Reptile Sightings – The Hermits' Rest

One More Good Day at the River

I’m not kidding. If I lived on one of these Texas Hill Country Rivers like the Blanco, you’d find me every day sitting under a huge bald cypress tree looking at the river life, marveling at the life within the moving water.

I spent a great deal of time this morning just watching fish being fish. It makes me miss my aquariums.

Look at these bluegill beside a cypress.

The morning was magical in many ways, from the light shining on grasses to meeting some interesting Master Naturalists and birders. That’s one reason I love visiting state parks! It’s so much. Fun to talk about what birds and plants we have on our land.

I did find birds farther down the pump house trail, where my binoculars let me enjoy the crown of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, who also sang his entire repertoire for me.

I also managed to find some palafox and skeleton flowers, which was a pleasant pink surprise.

After that walk, I uploaded everything to iNaturalist until I was invited to lead a nature walk by some fellow campers. We went on the trail that goes under the highway, and I showed them the things I found yesterday as well as finding new plants and a Greylag Goose.

Later in the day I practiced taking pictures with Lee’s newest camera, once I got some help with the settings. Another reason it’s nice to see old friends again. I’d share photos, but they aren’t showing up for me.

I also have no photos of the enjoyable potluck dinner this evening. I got to meet some very interesting newer members and their fun kids and dogs, and enjoyed catching up with others. I’m glad I was able to be more social and really get into some meaningful exchanges.

I’m really going to hate to leave tomorrow, but since the temperatures are going to drop I will need to go bring in some plants. I’ll miss the fish, though.

Worn Out in a Good Way

I’m a tired little teddy bear tonight, so don’t expect anything even moderately pithy. Not that pithy is an adjective I’d choose for my blogging.

I got up bright and early so I could look for birds and pollinators by the lake. I was more successful today than yesterday, and I had bonus sightings of deer, a desert cottontail, and a coyote that I didn’t get a photo of.

After that early fun I set up my outdoor office and got in most of a work day at the park. I got to watch the Green Jays, doves, and woodpeckers while I worked. It was a nice change of pace. I was joined by some friends.

We pulled out of Choke Canyon State Park before my last work call. I managed to take some pictures of the things one sees in the brushy oilfield land on our way home. I was asked for photos of towns, so I’ll give you Kenedy and Nixon. Yes, they are near each other. Enjoy views of deep in the heart of Texas.

So, that’s southern Texas. Now to have a normal day before I go somewhere else. I’m piling on the travel. Zzz.

The Slug of Exhaustion

The title is my weak analogy to yesterday’s blog title, The Salmon of Knowledge. I was pretty sluggish today after all yesterday’s exercise, though I ended up with almost as much exercise today, thanks to swimming in circles around the pool and vigorously winding yarn into ball, which counts.

Of course, I spent time in nature. Hope these Mockingbird babies make it.

It’s healthy to take a day off from being busy, though, so I gave myself permission to sit on the porch, watch documentaries on octopi, and enjoy food Kathleen made. The porch is getting even more relaxing. Two of my cushions arrived, and now lying on the couch is as comfortable as my bed.

Lee says the pillows are too loud. I say they pull together the trim, couch, and blue chair colors. Wait until he sees the outdoor rug…

Being the Slug of Exhaustion today also allowed me to ignore anything stressful that I possibly could. I just looked at my surroundings and enjoyed them, enjoyed the family, and will take the stress back up tomorrow.

Since I have nothing deep to say, let me recommend the Billy Joel documentary, And So It Goes, part 1 of which just came out. This part covers the years I really liked, the 70s, when he was quite amazing to see live. You end up really liking his first wife.

Oh, here’s something exciting. The unused RV that had been next to my tack room went away today. It will be easier to get to my square bales of hay that way. It looks all color-coordinated now!

Tarot card of the day

Today I pulled the Explorer (knight) of Water (cups). It’s a pretty darned happy card, hinting I’m in a good place, emotionally today, able to navigate the waves of feelings smoothly. It also may indicate a new emotional path, sort of like yesterday’s 10 of Water.

We will see. As I grow more Hermit-like in my self preservation mode, I’ll be interested to see if anything manages to stir me in new emotional directions other than inward!

Suna’s Longest Day

Today was quite a slog, but not without its highlights. I have not been sleeping well for a few days, so 6am came quite early. Sigh, as hard as I try not to turn other people’s issues around and blame myself, it sometimes happens, especially when I’ve messed something up. Hence, little sleep.

But it was worth getting up early to make it to an 8am horse lesson with sleepy Apache. He was feeling a bit better today, plus he had some excellent entertainment in the form of two curious foals who shared the training arena with us. Those babies have lost all their shyness and found Apache fascinating.

He did a great job playing the patient but grumpy uncle role. The filly just marched right up to him and said HI. She only left when he snorted at her. The colt, who has been less brazen in the past really wanted to be Apache’s buddy.

Both foals did that cute mouth snapping they do to show they mean no harm, but the little guy did try to taste Apache’s mouth and substantial hindquarters.

Tarrin road Apache a bit to work on his turning and the little guy followed them like he wanted to do some work, too.

His mom, who’s trying to recover from a rough patch, kept telling him to stop, but it really didn’t work. That’s okay, it was great practice for Apache (and me) to focus with lots of cute distractions.

All that circling and baby stuff wore me out. Gotta pee.

We made it home in time for me to shower before work started. That’s good, because things did not let up for the rest of the day. Finally, at 7:30pm I was able to leave my desk. Whew. It’s a good thing I’m so peppy for an old gal. I wasn’t even phased to walk into the chicken coop in time to see a turkey egg going down a rat snake’s throat.

Tomorrow I hope to have a book report for you!

Zoo Pictures

As I promised yesterday, Lee and I went to a zoo today. First we spent the night last night in a blissfully dark and quiet Home2 Suite in Waco. The hotel was a little odd in that their breakfast oatmeal was in reality gravy for biscuits. I’m sure glad I didn’t spoon it out and sprinkle brown sugar on it!

Still, I enjoyed a morning walk in the working class neighborhood, where I managed to hear some birds and met some dogs that didn’t particularly want me there. But, hey, I found some weeds to photograph, too. That let Lee have his morning alone time!

We eventually went to the Cameron Park Zoo, which is in a beautiful riverside location near downtown. It’s worth a visit. I’m sort of glad we didn’t go when we’d originally planned, because now we were able to see the new exhibit of African penguins. They were cute, though many were shy.

I had two exhibits I really liked. One was a lot of fish native to Texas, including paddlefish, gars, and extra cute rays. There was too much glare and too many kids running around to get photos. Those big fish were mighty majestic, though.

The other exhibit I enjoyed was the Texas shore birds. It was great to get close-up views of the birds I usually see at a distance. They’d just been fed, so many were eating fish. A couple others were carrying around sticks. Perhaps they were building nests. Forgive all the Roseate spoonbill pictures. They were so pretty.

There were many other birds to see. I was surprised how many I knew from watching nature shows. Some were spectacular, like the bustard. All were fun to watch.

Of course, there were other animals at this zoo. It’s a fairly good sized one. Here are a few that I enjoyed.

I also enjoyed the people, especially kids. We watched one boy, around 3, dragging his grandmother from exhibit to exhibit saying he wanted to see more animals. He was thrilled at each one and knew what they all were without being told. I just wanted to hug him.

Bald Eagle habitat, surrounded by vultures. .

There was also a little girl who bravely fed the giraffe, to her parents’ surprise. The best part was on her way out, she grabbed some of the romaine lettuce for herself. If it’s good enough for the giraffe…

Chinaberry tree. Lots of nonnative plants were around.

One thing I liked about the design of the Cameron Park Zoo was that it was quite shady, either additional shade canopies where needed. And it seemed like each area had an indoor air conditioned exhibit to cool down in. That was good planning. And wow, it was clean. It didn’t smell like poop, which many zoos do.

If you live around Waco or visit, be sure to go visit this zoo and maybe hit the mammoth dig site, too.

May Ranch Update

I’ve been home a few days and haven’t updated on what’s going on here. May is always a fun month in central Texas, because it’s not too hot or cold, rain falls every so often, wildflowers are in bloom, and bird migration is in full swing.

Texas Striped Sweat Bee with a lot of thistle pollen.

I’ve been enjoying the birds especially. I thought I’d seen a lot on my trip, but whoa, I’ve seen a lot in the last few days. Yesterday? I identified 74 birds between my house and Tarrin’s. That’s way more than my previous one-day high total!

Here’s an Eastern Kingbird, which I’ve seen in both locations.

I was sorta giddy when I saw the list I ended up with. There was even a new lifer, the Magnolia Warbler, one I’d always wanted to encounter.

I do use a lot of abbreviations. It’s hard to fit that many birds on a page, you know?

In other areas, the horses seem good, except that Apache’s expensive boots got lost while I was gone. All my fault. I didn’t remember to take them off before I left.

Spice is all settled in, too. She has taken over as Head Honcho of the herd. Drew and Mabel follow her everywhere.

Your boss mate doesn’t have to have perfect confirmation or perfect feet. She has to be firm and smart. That’s Spice.

With a swish of her tail, she gets things done.

Apache and Dusty just hang out with Fiona and eat. I guess they’re the second tier. They all seem happy.

Everybody but Dusty, who’s at left, eating.

Apache really is doing well, even though it’s been raining, which makes grass grow, which isn’t good for his metabolism. We had a lesson yesterday, and he was just fine, health wise. He did forget how to trot all straight and soft, but it was fun to work on it.

Funny story/segue: I had a very pleasant morning yesterday. I woke up plenty early to make coffee, get Apache ready, and drive serenely to my 9am lesson. I had a nice chat with a friend who was also at Tarrin’s and was about to saddle Apache when Tarrin yelled at me, “You do realize your lesson is at ten, right?”

I heard the Mockingbird mockingly laughing right then.

Of course it was. I wrote it down in the wrong time zone. But did I let that intrude upon my serenity? Nope! It was a beautiful, cool morning, and there were all those birds! So, I got out my portable chair, drank coffee, and listened to birds, even Tarrin’s ducks. I was completely happy, except when Apache pooped upwind from me.

Yow, it’s taken a long time to get to where I can at least occasionally stay unfrazzled. This is good!

Also good: my first zinnia blossom from seed.

Today has also been fun, though with not quite so many birds. I’ve been logging them all on eBird, because it’s the Global Big Day. But while I was out, I checked out the wildflowers and their pollinators. Let’s take a look. I’ve got more coming later, I hope!

Another Island Full of Birds

We said farewell to Hilton Head yesterday, and not a moment too soon, because my heart broke to learn that a sperm whale washed ashore on the beach in front of our condo. That only happens when they are sick. It’s a part of life, as I’ve been reminded, but would be hard to watch.

Enjoy this beautiful plant, Large-flowered Orlaya, instead of anything sad.

We didn’t drive far before our first, more cheerful, stop. I couldn’t miss a visit to the Pinckney Island rookery in spring! It did not disappoint!

Of course, there were many songbirds, grackles, and such, but one huge highlight was seeing baby Great Egrets in their nests being tended by their beautiful parents.

It was great fun to enjoy the bird cacophony and chat with other birders about what we were seeing.

I hope those give you an idea of the crowds.

Many other herons were there, but all the Little Blues insisted on landing deep inside trees. Tricolored ones were much more sociable.

We were delighted when a beautiful Tricolored Heron landed right next to me and proceeded to be endearing for a long time. It even did a butt-wiggle dance. Oh, the cuteness. You’ll just have to suffer through more photos.

The heron was right next to three young alligators. They mutually ignored each other.

I had such a great visit! Between birds I saw and birds I heard, there were 48 species. Here are other highlights.

The staff at the preserve are doing a project to get rid of invasive Chinese tallow trees and thin the understory to prevent devastating fires. They’ve cut down many trees in the first phase. It isn’t pretty but is understandable. I saw funding came from the recent infrastructure bill passed by Congress. I hope the funding isn’t withdrawn mid-project like so many are.

Much larger gator not bothered by pruning

We next drove to the greater High Point, North Carolina area to visit our family members. (Some were unavailable, sadly). The roads were not in great shape, and we followed rain much of the way, but we made it. It was worth it to see Donita and Libba, who couldn’t join me on this trip to Hilton Head.

We had dinner at a very nice restaurant, though it was hard to talk due to people screaming while they ate. Three of us were hard of hearing. But we persevered and laughed a lot. Lee and I also had fun.

This morning I managed to get a 20-minute walk in the neighborhood of our hotel. I found 31 birds and some interesting plants. Let’s see where we go next!

Peach-colored Fly Agaric – *Amanita persicina*

Ancient and Avian Wonders

Yesterday was our last day at Hilton Head, so we did those last few things you hadn’t done yet. One was eat at Hudson’s, my favorite restaurant. Even though we tried to get in at a less-busy time, we would have had a 40-minute wait for outdoors. Indoors wasn’t as fun, but I enjoyed some oysters anyway.

We found a Brown Pelican, and a Snowy Egret to take photos of, which made for a fun dessert!

After that we headed over to the Coastal Discovery Museum, which is a former hunting lodge that was donated to the island when the last owner passed away.

Too many gorgeous trees to get a good building photo.

They have turned the main house into a museum about the environment and history of this area. There was also an exhibit of art by local high school students, which was impressive. The exhibit I liked best was live horseshoe crabs swimming around and playing with the bubbles in their aerator. I’d never seen one alive.

The best part of the visit was the outdoor exhibits. There were boardwalks leading onto the tidal marsh, which was wonderful, with many birds and rushing water.

There was a butterfly exhibit with many monarchs flying around and lots of lovely plants to photograph them on. We were very glad Lee had brought the good camera, because some of the images are gorgeous.

There was also a carnivorous plant exhibit, and you know how much I love carnivorous plants! I also found a beautiful fly on one of the pitcher plants. I added some pictures we took of flowers, because they are so pretty.

Venus flytrap *Dionaea muscipula (*native to the Carolinas)

Lee went to sit and watch birds with the camera while I explored the rest of the place. He got some good shots.

Meanwhile, I looked at the dragonfly pond, which didn’t have any dragonflies, but did have an alligator that I almost didn’t see.

A big highlight of the museum grounds was the largest red cedar tree in South Carolina. Even before I read the sign that said it probably started out in 1595, I thought to myself that I’d never seen a cedar with such an impressively gnarled trunk. What a treasure!

I saved the best for last, though. The final boardwalk went through a motte of ancient, ancient live oaks, the kind I just want to hug and sit with (which I may have done). These were some of the most beautiful old friends I ever met.

Plus there were lots of fiddler crabs to enjoy. I like how they are all slightly different.

I’m so glad I finally went in there, persuaded by Lee. I think I had the idea that it was a kids’ place. I’ll be back to walk the whole trail, which happens to abut Jarvis Creek Park, another location I want to return to next time. Oh yes, there will be a next time.

When Your Spouse Needs a Me Day

Yesterday, Lee asked me if we could have one day when we just did nothing and introverted. (I love turning nouns into verbs…not really, but I’m trying to use modern grammar.) How could I turn down someone who drove all the way from Texas to North Carolina by himself to spend time with me? So I said that would be just fine. I even did my best to introvert along with him, writing in my journals, blogging, crocheting, etc.

I did my nails, too. This month’s color theme is orange.

But I’m so used to moving around a lot that I finally had to take a hike (literally). I knew Lee would appreciate the time to calculate the April rain totals and sum up all his goal tracking in his journals, so I announced I’d go to Sea Pines for a few hours. I even drove, because, as we learned in November, you can’t walk into Sea Pines. You must drive and pay $9 to get in (going up to $10 soon). It apparently covers maintenance of the beautiful roads and such. Snooty.

While it’s snooty as heck, it also has that giant forest preserve smack in the middle of the neighborhood, which is on the far south edge of Hilton Head Island. I knew that if I went alone, I could spend all the time I wanted looking for weird plants and interesting wildlife. Off I went!

Little Blue Herons are interesting wildlife.

As someone who’s always looking at plants and birds, I have a hard time looking at directions and road signs, but I found the hidden parking area in the center of the preserve after wondering if the one-lane road was for cars or just bicycles (that you had to bring in unless you were staying there). I lived, and even had a little picnic of a banana and snack bar while listening to birds on one of the lakes.

My walking around was quite fruitful. It’s beautiful as always, though there weren’t any new and unusual birds to be found. That makes sense; I was barely two miles from the condo, not in some exotic locale. I enjoyed this beautiful Great Blue Heron, though.

I was happy to find a couple of alligators, since I hadn’t spotted any for a few days. One was quite close, but I annoyed it by walking by, so it left.

The plant spotting was quite successful, because I found some treasures. I was lucky enough to be at the preserve when the Grass-leaved Ladies’ Tresses (Spiranthes praecox) were in bloom. These are delicate native orchids found throughout the southern US in wet areas. What a lovely treat.

I also found a Florida Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema acuminatum) which is a pretty rare plant that’s mostly found in central Florida. I felt very lucky to get to see it. There aren’t even that many observations on iNaturalist. I’ll remember this one!

The preserve has great trails that are very well marked, which makes it hard to get lost. There are a couple of boardwalks. I went on the Disappearing Swamp one, which looks a lot like depictions of when the dinosaurs were alive. Lots of ferns.

There I met a very nice couple. The man took one look at me and asked, “Are you doing your Merlin?” I had to say yes. We had a great conversation about birding on the island. I told them about the Prayer Trail and they told me about an Osprey nest right by where I’d parked my car! We went and looked at it, but saw no birds. They’d seen baby heads a few days ago. Still, that was fun, and I got to meet new people!

Once I finished walking, I went to the Harbour Town shops just to check out the yachts and the expensive clothing.

I purchased the pinkest t-shirt I’ve ever seen. It’s Lily Pulitzer, too. I always wanted one of her blindingly colorful items.

All in all, Lee got to be alone and I got to see lots of nature and meet people. It’s great to accommodate all of our needs!

April Showers and Flowers

I realized I blathered on and on about something even more boring than usual in my previous post, but I have to confess I spent yesterday doing the same thing. Almost all the photos I took were of plants.

But not this one! I enjoyed watching kites on the beach.

I re-looked at the instructions for the City Nature Challenge, and sure enough, they do not care if you take pictures of plants that aren’t native. So, I found out the names of all sorts of decorative plants from foreign lands that I didn’t know before. And I’m #127 on the list of most observations (out of 2K+).

Oh my. The common name for caladiums is Heart of Jesus.

Yeah, iNaturalist doesn’t do as well with fancy cultivars. It literally had no idea what decorative ginger with yellow-and-red blossoms and striped foliage was. But I persevered. It did way better with squirrels and alligators.

My first walk was back to the Prayer Trail and the surrounding area. There, I was thrilled to actually see Great Crested Flycatchers, which I’ve been hearing frequently as I wander (did you know that a majority of Cameron, Texas residents think that the word for meandering aimlessly is “wonder”? It’s true.).

Two Great Crested Flycatchers. Blurry, but loudly identifiable.

I also heard an unfamiliar call and found out it was an Indigo Bunting! That’s the second type of bunting for this trip. I even got to see it fly around and be all blue and beautiful. Sadly, the best photo I got was not good at all. Only I would know what it was, because I saw it fly in.

Oh, and I also finally got a photo of the new-to-me butterfly I’ve been seeing in the woods. And a cat. Exotic.

Palamedes Swallowtail *Papilio palamedes*

On my second walk of the day, I tried to go back to Lagoon Road, but got confused by a lot of traffic and had some detours. I saw the second alligator there, so all was good.

When I started out, I saw some really interesting clouds, but thought nothing of it until the clouds were accompanied by thunder.

Pretty cloud formation on the road with all the identical condos.

It really didn’t rain much until I got past Coligny (shopping area that has a Chico’s; I miss Chico’s). It was drizzling when I saw Alligator #2, but never got above a light shower. That’s a pretty poor highlight for one’s day, but yep, that and the birds were it. I stood under a big tree and waited until it lightened up enough to get back to Ocean Oak.

Raining in the sunshine where I was sheltering

Oh, why did I do that? Standing still makes you a mosquito dining zone. I paid for that when I tried to go to sleep last night after my television binge. If you’re wondering what television show I’m watching now, it’s the one with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie. With 94 episodes, I’ll be watching for a while, especially since Lee comes today and he won’t want to watch it.

Yeah, Lee bit off more than he could chew with his travel goals yesterday, so he stopped in Georgia to get some rest. I’d rather he arrives during the daytime and not totally exhausted! It doesn’t look like there will be more rain today. Yay. Off for more iNat observations!