birds – Page 15 – The Hermits' Rest

The Thrill of Discovery

I think the reason I like to travel around and look for birds is that I get such a great feeling when I find a new one or a beautiful collection. I feel a refreshing rush of adrenaline and a glimmer of joy every time. You don’t get that many chances for those feelings!

You’re welcome for that feeling, Suna, says the White Ibis.

Today’s walk around 40 Acre Lake gave me plenty of reasons to glow and grin. I’d never seen a White Ibis outside of a zoo before, so the ones I got up close to and saw flying today were quite special.

Another sighting that took my breath away was an American Bittern. I think I saw one in South Carolina a few years ago, but this one was close. They are so stripey!

The lake had more of the Yellow-crowned Night Herons that Brazos Bend State Park is known for. One juvenile made fun faces at me.

Another bird I enjoyed were the Snowy Egrets. They are so dainty and busy. I saw many of them catching food, flying around, and squabbling.

After the lake I checked out some huge live oaks. They bring me a different feeling. I feel at peace around them. I guess it comes from hugging so many as a child.

I left the trails and headed back, but just had to stop on the roadside by the swamp snag area where all the birds hang out. There were dozens of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Ibis, Little Blue Herons, and Gallinules. They’re lurking in these photos.

What you don’t see is the small flock of Roseate Spoonbills I saw flying. I got to see them with the binoculars, too. The only other times I’ve seen them was flying over the Interstate in Mississippi and the one that visited our pond with some storks on the most exciting ranch birding day ever. No photos, so here’s the only alligator I saw on this visit.

And now I’m back home, though I discovered jury duty was canceled. Back to work. But let me leave you with some pretty sights. I need them, so maybe you do, too. I’m tired of being bombarded with negativity in media, so let me provide you with an alternative.

That’s Better! Birds and Plants and Peace

At last! I have my stamina back. I can walk as far as I want to and not start panting. So I did that today. I walked a lot.

This Dusky Blue Groundstreak butterfly has a fake head and wiggling fake antennae on its back side. Clever.

Here at Brazos Bend State Park, I investigated some of the bends, horseshoe lakes created by creeks and rivers when they change course. This morning I crossed Big Creek to check out Hale Lake, which has a cool path that loops inside the horseshoe. The paths aren’t very well maintained, but there have been so many hurricanes and such lately that aesthetics may not be a priority. The ancient benches and gazebos still work.

Anyway. Even the many, many recently downed trees didn’t detract from how pleasant the walk was and how pretty the views were.

This is a White-striped Longtail, a skipper butterfly. It’s so graceful when flying.

I enjoyed many birds, especially a pair of garrulous Kingfishers who had a lot to say to each other. It was a nice break from the incessant cawing of the crows, starting before daybreak.

It was just great to take my time and check out new plants and scenery. It’s so good to go into discovery mode and let the pressing issues of the day slip by. Peace. Ah.

I can open my eyes to amazing sights, like sedges growing out of a log in the lake.

After I got back, Lee and I went for a drive around the area where he came from. There are many pretty parts, but so many industrial complexes. I don’t think I’d want to live there just from all the chemicals in the air.

But we did find some bird sanctuaries and interesting wildlife areas to explore.

The path I went down at the wildlife management area we found was not being maintained any longer. How did I know? An immense oak tree blocked my passage. It’s probably from the most recent storm.

Back at Brazos Bend, I checked out the next lake on my list, Elm Lake. It’s made from a dam, I think. This was late afternoon, so the light was pretty. I was delighted by the number of new water plants I found.

However, I was practically overwhelmed by the number of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flying off to roost. Those are some loud and strange birds.

In addition to more Anhingas, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, herons, and egrets, I had a real-life Tippi Hedren moment. I heard noises in the swamp, which got louder and louder. I realized it was a huge flock of grackles making its way toward the lake. They were sneaky, not flying together in a murmuration, but going slowly from tree to tree until they were above me. Eek.

So I moved on, and found the swampy area where the birds roost. The herons were really pretty.

But then it got creepy again. An owl started hooting (Barred Owl), and odd sounds that were not from birds began. First there was a bullfrog. I’m okay with those. Then an alligator. It was far away. Then something else.

About that time a man who was obviously a birder showed up (camera, binoculars, birding hat). I asked him what he thought the sound was. Feral hogs. Yep. Once he proposed that it made sense.

There’s a flying heron and a duck in ia tree in this image.

We left, but had a nice chat until I turned to find Lee, who had met me in the parking lot, because the sun was setting. I was glad.

Well, I packed a lot of fun into today!

Escaped, Briefly

Woo hoo! We finally made it to Brazos Bend State Park. It’s not that I don’t like home; I just also like exploring in our rolling home. We only had one brief additional wiring issue, but it didn’t delay us much. We are here, and even have seasonal decoration.

This park was easy for Lee to set up in, and he likes the scenery, since he grew up near here. I like that there are swamps and gators, like where I grew up.

When we arrived there was plenty of time for me to go on a short walk on a trail around a little lake. I enjoyed many bulldogs, beautiful water plants, and of course, birds.

It’s quite a diverse habitat, and I’m sorry our stay has been cut short (we have to leave Sunday, not Monday night as planned) because I don’t think I’ll manage to get to all the trails. Maybe I can get Lee to come back. I want to see the bigger lakes with all the birds, and look for more new plants.

I saw no exciting wildlife, just a squirrel. The wildlife was all at home, I guess. Terry, the farrier, watched a coyote cross the road followed by a mountain lion, just before you get to our property from the west. I’m glad the hens are safely fenced in! He was pretty excited about it, for a very laid-back guy. I told him it was blog-worthy!

You have to check the tail to be sure it’s not a bobcat. He did. Photo from Pexels.

Tomorrow more trails and visits to places from Lee’s youth. Oh boy! And don’t worry, the dogs and horses are in good hands. All medication will be administered!

Time to Heal, So Heel, Goldie!

We got our dog back and I survived the journey. Let’s just say it’s hard for stressed-out people to deal with how those close to them act when stressed out. But Goldie is home!

She was glad to see us, and is walking well for her first tripod day. The poor girl will not pee or poop anywhere but here, so I was glad to hear that they expressed her bladder during surgery. 48 hours is a long time to hold it, even when your bladder is large.

We have to keep her quiet for two weeks and not let her run and jump. That’s gonna be hard, but we brought her crate into the living room where she won’t be alone. You see, Harvey can’t come upstairs since his stroke, so he has to have someone down with him. So, the living room is now a bedroom. Yow.

We took the couch cushions off, too, so Goldie can sleep in her preferred spot without straining. No more straining now that the car ride is over. The exit was difficult.

Yeah, it was an extra stressful day, not only from a dog standpoint but also a work standpoint. Things change a lot when you’re suddenly in change management. But hey, I got to see a hawk up close, not flapping around. That was good.

This is a good spot, says Mr. Red Shoulders.

I’m just tired. Too many early days and too much calendar chaos with meetings and events changing on me. Time to draw on my reserves, because guess what? It’s burr season again. The horses are covered. We didn’t get enough of them. Now I’m pre-exhausted.

At least the dog is back.

Gray Skies Are Gonna Clear Up

We are putting on our happy faces because even though the weather was weird today, we got encouraging news about Goldie’s prognosis.

The important news is that the veterinary team took X-rays of Goldie’s chest this morning and found no evidence of metastatic growths. That means she has a better chance of hanging on for a good while as a tripod. She then had the amputation surgery and came through it well.

Spooky sky with light of hope shining through. Photo by Lee.

Now we are waiting to see how she does overnight. I’m glad this facility has an overnight doctor to keep an eye on the animals there. She is well drugged, so she can rest pain free. What a relief. If things go well, we will get her tomorrow afternoon.

While anxiously awaiting news of Goldie (we thought she was going in early but that wasn’t the case), I hung out with the birds. There were over 40 species today! You can tell it’s migration time. The clouds never made any rain, either.

Vultures waiting for their wings to dry, and that same cloud.

After lunch with the ladies and Casey (the dude of our crowd) I came home to more weird weather. The wind picked up drastically, to where I couldn’t work outside anymore. Just as I was finishing my last meeting, Lee came in and said some of the horses were out.

Look, Mom. We are over here by the welding thingie.

I went over and shut the main gate, then went to figure out what was going on. Two horses were still in their pen area. Dusty was just standing by the big gate, assuming I’d let him out, which I did. Drew, in the other hand, was running anxiously back and forth, not settling down enough to figure out where the exit was.

I found that the back gate, which already had some issues, had blown open in the wind and was sitting at a most awkward angle. Drew finally found it and flew past me, jumping and leaping. What a dramatic boy.

We decided to let them do some edging and mowing for a while, but the gate did get fixed. Of course, as we were discussing it, Drew had to come help. I guess we humans are more interesting than new grass to the curious one. Anyway, other than causing the dogs to bark, the horses are fine. They’ll go back inside soon as they get thirsty.

Now I can go sleep. I sure didn’t last night, as my good friends knew! Let’s hope the ride home goes well. We have the new halter and a t-shirt for Goldie to wear.

I Got Over Focused

Today I got a bee in my bonnet to arrange my list of birds seen in Milam County, Texas phylogenetically. That’s how my friend Ann says most birders want to see their bird lists. Here’s the official list, which is all formal and in Latin.

I prefer informal birds, like these guys in the painting by a local artist that I got as a housewarming gift. I’ve seen all three of these, finally.

I’m not making it that complex. I’m using David Sibley’s English interpretation, which is how most of the checklists I’ve seen for state parks are organized. There are lots of variations, as I discovered when I looked all all Ann’s examples.

Here’s one example, which also tells you what season the bird might appear and if it’s unusual.

I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity about how many birds of each order we have. Once I got started, I just couldn’t stop arranging. I kept going until all the birds were arranged. I’m embarrassed to say I spent at least four hours formatting, cutting, pasting and labeling.

Here’s another example. We have lots more birds here, thanks to migratory visitors.

I sure got fixated on my list! I’ll share it when we are finished.

Here’s yet another Scissortail photo. Look at his tail!

All that concentration meant that I was a bit late getting to the horses, so I got rained on. Yes! Rain! At least it cooled down a bit. I’m not enjoying the fact that our two moderate weather weeks are over.

The heat this morning made bird watching hard. This is my best attempt at a bluebird photo.

I did find a couple of interesting plants today. I was particularly happy to find gomphrena weed on the roadside, because I didn’t know it grew here. I’d seen it before while camping. And I just thought the goldenrod was graceful.

It’s always rewarding to find something new. Living in the moment! Even when hyper focused.

A Day of Bird Fun

I pretty much spent my whole day engaged in bird activities. There was a horse hour or two and a trip to buy dog food, but the rest of the day was for the birds. I do enjoy them, probably because I don’t understand them too well.

I got no bird photos, so enjoy a wildflower, marsh fleabane.

This morning I headed out early (for me on a Saturday) and went to the Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary we are working on. Ann and Phyllis joined me as I did my monthly bird count.

We had lots of eyes, ears, and binoculars, which made finding 25 birds not all that hard. Most of the hummingbird feeders were covered in bees, which annoyed the plentiful Ruby-throated hummingbirds.

There are many new songbird feeders, too.

We practiced our Forest Walking, but didn’t immerse ourselves in it, because we were busy identifying birds and plants. The wooded area was lots of fun, but I got into something itchy.

When we were getting ready to leave, Cindy and Gene Rek brought a big box over to me. It contained two black Cochin hens. These are the big fluffy kind with pretty feathered feet. What a lovely gift!

I hope they end up liking the new housing situation. Cindy and Cathy (the hens, not people) got a bit stressed out by their day and got pretty pale and hot. They have lots of water and food now, and Lee made them new stairs to climb to get into the coop. I hope they figure it out.

Getting them settled was hard because one got out when I was unboxing them. She went under the RV and would not leave even when Lee squirted her with water. I’m thinking that actually felt good. I got her out with my official chicken net that is really a fishing net.

Feeling better, but suspicious of the water dish. They have a bigger water trough but I worried they couldn’t find it.

As if that wasn’t enough bird action, I then spent the evening blogging about the morning and making a list of all birds that have been seen in Milam County on iNaturalist and eBird. Ann wants to have a checklist people can use. I’ll be working on that for a while, but it feels good to contribute!

This friend walked by while I was doing my morning sit. It just grunted a greeting and kept going.

Birding activity was a good way to take my mind off dogs and such.

Let’s Duet

There was a funny/punny song from the movie Walk Hard called Let’s Duet that made it sound like the singers wanted to “do it,” and it always made me laugh. Today’s duets might have been about hooking up, too, for all I know.

As we all know, flowers are about sex, too. This is a false foxglove. I’d been waiting for them to bloom.

Basically, large birds of prey had things to tell each other today.

First, when I went on my morning walk, there was a Red-Shouldered Hawk making a lot of racket. As I walked down the road, it became obvious there were at least two hawks. It’s interesting to me that once they start duetting, you can tell the difference between birds. I couldn’t figure out the topic of their communication, but it did keep the other birds quiet. I didn’t hear a House Sparrow until late afternoon!

I came back to work after enjoying four different woodpeckers, including a booming Pileated hard at work on some poor tree. I enjoyed watching it go up and down as it pecked.

Digression

After a pleasant lunch with my rather giddy friends who’d all watched the same televised event last night, there was more work (including a chat with a guy in Scotland whose daughter loves horses).

Speaking of horses, look at this good boy.

I decided I feel better, so while the horses were eating, I chopped down more evil cocklebur plants. I’ve discovered that the plants eat my arms and make little cuts and peeling skin. But I did it anyway. I love watching them shrivel up. Apache and Fiona toss the stems around.

Drew, on the other hand, now asks me to spray the water hose near him so he can drink it. His lips get all flappy and I can’t stop laughing. Too bad I can’t get a photo, because my hands are full. He really can be funny.

By the time I was finished lopping, I realized it had gotten hot outside and I’m actually not completely better. I have to go a bit more slowly still.

Back to Duets

To recover from the bur attacking, I sat by the pool to watch the birds, only there weren’t many. All the cute little Cave Swallows must have been flocking the last few days, because they are gone. Boom. Safe travels, Swallows!

The other birds were lying low because of the next duet, which was between Great Horned Owls. I usually hear a few hoots, but tonight it was just like the hawks earlier, a long and complicated interaction. Again, you could distinguish the two birds. It was just beautiful. It made me feel all autumnal, even if it got again.

Have a good night or day!

Still Droopy

I’m still feeling worn out so I’ll just share some pretty and cute photos for the day and share weighty matters tomorrow. The cutest thing I saw today was this gorgeous new calf. It’s seal brown or gray.

Its mama loves it a lot. It has a tiny Snow White buddy. I hope they stay in the pasture behind us for a while.

I enjoyed the birds a lot, even the Loggerhead Shrikes, who are the current loud birds in the group. There was also a persistent Blue Grosbeak, so I’ve got that sound down now.

The late summer flowers are ramping up. I’m just waiting for the asters. And my traveling trick worked: it’s not so hot now and it’s raining!

The horses were happy to get their food and supplements today, too. And that’s enough for this worn out nature lover.

Small Packing Triumph

I had a relaxing day of laundry, packing, and watching the Paralympic Games. I really enjoyed wheelchair rugby and was thrilled when a Gold Medalist in swimming said she went off to breastfeed her baby before the medal ceremony. How admirable!

I’m happy to say I managed to get all my stuff in my luggage. It’s mostly knitting I think. Silly me. I did get a few more clothes but that’s about it. I just have so many more medications now…prescription and over the counter. I hope they fit in the carryon bag. The other good news is that I have seats way in the front so I know I’ll be able to get it in the overhead bin.

I am not fond of modern air travel.

I did get a final walk around the area in. I didn’t want to go into town because of crowds. I don’t want to get sick again though I guess I have some immunity. One thing is for sure, I’m not all better. It’s still hard going uphill or fast. I did enjoy the birds, squirrels, and flowers, though. The alpine wildflowers were just gorgeous, even though fading now.

A couple of squirrels got all in my face for intruding on their meteorological autumn nut gathering. Such varied types of chattering! I’ll miss the Fremont’s squirrels the most, though the incredibly tiny chipmunks are a strong second.

I have a tie for favorite bird. Both the Mountain Chickadees and the Pygmy Nuthatches were extra friendly and entertaining. They really are masters of the spruce trees.

Wish me luck tomorrow. More germ-filled crowded spaces. Wake me up at 4am!