day trip and visited Pedernales Falls State Park today. I enjoyed visiting their bird blind, walking down to the Falls, scoping out birds while hiking, doing a little geocaching, and taking in the beautiful scenery on a gorgeous day.

The falls from the scenic vantage point above:

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