Bird Sightings – Page 23 – The Hermits' Rest

Made It to the Wilds of South Texas

I think I’m in south Texas, anyway. It’s far from our house, anyway, and getting here was a slog. There was much construction and extra bumpy roads. Yah, we were roughing it, ha ha.

A picture from before we left: Brown-headed Cowbirds in a tree, gurgling away.

Once we finally found Choke Canyon State Park, I was excited, because it would have interesting birds, and I hoped some interesting animals, too. But first we had to get Seneca the motorhome set up. I guess all the bumps jostled the battery cables, plus there’s a water problem caused by our recent freeze (our prep work wasn’t quite good enough), and… the generator still isn’t working. Verdict: going in for repairs next week.

View from the campsite. The lake is behind that brush.

While poor Lee was trying to finish setting up, I ran around trying to see what the place was like before it got too dark. Merlin found a Great Kiskadee, which I hope to see while I’m here, along with green jays and other southern birds.

I did spot five bunnies, many deer, and three roaming javelinas. The most fun, I think, were all the bats swooping around at dusk. I love watching them!

Other campers reported alligators, so I have things to look forward to at this park, which is next to a very large lake surrounded by…I’m not sure what, but I’ll find out tomorrow. Though it was a hectic day (lots went on at work, too), I can’t complain about getting some nature time in!

Actually the lake is surrounded by oil refineries and wells. After it got dark, I could see a lot of natural gas flaring.

Happy False Spring

There’s always a warm front that fools us into thinking winter’s over here in Texas. It often happens when the first migratory birds show up. This year, a Purple Martin arrived yesterday followed by a Scissortail Flycatcher today. Both were males. These are “scouts,” checking out the neighborhood.

I had to grab this fast, but you can see his long tail.

False spring arrives out of nowhere. One week you’re wearing all your layers, the next week you look like this.

Yep, the first orange (above 85°) flower on my temperature blanket will mark this day. I dripped with sweat for the first time in 2025, something I’d have gladly waited for. Apache, still in full winter furriness could have done without a lesson today, too.

We have confidence that this winter warmth will fade in a week or so. Until then, I’ll be able to enjoy birds in the mornings and sweat with the horses in the afternoons. And it will be good hiking weather, I hope.

Flowers are popping up! Red stemmed stork’s bill.

After a sweaty grooming session (my equine companion was entranced by a hawk and not very cooperative), we had another good lesson. Apache is learning finesse very quickly, as soon as I figure it out.

Yeah Suna. You’re holding me back. Let’s get rid of your head.

The cool achievement today was very smooth stopping. He can stop immediately from a fast trot and I hardly feel it. It’s my favorite feature so far in our journey toward cantering. We practice stopping a lot. Then going. Anyway, it’s fun to improve at our own pace.

I’m glad we had the lesson, even though Tarrin wasn’t feeling great. It made up for a challenging work day and some hard conversations with my friends. Plus it was nice of Lee to come along and take photos of me and faithful Apache. He also took cute pictures of Tarrin’s pets.

All in all, false spring isn’t so bad. I’ll enjoy it as long as it lasts.

Spontaining with Birds

I had things to do today, important things like hard boil some eggs. Instead, I proposed that we hop in the car and take our cameras to Granger Lake, and see if we could find any birds. As long as I could get home in time to ride Apache, we were free. Time to spontain!

As you can see, I’d already been playing with the zoom lens. I got the best White-crowned Sparrow I’ve ever taken!

The weather was even better than yesterday, so why not tote that giant lens around? it was good practice.

We went to two of the many parks around Granger Lake. It was too loud to listen at the first park, but I found big birds and yaupon berries.

We left that place and went to the other side of the lake, down beautiful country roads to the park with equestrian trails. It also had prettier campsites. We enjoyed exploring this area alone, and it was great fun in the swampy areas and trails (will be better in spring).

We eventually meandered over to the lake, where I finally found some different birds to photograph. I was mostly just trying to figure out what the white birds were, then realized there were even more cormorants than white birds.

This was really far away, but clear enough to ID.

When I got home and downloaded the pictures to my phone, I realized that my photos of gulls were filled with cormorants. They aren’t very clear, but if you click to enlarge you will see them in trees, swimming, and sticking their heads out of the water!

As if this wasn’t enough fun, we went home on the back roads (Lee is familiar with them from once living in Granger). We noticed more places to hike in the nature preserves, which made us want to bring the RV down one weekend.

I felt so good when I got home, even after listening to unbearable political analysis all the way to the lake (it made my stomach hurt). I’m glad I felt good, so that I could do my important chores of boiling eggs and riding a horse who was not interested in side passing.

I’m glad Lee and I have a shared hobby. I wish his macro photos had loaded into our shared library, but synching is slow. I’ll share another time!

Oh yes! The month has a pink theme. Happy love nails.

A Beautiful Day for a Long Nap

This was such a pretty day. It started out cool and barely got to 70°F. I had hoped to spend most of the day outdoors, and I got a good start in the morning by taking a long walk, then guarding two escaped calves until the owner could move them back inside. Only one truck was going fast enough to hurt them but I slowed it down. They’re valuable livestock!

Then I spent time with the chickens trying to figure out why bees are all over their food. I still don’t know, but Clint assures me they are delicious. Extra protein!

Bonus bee, rooster and turkey video. Hear the buzz and gobbles.

Back at the house, I tried to finish January on the temperature blanket but got sleepy, which is odd, because I slept great last night. I went upstairs and collapsed into a deep sleep that I had a hard time waking up from. It was a weird feeling. I thought I was sick or something but maybe I should have eaten more.

I made myself get up and go outside once I could move around. I took some photos with the telephoto lens but haven’t downloaded them yet. It wasn’t such a great bird day anyway.

I saw a formation of planes, three white, three black. They went north then came back.

I’d intended to ride Apache but was feeling lightheaded so I just exercised him. I’m sure he’s thrilled. Tomorrow he has no choice.

I did get January all done. It needs blocking, but does look like a calendar! I like the border. It’s perky.

Welcome Light

Tomorrow is Imbolc, a celebration that light is starting to appear from darkest winter (among other things). Nature brought the light a little early, and provided us with a rare cool, sunny day. It was mighty pleasant.

I enjoyed a break from my very busy week by sitting outside after work, reflecting on how much I value my connections and wish I could cultivate them more.

I’m too busy sitting with birds, I guess.

At least I talked to my friend Donna yesterday, and she reminded me that the Purple Martins start to return this time of year. I also saw the bluebonnets getting bigger today, and I was happy, even though the speaker at last night’s Master Naturalist class informed us they are not native here, just in the granite areas of the hill country. Poo.

Lee was practicing with his camera so you can see what I look like when listening to and watching birds.

I know spring is coming, with turkey eggs every other day, calendar changes, getting my first new temperature blanket module done (tomorrow), and a new theme color for my journal and nail polishes. Stereotypical, it’s true, but February is all pink. I might even have pink in my hair. Ooooh.

Don’t dye me pink, Suna. My nose is pink enough.

Now I Can See Those Dang Birds

One thing Lee and I did in Austin yesterday was get a zoom lens for our Cannon camera. It goes 150-500, and is pretty big but not ridiculous. We went to Precision Camera, a store I’ve patronized off and on since I moved here. I am glad they sell used equipment. New stuff is pricey.

The first time I went to Precision Camera it was a much smaller store near the current one. I went with Mary Jo, the school librarian at my kids’ school, to get a digital camera so I could put photos on the school website. We got the best we could get in 1998, since it was a new school and we had funds. This fine camera could take ten pictures on its memory card. Then you’d have to slowly download to a PC to clear out space. Getting even one photo per class was tedious (plus no photos of children’s faces—we had already figured that out).

I’m pretty sure this was it. You can get your own here.

I digress. The current equipment we now have holds lots more photos, and we download them via the camera’s wifi, which even our mid-level Canon camera has. So see, some things are better now. My goal is to get photos of birds that will look good enough to ID on iNaturalist. I have no illusions of becoming an art photographer at this point in my life.

New lens triumphantly produced an identifiable White-crowned Sparrow.

Today was not a great day to try the new lens out, since it was misty and drizzly all day. The temperature only varied by 6° all day!

Even though it was a gray day, I took many bird photos, some with the phone, which also has a good zoom but not as many pixels. I wanted to compare.

The lens is heavy, so I’ll have to build arm strength. It has stabilizers, which is quite useful for shaky arms.

Luckily, whatever this thing is didn’t move.

Mostly I practiced taking pictures of our Great Egret as it preened its damp feathers. It’s great to be able to see it up close.

On a sunny day I could do more, but I enjoyed trying different modes. I’m nowhere near able to manually manipulate settings. I’ll get there.

I look forward to seeing what I can do around the ranch. I get plenty of bird variety here! Maybe I can get better photos out camping, too. Identifiable ones will suffice. I’ll leave you with a few of my experiments.

I’m Back, and I’m an Angry Semi-old Woman

I say “semi-old,” because I’m eligible for Social Security (still am two whole days into the new administration!), but I don’t consider people really old until they’re in their mid eighties. So, most of my friends aren’t old.

I’m say back, because I took yesterday off to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lee and I watched many, many episodes of the West Wing, a wonderful television show from a quarter century ago about a US President and his staff. Perfect.

I was a little mad that we got such wimpy snow. If we’re going to endure super-cold weather, we should get pretty snow as a reward.

I say angry, because right now I’m rather irritable and impatient. This makes me quite inarticulate, which irritates me more! I can’t even make rational statements other than how much I care about disenfranchised folks.

Happy picture of Penney loving her coordinated chicken toy on a matching rug.

So I had been wandering around feeling all my feels and hoping the biting, cold wind would suck away my angst. I’d been hearing some heavy equipment going beep around the ranch for a few days, and suddenly it was close. That messed up my bird recordings, which made me grumpier.

I heard a crack. Loud. Looking up I saw a backhoe zipping off to a pile of branches, carrying my Osage-orange tree, the only one on the ranch that’s on a part we will still own after Lee and Sara sell the cattle pastures at the end of the month. My tree, the coolest tree here, just got toted off.

I was steamed, as they would say in the old days. So I marched through the gate, dodging cow patties in my house slippers, with no coat on (it was about 36°), and went to find that backhoe or bulldozer or track-hoe or whatever it was. I found a very young stranger in it, and informed him he’d just killed my valuable tree (they are pretty rare, long story about settlers planting them, the wood being good for bows…). He said but it was dead. He was clearing dead trees from the tornado, as our tenant asked him to.

The tree was not dead. It had leaves and produced horse apples this summer. It’s deciduous. Grr. But, I looked at the young man, who was just doing what he was told to do, and asked him to please not knock over any more living trees, especially around my pond, because I do nature research there. His eyes got big. Well, I do engage in research! I was doing so right then!

Kid getting the heck away from me. Or going to move stuff elsewhere. Hope it’s the latter.

Anyway I apologized for getting upset, and he said it was okay and called me ma’am dozens of times. This isn’t my time. Right now is not a good time to raise a ruckus about hippie stuff like trees. I sure feel old and helpless and expendable. besides, I need to stay under the radar, not act like a nutty tree hugger, even if I am a nutty tree hugger.

I’m not leaving you all, though. I want to share fun pictures and silly stories to bring some cheer, for all my non-old friends.

Gonna Get Cold

I’m hiding and hibernating this weekend, I guess, spending most of my time with birds and horses. That’s just fine with me.

I’ve made sure Apache gets his rides and cantering in before this big cold front arrives. Terry the farrier said Apache has muscles! Mabel has a cut on her hip area from an encounter with a tractor, so I’ve been monitoring that and putting ointment with honey on it. It’s better now, but here was its original state.

All animals are as ready as I can get them for cold weather, with water, shelter, etc. I worry about Connie Gobbler, but the hen house should stay above freezing and I put electrolytes in the water bucket there, for her and the chickens.

Other than looking at birds, including a Vermilion Flycatcher today, I worked on my knitting. The border on last year’s temperature blanket is slowly growing (it’s 540 stitches long on the long end).

I have a very long circular needle for all those stitches.

And today I was able to finish the third row of January on this year’s blanket. It looks more like a calendar now. I’m ridiculously excited about this cold front bringing temperatures low enough to have some purple in them! I guess that will make up for having to wear so many layers for a while!

I’m loving all these cooler colors. The blue lazy daisy stitches equal .2” of rain each.

Ignoring the metaphorical elephant in the room (the room being my country) I’ll just share that I tried to paint my nails black, maybe with one nail with a little sparkle to symbolize hope. But when I put the set I’d picked out on, I realized it was actually dark green. There goes my mourning theme. I guess it’s now the dark embrace of the forest, with little ice crystals, which I put on all the nails.

I expect I’ll be slightly off kilter for a bit, but I’ll be here to support my friends and family, all of them. Have a good Sunday.

Of Blankets and Birds

I’m too tired to write much. Well, honestly, my back hurts too much to concentrate. Spending 3.5 hours in the seating at the place where our Master Naturalist meetings are held is too much, even with cushions. However, it’s good that we started a new member class and that I got going on borders for my temperature blanket from last year. Here it is in its lengthy glory:

Last January is at the top, and the last row is December 31-January 12.

I’m not sure how I didn’t realize the year would end with one day on the last row. So I added the beginning of January. At least that put a few cold days on that end of the blanket. I plan to do the black border wider on the long side to make it more balanced. we will see.

Close-up of summer through winter. You can at least tell it cooled off a bit.

It was another pretty cool bird day. The highlight came when I was standing in the back yard of the house we are incredibly slowly renovating. Suddenly a Red-Shouldered Hawk landed on the old clothesline support, just a few yards away. We were impressed! And she stayed there. We left, not her.

It’s really fun to share an interest in nature with a family member!

Maybe tomorrow I’ll be perkier! I did enjoy the class this evening. The new students are interesting people.

Cute Birds and Bittersweet Memories

It was the best day in a long time for bird watching. Between my observations and the Merlin Bird ID, 51 species were found on our property. That’s pretty exciting for me. But more exciting was how entertained I was by all that I saw. Yes, I’m easily entertained. You knew that.

I swear this little White-crowned Sparrow looks like an egg with a tiny head on it.

I saw a beautiful Harrier swooping over the fields late this afternoon when working with Apache the Wonder Steed. We both watched.

Then right at sunset, while I was watching and listening to the sparrows (Harris’s, White-throated, Chipping, Song, and White-crowned) as they rustled through the leaves looking for bird stuff, something flew by. It was the Great Horned Owl heading to a tree. Thirty seconds later, it hit the ground. I guess it got a mouse. Spectacular.

I didn’t like that. What if the owl was after us cute songbirds? Circle of Life, yeah yeah.

That really helped me get through a hard day. It’s now six years since I heard from my son. He was a great kid. I hope he’s enjoying life. I think he is, and that’s good. I just miss this little charmer.

33 years and 8 months ago, 4 generations.

As the two older generations in that photo are no longer here to talk to, I’m the older generation now. My cousin Jan and I have been talking about that, since her dad, a good friend of my dad’s, passed a way a couple of days ago. We’re the elders. That feels so strange.

Three generations, me, Mom, and Aunt Belle, my grandmother’s twin. I was a senior in high school.

I hope I can stay in contact with the generation after me. Maybe someday my son, but if not, it’s his decision and I respect it. And I’m fine. I just allow myself one day a year to mourn the loss that I really don’t understand. Grief is always lurking.

My parents and me in 1958. I knew they loved me, even if none of us were perfect. Dad was 27. Mom was 36.

Once again, I ask you to stick close to your loved ones, your friends who support you, and your community. We need each other.