Citizen Science – The Hermits' Rest

Bird Stories

Warning: I have some pain in my index finger, probably from writing on my phone. Yes. I use my index finger. So the fun stories I was going to share must wait.

I should have spent more time sitting on a rock watching the river flow. But no, much keyboarding occurred.

It was misty again most of today but I went for a couple of walks anyway. The park was nice and empty, which made it easier to hear and see birds. One group of birds I enjoyed was the swallows. In the tent camping area next to ours, I saw many Cliff Swallows swirling around. I realized they probably live under the nearby bridge.

You can sorta see the bridge behind the outcropping of rocks and shrubs.

I was proud to ID them by sight and sound before checking Merlin. Square tails were the helpful feature.

Back on our camping loop I saw a group of barn swallows pecking near the mud puddle that kids played in over the weekend. I thought that was strange since they have plenty of clean water in the Frío River.

I later saw Cliff Swallows there, but by the time I got my camera out, all that was left was a White-winged Dove. Darn.

Anyway, when I got back to our site, I looked to see what Merlin had picked up. I saw the app had put one of its bird trivia videos up, which I usually delete. But this one was on Cliff Swallows, so I read it.

Well. Now I know what those birds were up to, collecting nest material! I should have known that. it’s always good to learn something new.

Another quick bird story. I saw the Park Host taking a rag out from under his car. I asked him why he stored rags there, and he laughingly told me it was to keep wrens from nesting in there. He can’t get them to stop trying (thankfully, he’s heading to another park tomorrow.) Wrens are quite persistent. I thought it was a fun story to share with Lee.

Then I came back and worked a bit. Lee went outside to escape my meetings. Soon, he returned with news. We have our own pair of Bewick Wrens building in the Jeep’s back bumper. Sigh. They’re so sweet but on a futile mission.

A pair of Bewick’s Wrens were busy all afternoon working on their project. They mostly chose the flower stalks off ball moss to take up to the Jeep.

Searching for sticks (both are in this photo)

I had fun watching them, Black-crested Titmice, Lark Sparrows, flycatchers, Cardinals, and Eastern Bluebirds for a long time in late afternoon, when the mist finally dissipated. I could just sit in my rocking chair and watch the bird show. Ahh.

I’ll share plants and more river stuff tomorrow. My hand is tired.

Lost among the Maples

The weather here at Garner State Park and surrounding areas was strange today. It started off misty and stayed misty/foggy all day. That’s not typical Texas Hill Country weather.

It made the hills look mysterious. This was mid afternoon, when fog has usually been burned off for a long time.

After a pleasant morning of coffee and birding, Lee took me to Lost Maples Natural Area, a place he’d been many times when he was younger, but I had never been. You may know of Lost Pines, which we’ve visited many times. Both places have remnants of the forest that was in Texas the last time it was much cooler.

The trees in this preserve are still around because they’re surrounded by hills and have a river in the middle, which creates a perfect microclimate for bigtooth maples. The area is extremely popular in the fall when the trees turn colors, so coming in spring is a much better idea for us hermits. The mist also helped keep away crowds, but didn’t distract from the spectacular scenery.

The Sabinal River was fun to cross repeatedly.

We did a mile walk, which was a bit challenging for Lee with the rocks and water crossings, but I’m glad he could join me, because this is such a special place.

In addition to the plentiful maples, there were many fun plants to spot along the trail. The most spectacular sight was Scarlet Leatherflower (Clematis texensis) which attracted hummingbirds like crazy.

Best I could do. More flower photos later.

I also found out the identity of the yellow flowering plants growing out of all the rock faces along the road, Lindheimer’s rockdaisy (Laphamia lindheimeri). It only grows in this area, the Edwards Pkateau.

One more I’d like to highlight, because it was new to me, was the Texas Mock Orange (Philadelphus texensis), which is a pretty shrub with white flowers that do resemble citrus blossoms. I didn’t get close enough to sniff the flowers to see if they smell as good as orange flowers. It’s related to hydrangeas.

There were many more interesting plants, so I’ll do a photo dump. I do want to add that there were also interesting birds, including only my second ever observation of a Golden-cheeked Warbler and many striking Black-and-White Warblers. I got to see Yellow-breasted Chats, too, which I usually just hear. But since the only bird photos I got were of blurry hummingbirds, here’s another Vermilion Flycatcher that posed for me back at Garner.

Mostly, we gawked at the scenery, switching our focus from trail to hills to river. This is a special place, and there are much longer trails, so if you ever get to Vanderpool, Texas, do stop by. It’s the only thing in Vanderpool, Texas, but I like it because I had a teen crush on a curly-haired musician with that last name. Anyway, here’s some scenery.

I know, quote the photo dump. It’s just so pretty! And for my reference, here are more interesting plants. I’ll spare you oak trees and grasses. These are the most interesting to me.

All in all, it was a great day to be outdoors and geek out over plants and birds. And rivers and hills. We are here until Tuesday, so maybe I’ll see some more interesting stuff tomorrow!

It All Worked Out Today

Attitude really can make a difference. Today proved to exemplify the effect of a positive attitude very well. Let’s hope for more like this for us all!

Thankfully, we did not end up crashed on the side of the road like these poor folks.

The day started with me doing all my chores and packing, then diving into work with gusto. Why not? The folks I work with were happily surprised at how much I got done on our project. That was a good start to the day.

I found the first day flower on the ranch this year, too.

Rather than getting impatient with Lee about getting off to our distant campground on time, I decided it was his schedule and his trip, so he could leave when he was ready. Thus, no stress.

I got to walk around a bit and see pretty Texas Prairie Parsley, which attracts many pollinators. Yippee!

I ended up having to work three of the four hours of our drive, but I managed to see many gorgeous wildflowers on the roadside, as well as two Roadrunners and flocks of Cattle Egrets. Plus I managed to work quite well from the RV. It was pretty fun, for work.

When we finally arrived at Garner State Park, which is next to the Frío River and surrounded by hills, it was late. We were hoping it would not be too hard to find our campsite. But, we were delighted to discover the check-in was open late because it’s Friday. We had a great chat with the check-in lady, who had many park insights.

Then we went out to unhook the Jeep and I wandered to a trailhead near the parking lot. I was greeted by a loud chirp, and a bold little bird looking right at me. I thought that it was funny-looking for a White-eyed Vireo, because it didn’t have white eyes. Merlin identified it as a new lifer for me, Hutton’s Vireo, apparently fairly common here.

All happy about this, I led Lee to our site. I was cheerful, especially when a flick of Wild Turkeys walked across the road. But. Oops. The site I’d reserved had a short driveway with a large live oak tree right at the end, so we couldn’t hang over. And once he got to the space and tried to back in, he hit (gently) an overhead branch. It was not going to work. I got a bit flabbergasted, but managed to call the park and explain.

Not the original site, just showing the view.

A park ranger came and said they could trim the branch. Then he realized that couldn’t happen. The tree is big. So Plan B was to put us in an “emergency site.” It turned out to be more spacious with fewer neighbors. It worked out great!

We got set up, chatted with nice park hosts, then went to look for dinner. It was pretty late by the time we got to the nearest town, Leakey (pronounced lake-ee). There used to be a La Leche League administrator who lived nearby, on an exotic animal ranch. So, even though no restaurants were open except a super crowded one, we were fine just getting food at a gas station and admiring feral cats. I finally saw Leakey, and that’s what counts.

No town photos, but here’s a “mountain.”

I’m happy to be here! We might be late and we may have had to change plans, but here we are!

Ball moss. It grows on electric lines here.

Visiting the Official Wildflowers

Yeah, yeah, I write about wildflowers all the time. But today four of my Master Naturalist friends and I traveled to the deepest depths of Austin, Texas (which only took 1.5 hours on a Saturday with no huge festival happening). There, we found the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a regular treasury of Texas wildflowers, many at their peak of bloom.

We were prepared for rain and dropping temperatures.

I used to be a member when my children were young and I only worked part time, but it had been quite a few years since my last visit. Seeing how well the plants have grown, as well as finding new places to look around, was a great experience for me.

One new area is a circle of young oak trees, all of which were grown from acorns of trees of historic importance in Texas. The tree shown here came from the Big Tree on Goose Island, which Lee and I visited recently.

I am a lot better at identifying native plants than I was 25 years ago, so I had fun figuring out what I was seeing before checking its sign or looking it up on iNaturalist. Of course, some plants were new surprises, which added to the fun. I think I ended up being the ID guide, though a couple of my companions were pretty good, too.

After enjoying the gardens, we went to the annual native plant sale, where the group picked up some interesting plants for the urban wildscape our group is making at the church where we meet.

We rewarded ourselves with a visit to the gift shop, where we found the Texas Master Naturalist textbook among the offerings. I got a book I can’t wait to read, with plant and insect mandalas.

When we were finished, we drove up to Georgetown for a late lunch at Wild Fire restaurant. It was pretty spectacular and a great ending to our trip. Plus! When I got home it started to rain. Yay! Let’s celebrate by looking at some plants I saw.

Looking forward to a cool day tomorrow and a good rain total!

Out of My Comfort Zone

I have been thinking a lot about how I complain about the government here in Texas, but don’t do anything about it other than contribute small amounts of money to candidates I appreciate. So today I went way outside my comfort zone and volunteered to help out at the local level. I met some new and unusual people and also enjoyed time with friends. Whew, that took a lot of psychic energy. I’m proud of myself.

Lee says I’m getting more active while he stays more ensconced in his hermitage. Could be a worse hideout.

I’m glad that I had a chance to go hang out in nature afterwards, as Terri and I went back over to Carolyn’s ranch to get ready for the Master Naturalist field trip. All the signs Terri made look great!

I mostly scouted around for plants that weren’t damaged by last week’s freeze or were blooming. I’m afraid wildflower season is delayed. But I found a few things to point out. I hope some of the dogwood blossoms are still around. They were quite lovely.

Nature and friends helped my introvert self equalize a bit, but I still needed a nap and some horse hugs when I got home. Now, please enjoy a few more woodland plants

Speaking in Public Equals Fun

Something that always has interested me about myself is that I just love being on stage. I always wondered why that was. Did I inherit my dad’s drive to be the center of attention? Do I just love to perform (regardless of talent), or what? Do I just love the sound of my own voice? It’s true that I am chatty. You may be aware of that.

At least Kathleen enjoyed our coffee talk this morning enough to make one of those AI portraits of it. Those things are pretty good!

This evening I gave a short presentation on beavers for our Texas Master Naturalist chapter. I shared what I’ve learned from my reading, especially Beaverland, and observations from my friend’s ponds. I had so much fun standing up there and sharing what I found interesting and making jokes. It’s so freeing to give a presentation about something other than enterprise project and resource management software.

Who wouldn’t love learning about these guys?

Once I got home, I reflected on why I get so energized by giving a talk, singing, reading, or anything in front of an audience. I like to share what makes me happy! Music makes me happy, so I like to share it (or did when I could still sing adequately — I was never great). And things I’ve learned excite me, so I enjoy sharing. It’s too much fun to get anxious about.

The last time I sang in public. I needed practice.

My friend Michelle presented the results of the bat monitoring project our chapter did last year before my talk. It was a different kind of talk, so our audience got some variety. There were at least five species heard among our nine sites. I admire that Michelle analyzed so many sound files to find bat sounds. Admittedly, I’m glad I didn’t volunteer to do it once I un-retired, because it took a lot of time, but I’d have loved doing the analysis. It’s so fun finding the patterns.

My only complaint for today is that I had a hard time viewing sound waves today at work, because my external monitors kept flaking out. Trying to edit the sound track to videos is not easy on a small laptop screen. I just did other stuff. No performance there!

Frustrating work setup, but at least one monitor came back.

Wow. Already bedtime. I have an exciting day of hanging out with Anita, my friend from high school, tomorrow. Exciting may not be the best word choice. We will see!

Rain Daze

It finally rained again, which we needed. It waited until I was finished having baked goods with Martha, and chatting with Vicki and others at the bakery. Vicki rode her new horse almost to our house this morning.

Before it cooled off and got all windy, Lee and I enjoyed the porch, where all the plants are back outside.

Martha and I then went to the yearly Master Gardener plant sale. Since half the Master Gardeners are also Master Naturalists, we saw lots of people we knew and had a fun time catching up and looking at the few plants that were left. I did find a fig tree to buy, and my friend Lynn took it home with her and will bring it over here when it isn’t raining. Future visitors!

I hope this is in my future. Photo from Pexels.

The rest of the day, we stayed inside and I got all sorts of tasks completed that were perfect for a rainy day. I wrote a presentation on beavers for the next Master Naturalist meeting, catalogued the birds seen here from February, filled out my timesheet (yay, money), and did my nails. Maybe dull, but necessary. And I indulged in an old television series on the history of the first 55 years of Star Trek (it’s 60 this year).

The animals made it through the rain, so we just relaxed after feeding them. I’ve got more relaxing ahead of me tomorrow, but maybe a bit more creativity.

Speaking of creativity, here are January and February of 2026. No orange yet!

Sometimes a lack of excitement is just fine. This rain daze was pleasant.

It’s My Favorite Week of the Year

What week is that? The week the Mexican plum and redbuds start to bloom in this part of Texas! This means a whole bunch of pretty flowers will be here any day now!

I saw many wild redbuds on the drive from Cameron to Milano.

I’d been afraid I’d miss those trees this year, since I no longer drive there three times a month. But, hooray, today was the day to go out to my friend Carolyn’s to make plans for a field trip to her place to look at the unique wildflowers they have.

Our fellow Master Naturalist, Terri, joined us. She’s been working on a map of the property and its trails and wanted to refine it. She’s also going to make signs to help navigate the trails. She’s so talented!

We had lots of fun looking at the plants that are coming up and finding places of interest to share with visitors, like where the puffball mushrooms are.

I always have so much fun with Carolyn. I promised I’d visit more this year.

We found more than plants! The resident armadillos were wandering around, we saw a deer, and we got to watch AD feed the big catfish in the ponds. Plus, the cattle followed us around hoping for treats for quite a while. They’re very friendly.

Note the petting going on in the background.

It was fun to find a wetland that’s developed between the fancy pond and the well. It should be beautiful in a few weeks, too.

I think the people who go on the picnic will have a great time exploring the property, and I know it will mean a lot to Carolyn to have us visit. Before that, we still have work to do to get ready! Here are some more photos.

What a great way to treat the first official week of wildflower season.

In other news, our much-needed new washer and dryer came and were successfully installed. That impressed me, because I didn’t think we had all the parts, but we did! Our menfolk can work miracles.

Sorry about yesterday’s downer post. I think I’m just rundown. My “glands” hurt and ears are sore. I’ll have to take it easy tomorrow!

Phones. Can’t Live without Them. Wish I Could

Ok. I’m just about wiped out from my “day off.”I could use more wine but I hit my limit. I do want to sleep tonight, after all.

Empty glass, ready to watch Deep Space 9 and rest my brain.

I spent hours and hours today just trying to make my iPhone Air go away. It had good and bad points, but mostly was long. I spent the first 45 minutes or so chatting with Al, a Vietnam vet with 7 remaining fingers and an attitude that made Lee seem a dream customer. But I got him so settled down that by the time it was his turn, he pleasantly agreed tech support could help him out. I learned a lot about his preferred firearms, his friends with issues, and his precious great grandchildren. It certainly passed the time.

Then I discovered I had to wait an hour to deal with some theft prevention thing. So I went to the lovely Thai restaurant across I35 from the phone store. If you’re ever in Temple, try MeeMee’s Authentic Thai Cuisine. It IS authentic! It has an interesting menu, too.

I only had another hour or so after lunch to figure out every password I’ve ever had and make the proper incantations to the gods and goddesses of cellular networks. I finally have the phone I should have ordered three months ago coming my way.

Really all I want is the macro lens. No more blurry photos…speaking of which, all the sparrows came back today and I got blurry photos of them!

I had so much fun after I got home watching the sparrows bopping around, joined by two rabbits who didn’t care that I was there. That’s exactly what I needed after the stressful phone store ordeal. Nature to the rescue!

Too bad I need a decent phone camera to record all that nature? The joke is on me. I can’t live without them.

Sometimes You Have to Do Chores

Today I did so many items on the to-do list, but at the end of the day, I didn’t feel very accomplished. I was trying to get my chores done so I could spend some time in contemplation, which is what I usually do for this time of year, Imbolc or Candlemas.

One of the things people did in the past was sweep out the house and clean the hearth, as the goddess/saint of this time of year is Brigid, patron saint of Ireland, fire, keeping house, and spinning. Among other things.

No wonder I’ve been in such a frenzy of tidying up (though it may not look like it everywhere In the house). I usually light a bunch of candles, but I will tomorrow night.

Commemorative rock. I’m making one for each sabbat this year.

Chores are things that repeat over and over, just like cleaning your living space, so it’s appropriate I spent so much time getting my journal ready for a new month, cataloging all the birds I’ve seen in January, getting food ready to cook…etc., all of which mostly matters to only me.

Kestrel was bird of the month. Photo by Adam Bowley.

The fowl were happy that one chore was buying a new supply of feed and scratch, along with new meal worms. I wish I could trust the local feed store, because I hate having to drive to the next town to get this stuff and horse feed. It took forever to organize the food, because somehow mice had gotten into my supposedly sealed food bin, so I had to chase them around and scoop them out. Plus there was a rather bold field rat who I had to chase out (not one of the cute cotton rats, a BIG one. I’m about tired of rats. Why don’t those cats I keep seeing eat them?

I also eat mice. And when I run, the earth moves beneath my feet.

And to top it off, lifting the heavy feed bags messed up a nail. Oh yeah, weekly manicure is also a chore, though fun.

At least I was able to get the horses fed and watered while it was above freezing. They are eating like, well, horses. I’m glad I have a lot of hay and that mice can’t get in their food bins.

When I finally got to be indoors, I had to do minutes of the Master Naturalist board meeting from Thursday and put up a blog post. By the time I was done with computer work, my contemplation time was no longer available. A bit of yarn work was all I could fit in. I was disappointed to not finish my hat tonight, but I’ll make it (and finishing January on the temperature blanket) a priority for tomorrow.

Chores never end. Still, stop and acknowledge the change of seasons when you can. The light is coming back!