Weather Report – Page 7 – The Hermits' Rest

Farewell to the Migrants

Get your mind off politics, I’m talking about avian migrants! For a few days my bird species counts here at the Hermits’ Rest were incredibly high, much higher than I’d ever seen before. One day I observed (with Merlin Bird ID, sight, or my own ears) 74 species, as I mentioned earlier I think. I’d rarely hit 50 before.

It was the migrating warblers and friends who added so much to my totals. It seemed like there were many more kinds of warblers this year, along with vireos I hadn’t seen, nuthatches, and the seagulls I wrote about last time. I know there were a lot of birds coming through here on the central migration corridor, because there were news articles about them showing up on radar. That’s impressive, isn’t it? You can even see the migration live on the excellent BirdCast website. What fun!

The moon has been full for the past few days, and I think that may have been a big incentive for the warblers to head to more pleasant climes. Or maybe they knew that the temperature forecast for this week was grim – we’re in for our first near-100-degree days of the year this week, after a very pleasant spring so far.

This is the Weather Underground forecast for the next ten days. I miss last week already.

I was really enjoying the bird variety since I got back from Hilton Head. Here’s a list of all the warblers and vireos I’ve identified here in Texas in the past week:

American Redstart
Bay-breasted Warber
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Pine Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Red-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo (both warbles and is a vireo!)
White-eyed Vireo
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow Warbler (lots)
Yellow-rumped Warbler

I saw many more warblers in South Carolina, but this is a lot! Even without warblers, though, there are still a lot of birds here now. A Green Heron family is living in the tree in our back pond/tank, there are buntings and grosbeaks popping in and out (Painted Buntings are omnipresent, and I even saw a pair mating yesterday).

I was too entertained to reach for my phone, so enjoy my new portulaca.

I wonder if the heat will affect my observations. I know the heat affected me yesterday. I was trying to work with Apache and my legs turned all wobbly and I had to hose myself off and drink a lot of water to keep going. He’s probably thinking he’ll get out of all the riding and exercise we’ve been doing, but no such luck. I’ll stick it out!

By the way, I’m moving a lot of my content that’s philosophical or personal musings over to my Substack site, so feel free to go over there and read or subscribe. You’ll get the posts via email if you subscribe. I even have special content for my paid subscribers (yes, there are a few, and it really helps now that I have a tiny Social Security income).

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!

Flooding Adventures

What an interesting 24 hours it’s been! We set out from Clinton and powered our way through Mississippi and Louisiana. As we were doing so, the news from home was not good. Of course we needed rain, but flash flooding and tornadoes we could do without. Friends and family kept us updated, and the ranch survived okay. Friends did get damage from wind and lightning.

We were all as alert as this mockingbird who wasn’t threatened by the fake owl.

We started getting notices of flood warnings on our phones. At lunch I even got a phone call from the weather service! I guess that hadn’t been cut yet. By the way, yesterday’s lunch made us both very sick. Pepto Bismol to the rescue.

We tried to make it back to the Hermits’ Rest, but the rain got pretty scary. We had planned to make a stop at Lake Martin Creek State Park on the way but it was so bad that I spontained and decided to stop and let the weather pass.

We got a cabin with heat and air conditioning, and got soaked unloading and going to the restroom. Luckily we were the closest cabin to the facilities and had spare clothing to change into. We got all cozy and listened to the rain and lightning.

By early evening the rains had ended but the roads were still pretty bad and flooded in spots. So we stayed put and I wandered around to check out the pretty park on a big lake with a bigger power plant.

I was glad I had a nice long book to read and that we each had a blanket. Even without a pillow I slept great.

I didn’t want to sleep too late in case these guys would come after me (joke).

I threw on clothing I could get dirty and headed out to the trails on the cool island in the lake, which has a convenient bridge.

While the trails were challenging due to all the water, it was well worth it.

There were many trees of many kinds, which is typical in the Piney Woods region of east Texas. There weren’t many flowers, even in the grassy meadows, but it was very beautiful and secluded. The best part? Forty-eight species of birds!

Most of the birds hid, however. My new lifer, the Hooded Warbler, however did NOT hide. Its face is like the opposite of a Yellow-breasted Chat, so I was thrilled to ID it. Of course it didn’t sit there long enough to photograph.

Yeah, that was a good tromp through the mud. We are finally going to make it home, though we are seeing pretty impressive flooding and swollen waterways. One town we went through had obviously been hit by a tornado and had a television crew filming.

Inspiration for Community Parks

After leaving Tennessee yesterday, we drove and drove, partly because most rest stops where I’d listen to birds were closed due to budget cuts. This meant we got to our stopping place fairly early. We went to the next town after Jackson, Mississippi, which was Clinton, to get a few miles head start before the last leg of this trip.

I looked up things to do there, and saw the Clinton Community Nature Center. It sounded right up my alley. I almost didn’t go, because I’d had a headache all day, but Lee encouraged me. I think he didn’t want me wandering through the neighborhood where our (nice, updated Hilton Garden Inn) was located. Thank goodness he prodded me.

The nature center is well hidden in a very pleasant residential area, so you have to know it’s there. It looked small when we drove in, but it turned out to be a large, heavily wooded area. There is a stretch of the original Natchez Trace you can walk on. It’s easy to tell, as there are swales on either side of the path, like the ones you can see in Milam County along El Camino Real de las Tejas.

There are many trails throughout the park, and very many signs on the plants. There are many unusual trees, and I eventually found out why. There are also an old schoolhouse, an amphitheater, a pond, and a large native plant nursery.

I was fascinated by all the woodland plants. I could stay here a LONG time, but between 5-6pm is prime mosquito time. And Lee is definitely not a stopping enabler like Ann and Linda Jo.

When we were finished walking, I suggested we go in the log-cabin style headquarters. What a treat we were in store for! Not only was it open, but all the staff and, board members, and founders of the nature center were in there.

I did not get any photos, because I was too busy talking. This was from the porch.

Everyone was there because the Junior Civic League of Clinton was going to present the center with the proceeds of their gala, over $26K!

Photo from their Facebook page. The founders are at far left and right.

We learned that the center was founded close to 30 years ago by two retired biology professors from nearby Mississippi College (the oldest college in the state). With only volunteers and local funding, It’s built up to be this incredible community resource over time.

I had a great conversation with the director, who is also a master naturalist, and with the founders. One of them is very knowledgeable about all the plants. He just couldn’t stop sharing. But it was okay. He deserved the time we spent with him.

This place is a great inspiration for me as we work on our projects for El Camino Real Master Naturalist. Look what these volunteers have done! Of course, even volunteer organizations are affected by the government actions of late. No more Americorps volunteers. So sad.

Well, I would have finished earlier but we stopped to eat. I had delicious Boudin balls and the saltiest gumbo I ever ate.

Thrilled Lee at lunch wearing the shirt he got yesterday.

Now I’m so worried. There are tornadoes at home and more rain after 2.5” yesterday. Love to all my Milam County friends.

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*

I Left the Vicinity

Another day of nice weather and nice birds. This is not an exciting trip so far, but it has certainly lifted my spirits and calmed me down. If I hadn’t accidentally got mixed up with a bunch of people living in the alternate society in the US and had to deal with some insults, I’d be completely okay. But anyway, it’s all good, and I have access to a car!

Magnolias are another sign of the Deep South for me.

While I waited for Lee to get here, I went for a walk through neighborhoods, it being Sunday and me not wanting to interfere with church services by wandering their parking lots and trails. I did hear some good birds and even saw the flash of a Redstart, which was exciting. I enjoy looking at the houses here. It’s a mix of ones built when the island first started to be developed, which are modest 60s and 70s houses and huge vacation homes that are three stories and obviously for renting to large groups. There are a few smaller rentals.

Did I take photos of any houses? No. That feels icky to me, so here’s a skink with a missing tail.

I continued to take pictures of cultivated plants, finding it rather fun to see the information on them in iNat. There are a lot of people with over a thousand observations in the City Nature Challenge now, but I just have over 200. I have a life. Also, there just aren’t that many different native plants in this part of Hilton Head.

This one’s a mophead hydrangea, *Hydrangea macrophylla*.

Today maybe I’ll see some different plants, since I can go to a different part of the island. It’s interesting how just a few miles can be a different ecosystem, which I’ve learned in Milam County, where Tarrin gets many different plants from our ranch.

You will see this fungus in many places, though. Stereum lobatum.

Of course, now that Lee is here and we have a car, it’s probably going to rain all day, but we have some other things we can do. We did go to dinner last night at the very pleasant Sea Camp restaurant, with the lovely outdoor areas. It’s dog friendly, so I was not surprised to find Lee talking to a couple with two dogs when I got back from taking pictures of life around a dock.

Just look at this tiny crabby cuteness. It’s a squareback marsh crab – *Amases cinereum*.

The people were very nice, though, so it was quite pleasant, after spending so much time all by myself. Maybe I’ll run into more people today. At least I’ll have the Big Lens on the camera, so we can try to photograph wildlife. Maybe there will be things that are more exciting than dead and stinky armadillos (I sure remember that smell from the one our dogs got into) and dead stingrays (boo hoo).

I love the views of the marshes and river.

PS to email subscribers: I used a different setting for the email the blog sends out. Please let me know if it is weird or what.

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!

Even common plants are pretty, like plantain.

A Camping Dilemma

Any day out I nature is good. It did rain much of today, then got cold, but rain sounds good on the roof and I have warm clothing stashed in Seneca’s closet. However, the rain was not enough to dampen the spirits of our fellow campers.

Two, perhaps three (hard to tell) groups of incredibly enthusiastic Scouts are here, with one taking up three sites across from us. They are having FUN. So far I haven’t detected any actual scouting activities from this group, unless bellowing, screeching, and making siren sounds can earn you a merit badge. The adults coped by yelling back.

I coped by trying to leave, but it kept raining on me.

The other group was set up in the other camping area by the lake. They even had on uniforms as they blasted through empty campsites screaming instructions. One of them saw me and yelled, “Stranger Danger.” I was annoyed by then and reminded them that scouting encourages them to respect other campers.

I’m under a shelter. They’re scampering off.

They were on their way to a ceremony (I’d heard, ha ha), so by the time Lee had picked me up from standing in the rain and we drove by, they were doing a lovely ceremony with flags and saluting. Of course, THAT is when the park police went by. Such good little citizens.

I got to see a gun millipede while in the shelter in the rain.

Note that I did get a little walk in between rains and found a couple of interesting plants. I was trying out the new and improved iNat app, too. It identifies what I see immediately, so I don’t have to do it when I get back from a walk. Fewer Master Naturalist hours, but that’s fine.

Meanwhile, Lee and I took a drive around the area and looked at a couple of cute small towns. When we came back, the local kids were back outside, now throwing a football. I left again, and had a pleasant, if chilly, walk on the Nails Creek Trail, featuring lake views, more fun plants, and an owl.

A better picture of Sandyland Bluebonnet

The dilemma for me is whether I should have gone over and talked to the adults about the noise levels. I see two sides. One is that these are children who are outdoors. They don’t need to use their “inside voices” and that’s probably fun. Knowing how structured and protected the lives of kids are these days, this was probably a rare opportunity for free play with their friends, and that’s exhilarating for sure.

On the other hand, those of us who weren’t in their party could not enjoy our campsites when it wasn’t raining. In fact, we could only enjoy inside the RV with music or television on. I’ve been told that the training for the adults covers how to act when camping. I didn’t see a lot of buddy system or respect for the leaders.

I’m just not sure if I should have asked the park staff to talk to them or talked to them myself. I know how people react these days, so I said nothing. I honestly don’t mind kids having fun at reasonable volumes and staying in their own sites or the road. They were running all over the campground while the adults mostly sat in their chairs. I wish they’d gone on a hike or something but they’d have scared all the birds and animals.

My fervent hope is that they all pack up and leave early to go to church. Fingers crossed.

By the way, I want to thank any readers who went to peaceful protests today. Sign creativity was high! Since 2020, I can no longer do big crowds. But I’m grateful to those of you who fought through introversion and showed up.

And hey, here’s the first row of the 2025 temperature blanket. It’s warmer!

Worn Out

How on earth can I be worn out on a day when I couldn’t do much due to drizzle? That’s easy. I wore my mind out.

I lost my detachment from current events and got angry. It’s a good thing fewer than 30 people read my Substack, because I went off on the concept of “improper ideology” for many paragraphs. You can read it if you want to. I just blathered. It will bite me in the butt someday, but I’m old and have no employer to defer to, so who cares?

Bluebonnets and slightly more full pond.

I got my stuff ready for our in-person horse show tomorrow, though Apache is filthy and I’m not sure how great he feels. My shoulder still hurts a lot, but otherwise I’m okay. I have all sorts of wound care and cleaning stuff for him. I just hope I have time to get him ready.

That black-and-white blob is a Mournful Thyris moth.

Ah well. I’m glad for the rain. It’s much greener already. Maybe more will come, after tomorrow.

Brain hurts. Worn out. Good night.

Thanks, Ma Nature, Candles Are Fun

Weirdly, the temperature range today was just five degrees. That made for an interesting square in my temperature blanket with two shades of yellow for the low and high temperatures Fahrenheit.

We had a couple warm days this week (Orange is when I start to sweat (85-89°)).

The reason for this stasis is that we finally had a good rain front come through, which hadn’t happened since last month. People south of us got much more, but we are closing in on an inch here, which will at least moisten the parched wildflowers and raise the levels in the ponds/tanks a bit.

More is predicted for tomorrow, so I’m hoping Mother Nature will be kind to us, even though the rain made Dusty and Drew go into wild stallion mode all day. So much rearing, kicking, and neck snaking has to be hard on them both.

To top the day off, we lost power right as I was getting ready to cook dinner. I set the last pot on the stove and was about to cut up onions when the power started to flicker. After about ten minutes of that, the lights went off for a couple of hours. I’d say that forced some downtime but that’s not true. I took a walk in the rain with the big umbrella and was rewarded with the haunting sounds of Upland Sandpipers, followed by much ado from a Greater Yellowlegs, another shore bird with an unforgettable sound. The rain had it pretty excited.

The horses were quite concerned at the sight of me with the unfamiliar umbrella. High alert!

After a candlelight hamburger dinner, the power came back so Lee could get back to bookbinding and I could finish my crochet squares. This domestic tranquility reminds me that there was a good event this morning.

Yes, this morning I was reading email in bed, when I heard dog footsteps. I looked, and Carlton and Penney were both in the bed. What?

I was being good. Just like this, only in bed.

It was Harvey. He’d made it upstairs, which he’d only tried twice before, since his stroke or whatever happened. But there he was, happy as he could be. The important thing is that after I got dressed and went downstairs, he came down in his own. Lee heard it, and he said it sounded more graceful than last time. I guess his liver medication is helping (it costs more than any of our human medicine).

It’s good to see Harvey helping Alfred guard the premises.

I’m hoping for more rain, then for a nice clear Saturday, assuming Apache and I are healed up enough to do the show. He seems fine. My shoulder is messed up, which may have something to do with the hoof-shaped bruise on my upper arm. I’ll live, I’m sure!

My shoulder isn’t too bad, anyway. I managed to lift 40-pound bags of alfalfa and salt that the previous horses needed. I’m a strong older person!