feathers – The Hermits' Rest

Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

No doubt I’ve accidentally done something I’m not supposed to do more than once and still don’t know it. But one I do know about is that for a while I had a collection of bird feathers I’d found on the ground on the ranch. There were striped hawk feathers, huge black vulture feathers, etc.

Here’s some feathery grass. It’s a bluestem.

In my Master Naturalist training I learned that it’s against the law to collect and display native wild bird feathers unless you’re a Native American doing it for spiritual reasons. I think the Migratory Bird Act is the law. It’s so people won’t hurt birds to make hats or other decorative objects.

Fly free, migratory birds! These are geese, probably Canada geese, photobombed by a tern.

I set my wild feathers free and now happily display domestic chicken feathers. It seems like if the feather fell out for bird-related reasons, like fighting or molting, it wouldn’t harm anything. Oh well. I will look at feathers on birds. That’s fine.

Birds I looked at today included a lot of coots.

Yes, we have flown the coop once again (more bird talk) and Seneca the motorhome brought us to Ray Roberts State Park, Isle de Bois unit. This lake provides Dallas and Denton their water.

It’s still looking pretty wintry up here, but we are right on the lake.

Note all the logs. I guess there was a bad storm up here recently, because there is a big mess in the campground. It’s sort of sad. I hope the trails look better! The lake gives great views, though.

We arrived just at sunset. I had to get work done first.

I have seen more birds than I’ve heard, so far. There are very busy white-throated sparrows, loud crows, cardinals, and great blue herons that make noise. But the coots, ducks, geese, and terns didn’t have much to say. The terns were diving from the air, and the coots and ring-necked ducks were diving from the water. it’s lots of fun to watch. I’ll enjoy working from the picnic table tomorrow!

These are the ducks. I know, hard to tell. They have longer black bills. Coots have short white ones. My binoculars helped.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to some quiet hiking. They have paved trails! There’s also an equestrian area to check out. Saturday it will be colder, but I brought my trusty winter hiking clothing AND hiking boots that aren’t broken! I’m set.