Bird Sightings – Page 39 – The Hermits' Rest

Tears of Joy

What brings a tear of joy to your eye?

If you’ve read my blog more than a few times, you know I’m easily filled with awe and wonder, and yes, occasionally brought to tears. And pretty much every time that happens, it’s something in nature that surprises me in a happy way.

I didn’t expect to see these roseate spoonbills in 2019. I cried.

Since I’m always looking for beauty around me, it’s not rare to find me stop in my tracks and tear up, whether it’s a bird that appears in front of me, a cloud formation, or discovering a doe looking at me in the woods.

I cried when I realized I was sharing my moment with this beautiful doe last May.

I just love these moments; I guess they are super-glimmers that are more than just moments of joy and can lead to treasured memories.

I’ll never forget finding a flock of storks in our pond a year ago.

Heck, I’m smiling right now, just thinking of some of these moments that brought a tear to my eyes.

Finding a turkey on our creek not only made me cry, but I think I hyperventilated

Water! Maybe

It was a good Sunday of camping at McKinney Falls State Park, near Austin, Texas. The motorhome kept us at no more than 81° when it was 109° outside, so we’re proud of it. I did indeed get up early to hike, and I enjoyed it a lot. I had plenty of Gatorade and some snacks, so I didn’t get stressed at all.

There’s a new trail at this park, so of course I took it. It was so peaceful. I did get to see a young skunk (too fast to photograph) and a cute little woodpecker.

I wish I hadn’t turned the wrong way at the end of the new trail and headed back to where I started, but I ended up seeing lots of beauty anyway.

I just kept going when I got back to our campsite and hiked over to the lower falls. I’ve always loved that place. On my way I passed the extra pleasant picnic spots. Many are very secluded and shady. I’ll have to eat there sometime.

The waterfalls on Onion Creek are a Texas treasure, and they’re different every time you visit. This year there was just a trickle going into the swimming hole.

I’ve seen these falls even drier than this, in 2011, and also flowing like crazy in rainy times. When this creek floods, it FLOODS.

Views of Onion Creek between the upper and lower falls.

I like it when you can walk around the limestone formations and see little pools full of fish and marvel at the power of water. Some of this area looks like a moonscape or another planet.

I was relieved to see some actual flowers blooming and fruiting as well as actual insects. I feel hope that things will turn around soon.

And that turnaround may happen sooner rather than later. A front May have brought the ranch some rain this evening, and down here genuine clouds appeared and it was pleasant enough to sit outside at our campsite. It felt like normal camping!

I’m looking forward to getting home and being able to work more with Drew and Apache without overheating each other. But this time in nature, even with heat, is so healing and calming. I’m glad Lee and I decided to trace before we become unable to do so.

Sure, There’s Life in These Woods

While I’m pretty sure I’ll go somewhere greener to camp next August, I’ve been trying to find the positive aspects of visiting McKinney Falls in a drought with a heat dome on top of it.

I assure you, it’s hot. Good thing water drips off this RV!

For one thing, it’s very quiet. I only saw one campsite playing loud music on my early walk (and they are serious—they have an outdoor lighted disco ball). I’ve only seen three people walking dogs, and only two groups have f children, all moving slowly. I assume they all went to the swimming area.

I just walked around all the campsites this morning, to determine where to park next time we come, in the spring! Some are very large and shady. I took pictures.

I also looked to see how the plants were doing. I found a couple of areas that must be near the creeks, because they looked better. Mostly all understory plants are shriveled up.

What a surprise it was to see a rain lily! It did rain 5 minutes on Thursday here!

Trees look better, except the cedar elms and hackberry trees. They are dumping leaves to conserve their internal water supply, as I learned in a Master Naturalist class.

Look at the cool texture on this large persimmon tree’s bark.

There were a lot of birds this morning, which cheered me up. This afternoon, though, even the incessant cardinal chatter has died down. I heard typical birds for this area, though I was surprised to find a summer tanager still hanging around. Otherwise here’s what was around (including seen and heard): blue-gray gnatcatcher, blue Jay, cardinal, Carolina chickadee, Carolin wren, crow, dickcissel, goldfinch, house finch, Phoebe, red-winged blackbird, titmouse, turkey vulture, warbling vireo, and the white-eyed vireo. Not bad for summer.

Carolina wren, the only bird I photographed

The best part of today was that my friend Susan, who lives near San Antonio, came up yesterday to camp with us. She was trying out her very cute little Casita camper before taking it on a longer trip. I don’t think I’d seen her since 2016, though we’ve Zoomed since then.

She had enough RV adventures for more than one trip, but got through it! First, the water line broke at her campsite, quite spectacularly. It took a lot of effort, Shop vacs, and extension cords to get things shut off. The park police officer said he missed the day they taught water line maintenance in his training. The park ranger said she missed hers, too. I felt bad for them. It was so hot.

Because they had to turn her water off, Susan just stayed one night. We did get to enjoy a nice chat this morning about horses and mental health, etc.

Sadly, on her way home, the hitch fell off! Luckily the chains held and she safely got off the highway. After getting some help, she made it home and should have time to get repairs done before her next trip. Whew!

She will drive like this guy, just in case. Ha ha.

We relaxed in the heat of the day. I may try to walk a little around sunset. I’ll get up early again to do the hike and bike trail in the morning. I will take water!

I was very excited to find this feather. I pretty quickly realized it’s from a parrot, probably a park visitor. No native bird has giant blue and yellow feathers!

Oh! And good health news! I am feeling less throat pain, so I may be back to happy thyroid time. Yay!

My nail polish is dazzling and unnatural, too.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Slow News Day, Featuring Creatures of the Sky

I may have done less today than I have any day since visiting my dad and just sitting around with him. I got enough movement in, but barely. Every time I went to go outside, a band of showers passed through, but that’s okay, because the clouds were pretty. I’ll miss beach clouds.

Luckily, I got on a roll with the ole technical writing, so I got a lot done as I looked outside at rain. I enjoy those breaks I take to help with eye strain. I looked up one and there, practically motionless outside my window was a beautiful osprey. I guess it was the same one I saw before, but it was so close I could see its feathers.

Looking east. No osprey picture available since I was working.

I had plans to go see the Barbie movie, but we are now going tomorrow, since tickets are half off. That sounds good to me, so instead I finished last night’s movie and watched two more.

My “cinema” friends like Anita will probably enjoy picking out themes and cinematic techniques in the documentary I watched about two women who fell in love in a concentration camp and found each other afterwards. Nelly and Nadine (also the film’s name) were very interesting women, and the super 8 home movies they made showed glimpses of a 50s gay and lesbian world few knew about. I was proud that I made it through the concentration camp parts.

I promised creatures of the sky. Here’s a 27th floor bird grasshopper.

I then switched gears and saw Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, which was as good as I’d hoped it would be. The movie was set at very close to the time I was Margaret’s age, so everything was eerily familiar. The sets were 70s fun.

I couldn’t find the other movie I was looking for, so I watched Somewhere in Queens. The New York Italian culture is like visiting a foreign land to me, but I enjoyed glimpsing into Ray Romano’s vision.

These guys enjoyed peanuts again. I had three at once.

I guess I’ve gotten enough out of Amazon Prime on this trip. I wish I could use it more at home. Bandwidth. Ugh.

By the way, I haven’t been eating out. I’ve made myself weird dinners out of the supplies Lee and I bought when we got here. I’d sure be cheap to feed if I lived alone, since in addition to cheese, I could live off Tasty Bite curry packages, rice side dishes with vegetables thrown in, hummus, and Progresso soup. Throw in cans of tuna and I’m set.

More than you wanted to know, but it was a slow Suna news day.

Mental Illness Runs in Families

Time for more of that honesty that people either like or have become tired of lately.

Sometimes life feels like an unpleasant amusement park ride. I hate Ferris wheels.

I’ve been dealing with some painful consequences of mental illness for the past few weeks, both my own and the issues of others. I wouldn’t wish some of the struggles I’ve seen on anyone. It’s particularly hard, because it seems to come from innate struggles (along with “nurture” problems, many of which stem from being raised by people whose mental illnesses caused them to inflict pain on those around them). And I got so down that I managed to forget what caused it until a friend reminded me there’s a name for what I deal with.

Somewhere among my mother’s maternal ancestors, some powerful genes that make life hard for those who inherited them got wedged firmly in the family line. I don’t know how far back it goes, or which part of my grandmother’s family passed the issues on to her and her siblings, but wow, it left a strong legacy.

Moonrise in the night. Like a light in a dark time.

I’m going to say this: I love my children, but I’m sorry that I passed on the tendency to have severe depression, bipolar, learning disabilities, and narcissism on to them. I am truly grateful that they are not extending this line forward, even though the good parts (intelligence, artistic gifts, and the ability to write well) won’t move forward to future generations, either. That’s difficult to say but seeing how my family inflict pain on each other and how deeply it affects the two of us plagued by RSD (Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria) I just don’t want it to continue.

I don’t blame any member of my mother’s family for behaving how they do and making the choices they make. A combination of inherited instability and “abuse” (for lack of a better word) can make people do weird things to try to bring peace into their lives. My sister has cut off the rest of her biological family from her life. I do understand how, from her perspective, it’s what she needs to do, but I can still wish she’d gotten the help she needed and enabled the family who love her, warts and all, to be a part of her life.

The view from my Rapunzel Tower at sunset

On the other hand, those of us who have had to try to find ways to deal with how members of my mom’s family treated us are probably better off ending that pattern. My insane drive to not be rejected or abandoned has led me to try way too hard to please people who can’t be pleased, and that’s not helpful to any of us. Anyway, the struggle is real, and I’m back on track to managing my own issues better again, and I wish everyone else well as they deal with their issues.

I’d actually gotten pretty darn good at not blaming myself for every single thing people close to me say, do, or seem to do in my messed-up brain. I just slipped, and as I was trying to express this morning when talking to a therapist friend, you can intellectually know there will be setbacks in mental health recovery, but your limbic system still gets all out of whack. Repeat after me: other people’s actions are their responsibility.

Dealing with all this while holed up in a tiny room like a short-haired Rapunzel in her tower is not ideal. But I can always find ways to cope. At least I can watch Amazon Prime without worrying Lee about using up all our bandwidth. So, I watched three nice movies yesterday and that helped a lot! I watched Air, 80 for Brady, and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. All movies with strong women who made me smile.

Plus, there’s always random people you meet, along with the sunrises, sunsets, birds, and bats. This Rapunzel really isn’t trapped in her tower at all.

A Monday’s a Monday, No Matter Where You Are

And today is Tuesday! I didn’t manage to get a blog post up yesterday, because I was just, as my mom used to say, “too pooped to pop” in the evening. It’s not that I did anything all that exciting, but I did the part of my work that takes a lot of mental energy, training.

Now, I’m both a technical writer and a technical trainer, so I have the skills. And I love to do training. It’s so rewarding to get people up and running with software, hardware, or heck, even knitting. I enjoy interacting with people, getting them to relax, and helping them individually. It’s just that it takes a lot out of an introvert to actually DO it. Thus, after two classes and a couple of individual sessions yesterday, I just needed to stare at a wall and go to sleep.

Or I could stare at the ocean, which for much of today looked like a gray curtain.

I feel way better today and have already been writing and getting stuff done while Lee packs up to drive back to Texas. It’s been stormy this morning, so he’s waiting a bit to start driving. He just loves doing this, so I’m wishing him well, while at the same time looking forward to flying home (if planes aren’t as weird on me as they have been for so many folks this year).

It’s been stormy, cloudy, and sunny so far today, and that was all before 10 am.

In between training sessions, Lee and I drove up to the first town in North Carolina, Calabash, where we’ve been before. It is an extra-cute little town that still has a lot of fishing boats, so you get very fresh seafood in its restaurants. The one I like best doesn’t open until 4pm on Mondays, so we ate at the one with the most annoying (but fun, in a way) birds, instead.

Boat-tailed grackles (the one on the right is a female)

We got enough food that I’ll have lots of leftover shrimp that I’ll peel the breading from and add to my highly creative solo meals for the next week or so. We gamely fought off the grackles and seagulls, while sort of enjoying their antics at the same time. At least I got to look at a marsh and some boats, so I was happy. The whole outing only took two hours, which was fine, since I had to teach a class from 5-6 pm anyway (it was scheduled for Central Time). All was well.

Laughing gulls waiting for us to leave so they could inspect our plates.

It’s back to my “normal” working from a condo schedule for a while now. I do my best to fit in working out in the gym (treadmill) and sitting in the sun a little while every day, with a visit to the sports bar to chat with the friendly bartenders and customers in the evening. And oh yeah…I can watch streaming television to my heart’s content. I don’t even know what shows I’ll watch,

One More Nature Day

Today was Lee’s last weekend day here with me, so we took advantage of having the car to head over to Myrtle Beach State Park, which is the only undisturbed beach woods in this county. It’s really lovely and special.

I was amazed at how many different types of hardwood trees were in the woods. Plus some were huge. I know the biggest magnolias I ever saw were there. Plus giant pines, sycamores, hickories, and oaks. That’s nowhere near all. It’s a great woods.

I enjoyed the ferns, mushrooms, fungi, and other understory plants, as well. What was weird, though, was I only heard two birds. There has been a noticeable lack of bird sightings on this trip.

I did get to see something fun other than plants when we went to the little pond. Not only did I get a great butterfly to pose on a pickerel weed flower, but I found a sweet little green tree frog blending in with the reeds. That’s our Master Naturalist chapter mascot. Aww.

At the end of the trail was the Big Oak, where we had to take photos. Of course.

We headed over to the beach area, where at least I found some birds, mostly pigeons and crows…but hey, go ruddy turnstones!

We sat and enjoyed the beach for a while, then went to Michael’s to get me some more pens to do coloring, which had helped me this week. I finished a design (after fixing its typos) using the subtle colors I’d thrown in a bag for journaling, but I needed perkier colors.

One thing we’ve enjoyed this week is walking on the beach after the crowds die down. Well, Lee stands there and listens to the waves, and I walk. Tonight it was really pretty at sunset.

Now it’s time to read my Florida book and get ready for work.

Friends and Acquaintances and Healing

Hello from a land of clouds, rainbows, and surprises. A week in Myrtle Beach has passed and I’m still in awe of how green and rainy it is, especially compared to another 105° day at home. Blurgh.

My mind is still on things back home. Some folks have disappointed me and I’ve disappointed some. I’m very grateful to the people who’ve been going out of their way to help me and my family, though. There aren’t enough words, even though I’m a writer, to express my gratitude to our ranch family.

I’ve needed support and diversion this week. Thank goodness I have friends to talk to, with the magic of Zoom. Just having friends who will listen and support me without trying to “fix” things is invaluable. My Friday morning buddies, plus work support, got me through the day. Hooray for kindness!

Friends remind you you’re beautiful, even if you’re a weed growing among fancy cultivars

So, after work, Lee took me to the outlet mall to look for a particular shoe. Naturally, I enjoyed talking to the people who worked at the stores. It’s so rewarding to see a tired salesperson smile after you treat them nicely. The shoes didn’t work out, but I came home with a little purse and pansy pajamas. Pansies! Woo! They are interesting colors and not so long that they drag the ground. Bonus.

Shopping on what turned out to be “tax free weekend” wore Lee out, so we went to the sports bar again. I’ve tried not to spend all week at the bar, so I was glad to go get another old fashioned. I was happy to see Kevin, the bartender who’s an expert in Florida history, was there. It turns out he knows the family of my childhood pediatrician. huh!

We spent a nice time (really) talking to obnoxious* Steve, Bill, and their friend Patrick about books and our histories and such. It’s rewarding to meet new folks and get to know them, which is why I’ve enjoyed this condo over the years. People are truly fascinating, and you can always find things in common with new acquaintances. I need to remember this when I get down about the state of the world.

Sarah D says bye to Steve, since he’s going home.

I’m feeling much better, because we have a new author to read (Stan Comforti, a former federal agent) and will have bartender Kevin’s new book to read soon. Who knew how many writers and avid readers we’d run into?

The world seems much smaller and less scary when you take the time to talk to people and get to know them. I need to remember that.

Myrtle Beach in a nutshell. Pelicans and one of the ubiquitous helicopters.

And even in Condo World there are Nature sightings. We went out at dusk and saw dozens of bats and nighthawks flying right by us. We enjoyed it with the folks next door, who seemed thrilled as we were.

Watch the bats!

* I told Steve I’d call him that rather than a**hole.

Swamp and River Day

Every time we come to South Carolina we make sure to go on the Waccamaw River cruise. We were going to go tomorrow, but the forecast calls for rain. So I took the afternoon off and we went today.

We were surprised to see the odd little zoo that used to be on the road to the launch area was gone. No more zebras. All I saw were more wild turkeys. The zoo owners were getting very old and having trouble finding workers, so the animals went to another zoo. The peacocks just moved over to the boat area.

As usual I took a lot of pictures of plants and animals, including some I hadn’t seen there before. I just love swamp plants. And I keep finding new (to me) dragonflies, too.

Thanks for bearing with me on all my nature photos. I know they are endless. Anyway, off we went on the tour. We sat in back to be far away from the captain spiel. There weren’t many birds, just a blue heron and lots of ospreys. We saw two ospreys enjoying their fish catches together.

There weren’t many turtles and we only saw one alligator (I spotted it). That’s because there was a very light rain, which was quite pleasant. I didn’t sweat at all!

I just enjoyed looking at the cypress, tupelo, oak, and pine trees, along with many flowers. It was a wonderful reminder of what the world looks like when left alone. It also helped me remember how small we humans and our problems are.

We drove around and looked at housing developments and such, then had dinner at the nice German-Austrian restaurant near the condo. I had cabbage rolls. They were huge.

I forgot to mention that Bella the dog was still there at the boat place.

We actually didn’t have to leave the condo to see cool wildlife today, though. An osprey was flying around the building right up close to us, and we got to watch a pod of dolphins cruising in the ocean, right from the balcony. Add all the pelicans and fish crows, and that’s good nature watching!

Ok, now send someone you like a text!

Red Wolves, Birds, and Plant Delights

Other than taking a brisk walk for a break, I worked all day. I got some photos of the strip where the condos are.

However, we did manage to sneak back to Brookgreen Gardens to their Low Country Zoo before it closed for the day. I really enjoy that place. It’s lush and cool, plus it’s covered in native plants. Score!

I really didn’t see many of the animals, but this horse was friendly. And attractive.

Lee and I always enjoy looking at the bird exhibits, so we said hi to the hawks and owls, then wandered down to the aviaries.

The swampy area with the black-crowned night herons and ibises was beautiful. Lee thought some were statues. Then one caught a fish!

Then we enjoyed the river otters a long time, because, well, otters are incredibly fun to watch. They were in their glasses-in area, so no photos, but you can imagine all the fun. Eventually we headed to the duck pond, where much cuteness was waiting.

You know me, I spent a lot of time looking at the “free” exhibits, like insects and spiders. I saw some new ones, too.

Ok. The reason we actually drove back here was to see their newest exhibit.

The zoo has acquired a pair of red wolves that they hope will breed more little wolves that can be re-introduced into the wild. I knew that people were trying to build the population back up, but never thought I’d get to actually see some of these critically endangered canines. What luck that they just opened the exhibit! Rather than type all the info out, I’ll let you read the signs I photographed so I could refer to them.

They built a beautiful space for them “where the deer used to be” as the people giving directions said. It will eventually be large enough to roam around in, too. And yes, we were lucky enough to get to see them both, just lounging around by the fence.

They seem much smaller than gray wolves, but maybe these are still young? I hope the program works out! Oh, and there was something else in the exhibit, the part they are still working on. There were two wild turkeys just wandering around eating. They were not captive. They were just there!

I can see why turkey vultures got their name. Only the blue head helped me ID it from a distance.

We had dinner in Murrell’s Inlet, where all the restaurants are. It was fine, and I enjoyed the marsh view, but there weren’t many birds. One tree did gradually fill up with pelicans. A new one glided in every five minutes or so. I guess that tree is a favorite roost.

You can sorta see pelican heads in the most distant tree (or bush).

I’m really glad we got out. I needed it, especially the quiet. The zoo was so quiet at times that it was eerie. Here at the condo there’s always background noise of air conditioning, waves, or screeching kids. The quiet was a balm to my heart and soul.