birds – Page 16 – The Hermits' Rest

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.

The Day Got Better, and Warmer

It got very cold last night and once again, the non-propane heater stopped heating. It was 44° in the bedroom this morning! Luckily I had lots of warm blankets, but getting dressed made me wonder how people who live in igloos do it. Brr.

Though its wintertime, the Blanco River is beautiful.

I went out in late morning and it was sunny, which helped. I took lots of pictures of things with ice crystals on them, and was relieved to finally hear a few birds here at Blanco State Park.

After my walk, Lee and I went out into the Texas Hill Country (the middle of it this time), ostensibly to get some space heaters. We first stopped at Lyndon B. Johnson State Park (also a National Park, to get our park passport stamped and a magnet for our collection, though we’d both been there before. I still really like this place, even in winter with no wildflowers. You could see birds, though, and I was delighted to observe a flock of Eastern Bluebirds in a nice leafless tree.

They looked to be one male and a lot of females/juveniles

We also saw a lot of Longhorn cattle, but no real bison. That was fine.

Since we were already nearby, we kept going and visited Fredericksburg, where I enjoyed my free glass of wine at the Becker Vineyards store and got a couple of bottles of types I’m out of.

Lee was hungry, so next we ate at the small German restaurant I enjoy the most in Fredericksburg, a town teeming with German restaurants. The food there is just perfect.

Finally, we did get the heaters, the kind that look like a radiator. I like those better than ones with visible heating elements. Of course, it won’t be so cold tonight.

The squirrel put down her acorn to tell me it would be warmer.

We got back to Blanco in time for me to take a short hike along the river to an old pump house. I like my photos of it.

There was also a very nice bird blind, but it only had Cardinals. I took their pictures anyway.

By the way, I thought it was sweet that Lee introduced a young couple camping near us to Merlin Bird ID. I then talked to them, and hooked them up with iNaturalist to help identify mushrooms, which is their hobby. I did my community outreach! And now, more pretty photos.

A New Avian Relationship

What relationships have a positive impact on you?

Sure, my relationships with many people have had a positive impact on me. But I don’t know how well I’d be doing right now if I didn’t have my relationships with animals.

Many humans have forged strong positive bonds with their dogs and cats, as have I. Our animal companions give as well as take love and more. Just being with our pack and seeing them interact makes me happy.

Goldie’s relationship with us is very special.

And the horses also have had a huge positive effect on me, as well as leading to some angst and doubt. But no relationship is 100% positive! I’m just glad to have the chance to be a part of the lives of these very different animals.

I think I was under the impression that humans didn’t really have relationships with birds, at least for much of my life. Birds were (and wild birds still are) for observing and keeping my distance.

After getting chickens, I began to see their distinct personalities and let myself get attached to them, which is why losing all my flock but Bianca was so hard. I really was attached to Bertie Lee and her friends.

I’m enjoying Bianca’s new friends, especially Clint, who is the friendliest of the current chickens.

But I’m trying to not let myself get smitten by our newest bird, Connie 182 Gobbler. She’s a turkey, a white meat turkey. 182 was one of a dozen turkeys my friend Heather’s son raised for FFA this fall. She was always very friendly and cuddly, even as a chick (poult).

I told Heather I’d take her when show season was over, since she was too small to show, but so sweet.

Today was the day of delivery, which had to be very confusing for 182. She had never left the barn before, never seen grass, etc. then she rode in the back of a truck! Then she was in a weird place where people kept trying to make her eat and drink.

We wanted to be sure she was okay. Um, and pet her.

Heather explains that she will like it here.

After doting on 182 and telling her that her name was now Connie (in honor of my friend whose mother said her face looked like a turkey egg when she had the measles), we left her alone. The first time I checked she was still in the coop, but walking around and eating chicken seed.

When I went to feed the horses I looked over and saw something large and white in the chicken run. It was Connie! She was walking in the part that used to have a bunch of plants in it when we only had Bianca and she was outside. That turkey was taste testing everything. She discovered millet on the stalk, wild melons, and burs. It was so much fun seeing her act like a wild turkey.

The chickens aren’t acting too upset, but they stay on whatever side of the pen Connie is not pecking away in. I’ll be interested to see if they develop their own positive relationship.

I’m completely charmed by Connie, myself. She’s so soft and warm, and she has such big eyes. I hope she sticks around!