birds – Page 15 – The Hermits' Rest

Made It to the Wilds of South Texas

I think I’m in south Texas, anyway. It’s far from our house, anyway, and getting here was a slog. There was much construction and extra bumpy roads. Yah, we were roughing it, ha ha.

A picture from before we left: Brown-headed Cowbirds in a tree, gurgling away.

Once we finally found Choke Canyon State Park, I was excited, because it would have interesting birds, and I hoped some interesting animals, too. But first we had to get Seneca the motorhome set up. I guess all the bumps jostled the battery cables, plus there’s a water problem caused by our recent freeze (our prep work wasn’t quite good enough), and… the generator still isn’t working. Verdict: going in for repairs next week.

View from the campsite. The lake is behind that brush.

While poor Lee was trying to finish setting up, I ran around trying to see what the place was like before it got too dark. Merlin found a Great Kiskadee, which I hope to see while I’m here, along with green jays and other southern birds.

I did spot five bunnies, many deer, and three roaming javelinas. The most fun, I think, were all the bats swooping around at dusk. I love watching them!

Other campers reported alligators, so I have things to look forward to at this park, which is next to a very large lake surrounded by…I’m not sure what, but I’ll find out tomorrow. Though it was a hectic day (lots went on at work, too), I can’t complain about getting some nature time in!

Actually the lake is surrounded by oil refineries and wells. After it got dark, I could see a lot of natural gas flaring.

An Ideal Suna Day

Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.

I wasn’t going to write again today, but the prompt cheered me up. I enjoyed pretending I could have an ideal day again. I could do this day if I had enough money to maintain this lavish lifestyle. It’s not really lavish, just maintaining what we have now, which I doubt will happen. Wait I was cheered up there for a minute. Hold on.

There is a new day, every day, until there isn’t

So, I would wake up around 7:30, meditate, and do morning journaling over coffee, preferably on the porch. Of course I’d feed my many happy chickens. Next I’d walk all over the property looking for interesting plants and birds. I’d get at least 50 birds on Merlin (which I did yesterday!).

I’d come in and check email and, it being my ideal day, I would not read my usual news. Lunch time would roll around and I would go to town and eat with one or more of my friends, maybe at somewhere not Mexican for a change. We would say kind things to each other and laugh at funny stories.

This looks remarkably like today’s tacos but is from Pexels

Heading home, I’d spend quality time with the horses, not just Apache. I’d groom and exercise one of the others, feed them all, then ride Apache and practice our skills. We would take a little walk around, just for fun and he’d be fine with that.

After the horses, I’d go swimming or hang around on the patio chatting with Lee and any other present family members, followed by a dinner that I didn’t cook. Maybe it would just be cheese and crackers if lunch was big enough. We would watch a movie or television show that was funny or educational. I would knit or crochet through that part.

Yes, I’d add some fruit. Probably not wine, since I’m drinking less.

I’d go upstairs, get ready for bed, then blog and/or read. Carlton would hop up and join me in snoozing.

Ah, that sounds good! My ideal day is peaceful and calm. It’s relatively stress free (only fun stress allowed).

I did many of the things in the ideal day today, but I also worked and stressed over world events. Sigh. I’m spending much time these days just watching, observing, and trying to understand what’s happening. I’m trying to listen more than I speak. And I’m trying to be useful.

Yes, my ideal day is at home. I probably also have an ideal travel day!

Happy False Spring

There’s always a warm front that fools us into thinking winter’s over here in Texas. It often happens when the first migratory birds show up. This year, a Purple Martin arrived yesterday followed by a Scissortail Flycatcher today. Both were males. These are “scouts,” checking out the neighborhood.

I had to grab this fast, but you can see his long tail.

False spring arrives out of nowhere. One week you’re wearing all your layers, the next week you look like this.

Yep, the first orange (above 85°) flower on my temperature blanket will mark this day. I dripped with sweat for the first time in 2025, something I’d have gladly waited for. Apache, still in full winter furriness could have done without a lesson today, too.

We have confidence that this winter warmth will fade in a week or so. Until then, I’ll be able to enjoy birds in the mornings and sweat with the horses in the afternoons. And it will be good hiking weather, I hope.

Flowers are popping up! Red stemmed stork’s bill.

After a sweaty grooming session (my equine companion was entranced by a hawk and not very cooperative), we had another good lesson. Apache is learning finesse very quickly, as soon as I figure it out.

Yeah Suna. You’re holding me back. Let’s get rid of your head.

The cool achievement today was very smooth stopping. He can stop immediately from a fast trot and I hardly feel it. It’s my favorite feature so far in our journey toward cantering. We practice stopping a lot. Then going. Anyway, it’s fun to improve at our own pace.

I’m glad we had the lesson, even though Tarrin wasn’t feeling great. It made up for a challenging work day and some hard conversations with my friends. Plus it was nice of Lee to come along and take photos of me and faithful Apache. He also took cute pictures of Tarrin’s pets.

All in all, false spring isn’t so bad. I’ll enjoy it as long as it lasts.

Spontaining with Birds

I had things to do today, important things like hard boil some eggs. Instead, I proposed that we hop in the car and take our cameras to Granger Lake, and see if we could find any birds. As long as I could get home in time to ride Apache, we were free. Time to spontain!

As you can see, I’d already been playing with the zoom lens. I got the best White-crowned Sparrow I’ve ever taken!

The weather was even better than yesterday, so why not tote that giant lens around? it was good practice.

We went to two of the many parks around Granger Lake. It was too loud to listen at the first park, but I found big birds and yaupon berries.

We left that place and went to the other side of the lake, down beautiful country roads to the park with equestrian trails. It also had prettier campsites. We enjoyed exploring this area alone, and it was great fun in the swampy areas and trails (will be better in spring).

We eventually meandered over to the lake, where I finally found some different birds to photograph. I was mostly just trying to figure out what the white birds were, then realized there were even more cormorants than white birds.

This was really far away, but clear enough to ID.

When I got home and downloaded the pictures to my phone, I realized that my photos of gulls were filled with cormorants. They aren’t very clear, but if you click to enlarge you will see them in trees, swimming, and sticking their heads out of the water!

As if this wasn’t enough fun, we went home on the back roads (Lee is familiar with them from once living in Granger). We noticed more places to hike in the nature preserves, which made us want to bring the RV down one weekend.

I felt so good when I got home, even after listening to unbearable political analysis all the way to the lake (it made my stomach hurt). I’m glad I felt good, so that I could do my important chores of boiling eggs and riding a horse who was not interested in side passing.

I’m glad Lee and I have a shared hobby. I wish his macro photos had loaded into our shared library, but synching is slow. I’ll share another time!

Oh yes! The month has a pink theme. Happy love nails.

Welcome Light

Tomorrow is Imbolc, a celebration that light is starting to appear from darkest winter (among other things). Nature brought the light a little early, and provided us with a rare cool, sunny day. It was mighty pleasant.

I enjoyed a break from my very busy week by sitting outside after work, reflecting on how much I value my connections and wish I could cultivate them more.

I’m too busy sitting with birds, I guess.

At least I talked to my friend Donna yesterday, and she reminded me that the Purple Martins start to return this time of year. I also saw the bluebonnets getting bigger today, and I was happy, even though the speaker at last night’s Master Naturalist class informed us they are not native here, just in the granite areas of the hill country. Poo.

Lee was practicing with his camera so you can see what I look like when listening to and watching birds.

I know spring is coming, with turkey eggs every other day, calendar changes, getting my first new temperature blanket module done (tomorrow), and a new theme color for my journal and nail polishes. Stereotypical, it’s true, but February is all pink. I might even have pink in my hair. Ooooh.

Don’t dye me pink, Suna. My nose is pink enough.

Now I Can See Those Dang Birds

One thing Lee and I did in Austin yesterday was get a zoom lens for our Cannon camera. It goes 150-500, and is pretty big but not ridiculous. We went to Precision Camera, a store I’ve patronized off and on since I moved here. I am glad they sell used equipment. New stuff is pricey.

The first time I went to Precision Camera it was a much smaller store near the current one. I went with Mary Jo, the school librarian at my kids’ school, to get a digital camera so I could put photos on the school website. We got the best we could get in 1998, since it was a new school and we had funds. This fine camera could take ten pictures on its memory card. Then you’d have to slowly download to a PC to clear out space. Getting even one photo per class was tedious (plus no photos of children’s faces—we had already figured that out).

I’m pretty sure this was it. You can get your own here.

I digress. The current equipment we now have holds lots more photos, and we download them via the camera’s wifi, which even our mid-level Canon camera has. So see, some things are better now. My goal is to get photos of birds that will look good enough to ID on iNaturalist. I have no illusions of becoming an art photographer at this point in my life.

New lens triumphantly produced an identifiable White-crowned Sparrow.

Today was not a great day to try the new lens out, since it was misty and drizzly all day. The temperature only varied by 6° all day!

Even though it was a gray day, I took many bird photos, some with the phone, which also has a good zoom but not as many pixels. I wanted to compare.

The lens is heavy, so I’ll have to build arm strength. It has stabilizers, which is quite useful for shaky arms.

Luckily, whatever this thing is didn’t move.

Mostly I practiced taking pictures of our Great Egret as it preened its damp feathers. It’s great to be able to see it up close.

On a sunny day I could do more, but I enjoyed trying different modes. I’m nowhere near able to manually manipulate settings. I’ll get there.

I look forward to seeing what I can do around the ranch. I get plenty of bird variety here! Maybe I can get better photos out camping, too. Identifiable ones will suffice. I’ll leave you with a few of my experiments.

Gonna Get Cold

I’m hiding and hibernating this weekend, I guess, spending most of my time with birds and horses. That’s just fine with me.

I’ve made sure Apache gets his rides and cantering in before this big cold front arrives. Terry the farrier said Apache has muscles! Mabel has a cut on her hip area from an encounter with a tractor, so I’ve been monitoring that and putting ointment with honey on it. It’s better now, but here was its original state.

All animals are as ready as I can get them for cold weather, with water, shelter, etc. I worry about Connie Gobbler, but the hen house should stay above freezing and I put electrolytes in the water bucket there, for her and the chickens.

Other than looking at birds, including a Vermilion Flycatcher today, I worked on my knitting. The border on last year’s temperature blanket is slowly growing (it’s 540 stitches long on the long end).

I have a very long circular needle for all those stitches.

And today I was able to finish the third row of January on this year’s blanket. It looks more like a calendar now. I’m ridiculously excited about this cold front bringing temperatures low enough to have some purple in them! I guess that will make up for having to wear so many layers for a while!

I’m loving all these cooler colors. The blue lazy daisy stitches equal .2” of rain each.

Ignoring the metaphorical elephant in the room (the room being my country) I’ll just share that I tried to paint my nails black, maybe with one nail with a little sparkle to symbolize hope. But when I put the set I’d picked out on, I realized it was actually dark green. There goes my mourning theme. I guess it’s now the dark embrace of the forest, with little ice crystals, which I put on all the nails.

I expect I’ll be slightly off kilter for a bit, but I’ll be here to support my friends and family, all of them. Have a good Sunday.

Cute Birds and Bittersweet Memories

It was the best day in a long time for bird watching. Between my observations and the Merlin Bird ID, 51 species were found on our property. That’s pretty exciting for me. But more exciting was how entertained I was by all that I saw. Yes, I’m easily entertained. You knew that.

I swear this little White-crowned Sparrow looks like an egg with a tiny head on it.

I saw a beautiful Harrier swooping over the fields late this afternoon when working with Apache the Wonder Steed. We both watched.

Then right at sunset, while I was watching and listening to the sparrows (Harris’s, White-throated, Chipping, Song, and White-crowned) as they rustled through the leaves looking for bird stuff, something flew by. It was the Great Horned Owl heading to a tree. Thirty seconds later, it hit the ground. I guess it got a mouse. Spectacular.

I didn’t like that. What if the owl was after us cute songbirds? Circle of Life, yeah yeah.

That really helped me get through a hard day. It’s now six years since I heard from my son. He was a great kid. I hope he’s enjoying life. I think he is, and that’s good. I just miss this little charmer.

33 years and 8 months ago, 4 generations.

As the two older generations in that photo are no longer here to talk to, I’m the older generation now. My cousin Jan and I have been talking about that, since her dad, a good friend of my dad’s, passed a way a couple of days ago. We’re the elders. That feels so strange.

Three generations, me, Mom, and Aunt Belle, my grandmother’s twin. I was a senior in high school.

I hope I can stay in contact with the generation after me. Maybe someday my son, but if not, it’s his decision and I respect it. And I’m fine. I just allow myself one day a year to mourn the loss that I really don’t understand. Grief is always lurking.

My parents and me in 1958. I knew they loved me, even if none of us were perfect. Dad was 27. Mom was 36.

Once again, I ask you to stick close to your loved ones, your friends who support you, and your community. We need each other.

My Back Says Ow

Today seemed really long, probably because I twisted my back at some point when getting the RV ready to head home. I’ll take some pain medicine when I go to bed, for sure.

Or I could hypnotize myself by looking at my nails.

I’m surprised I got any other exercise today, because we spent the morning inside. First, we chatted with Mike, who’d been working in his RV all weekend. But at least we had a quiet neighbor! Then I took minutes for a board meeting of the Master Naturalist chapter. Visions of COVID times danced I my head trying to do a meeting on FaceTime. But I did it!

Made me feel squirrelly. And probably annoyed the attendees.

I enjoyed a small walk, listened to birds, and hugged a cypress tree, typical Suna things.

The ride home seemed extra long since my back was still spasmodic and my stupid eye twitch was back making me irritated. The good news is I found my temperature book, so I got caught up to today in the 2025 temperature blanket. I even sewed the first two rows of January together. It vaguely resembles a calendar now.

The moon rose and sun set as we approached Cameron, which was a good distraction!

The dogs were so happy to see us when we got home! Alfred was prancing around like a giant puppy, Goldie was managing to jump up and down, and the others were running into each other with glee. Before I could head to relieve myself, they all had to be petted. I sure feel welcome.

A Good Day in a Small, but Beautiful Site

It’s all good today. The space heaters did their job and the temperature ended up perfect for sleeping last night. It also wasn’t quite so cold, which I did not complain about.

After a nice morning, I ended up walking on every trail in Blanco State Park, enjoying the beautiful sky and the reflections in the river. I especially enjoyed crossing the river on the dams and watching the water flowing.

I even have a dam video for your enjoyment!

This is the park boundary. Those are greenhouses behind the dam.

Birds were a bit more numerous today, and I got to have fun with them. First, I talked to a family who were feeding the family of Egyptian Geese and sleepy Muscovy Ducks at the park. I decided that I’d not mention the rule about not feeding Cheetos to the wildlife, since the birds weren’t natives. I did tell them about the birds, though.

I kept going and went back to the bird blind, hoping to see something more than Cardinals, which I did. There was apparently a Mountain Bluebird, which I did not see. I did get to watch exciting House Sparrows, Black-crested Titmice, and White-winged Doves fussing with each other. Then, suddenly something swooped in, a hawk that I guess was a Coopers, but am not sure. Every single one of the dozens of birds at those feeders took off at once, in a flurry of feathers and dove noises. The hawk sat in a tree for a minute, hoping for a meal, but soon left without a morsel.

I also saw a Kestrel fly up to a tree, then before I could photograph it, swoop down and get some kind of morsel. It must have been an insect, because it finished quickly and went to a telephone pole to look for more prey.

After some football and reading I went back out a couple more times. I got to see the Kingfisher fly by at sunset, which was a lovely highlight. The weather was so nice, I just had to keep wandering around. I tried sneaking up on some deer but failed. Deer sure are the color of the woods.

I’m so glad we’re able to hang out in nature like this. We are lucky to have my son to care for the animals, people, and mail back at the ranch. It’s really important right now to grab every bit of fun and relaxation that you can. Great memories are made that way to comfort us as time goes on.