Even after over a decade here at the Hermits’ Rest, the wildlife can surprise me. Did I mention I saw one of our big cats last week? Yep, a big ole cougar sauntered across the road as I was leaving. It was headed into our woods.
Totally inaccurate rendition of the event
Let’s get back to birds. First, we seem to have a new long-term visitor that has me very excited. It’s a Short-eared Owl. I’d registered one last year, but thought it was a fluke. This year I’ve heard it consistently for a couple of weeks.
Short-eared Owl. Photo by Brad Imhoff
Now that’s a great face, isn’t it? They eat lots of small mammals around sunrise and sunset. Now that I know what they sound like, from Merlin, maybe I’ll have a better chance of seeing one.
Photo by Lizabeth Southworth
I need them to eat more, so cute little mice will stop climbing into my buckets and drowning or otherwise croaking. I have had to turn all containers in the birding station sideways.
This one actually moved off eventually.
Another fun bird that could eat some sparrows for me is the Sharp-shinned Hawk. It explains why the “Kestrel” I saw today looked so big and had such a small head. It was this guy.
Sharp-shinned Hawk. More gray on the back than Cooper’s or the much larger Red-shouldered. Photo by David McQuade.
I can’t recognize its call yet, so I’m glad Merlin can. This is also another one like the Red-tailed with many morphs. I need to learn the sound. Still, I’m glad to have new and different hawks to watch.
Otherwise, it’s just sparrows and more sparrows.
The final fun bird is a familiar resident, the Pileated Woodpecker, our largest. I hear and see them often, both calling and pecking. What’s cool is that Lee and I saw one while driving to horse lessons. It came out of a hole in a telephone pole right on the side of the road! I know to look for it later!
I shared this picture so you can see its ability to make large, oval holes. Photo by Marc St. Onge.
It’s time for a nature post today. Nothing is better for me than some bird watching, and today was fun. The fewer leaves on the trees, the better I like it. I got to observe two large and colorful birds today, so both are the Daily Bird.
Crested Caracara
I’ve been seeing a pair of these birds a lot the past few weeks. I even saw their mating flight one day. Today they flew around and around where I was until one landed high in a nearby tree. you can even tell what it is in the picture!
Better picture
Around here, we call them Mexican eagles, as they are the bird on the Mexican flag, after all. They are expanding their range northwards. They weren’t here when we first arrived; I saw my first ones in DeWitt County, where Lee’s dad was from. I think they’re very fun to watch.
Caracara time
The other large bird I enjoyed today I heard first, before I saw it. They are very loud when they call. Then I heard the banging of a big bill and knew it was the pileated woodpecker, the one whose holes I’d seen on our last camping trip.
I listened to the pecking long enough that I eventually spotted it on a dead branch on the biggest tree behind the back pond. I watched that pointy head go up and down for quite a while. I do have photos of it, but it was so far away that I only know it’s there from the Live Photo motion.
Sure, there’s a bird in that tree.
It made an excellent racket when it flew off, which capped off my morning walk well. There was also the usual red-bellied woodpecker out today, so it was easy to compare calls, but I didn’t hear the flicker today.
My afternoon animal adventures weren’t all that fun. I went out to prepare food for the horses and ride/exercise Drew, when I noticed that everyone had come up to see me but Apache. He didn’t come to me when I gave him his medicine, either, just nickered a greeting.
When he finally did move, my heart sank. He was limping. I forgot all about my plans and prepared the pens for him to stay in. I fed the other guys and got him all settled. His feet weren’t too hot, and the sore foot looked no different than it had last time I looked at it on Friday.
Hobble Horse. My poor buddy.
Sara, bless her, came over to check, even though she was having her family holiday meal soon. Apache was pretty happy other than his foot, since he had a giant bag of hay and I de-burred him. Sara put a boot on him to help. I have a harder to use boot I’ll try tomorrow.
Lee and I checked on him again before bedtime. Apache was so pleased to see me that he peed (he used to do that a lot). He was also quite pleased with the entire bale of hay I left him so he wouldn’t starve.
Hay? For me? Don’t bother unwrapping it!
Anyway, Sara and Tarrin agree it’s probably an abscess, which happened a couple of years ago. That’s no fun, because I can’t ride him, but it’s not a medical emergency like founder would be. Whew. I know it hurts, though.
The $$$ medicine he takes now will prevent founder by helping with his PPID symptoms, for which I’m grateful. I’m sure he’ll get better but it will take time, and we’ve been doing so well!
Bonus: while waiting for Sara I got all the burs out of Drew’s tail and he was friendlier than he’s been lately. I have a lesson on him tomorrow, so I hope Tarrin can help me figure out why he’s gotten so grouchy and hormonal.
The weather should be glorious for the next few days, so we’ve decided to spend longer than usual out in the motorhome. That’s made possible by the fact that we also brought my car so Lee can attend a meeting back home and we both can explore this area a bit.
We barely fit both vehicles in, but we did it!
This shady woodland is in Buescher State Park, which is a weirdly shaped area full of trails and scenery. It connects to Bastrop State Park vía a scenic road that I hope to go down tomorrow.
There’s a new dam at the lake, too.
I had fun because I arrived first and got to be the only person in the camping area for a while. It let me really hear the pileated woodpecker singing and pecking away. They are quite noisy birds!
They really can peck, too.
I did a preliminary survey of the plants around the campground. Lots of yaupon and oak, but there are some famous Bastrop County pine trees and others. Not much is blooming after the light frost we had, but I was delighted to find a couple of interesting plants.
This shiny vine is lanceleaf greenbrier, which I’ve looked for often. (Smilax smallii)
After my walk, I helped my friend Jen get her trailer unhooked, because her site was too short to fit her camper and her car in without unhooking. We got it done in a fit of woman power and grit. When Lee arrived, I hooked the water up with no dripping, so I’m feeling like a mighty camper.
But I’m not sure if I should go in the restroom. Am I both a woman AND a lady?
Jen and I had nice times chatting and trying to plan a potluck location (none of the cute cabins were available). Then Lee and I spent time with my other favorite co-camper, Mike, with whom I intend to do some good hiking. I earned a lot about AI from him as a bonus.
Nice empty park road.
I’ll enjoy working tomorrow with a view of trees (and no barking dogs to interrupt my recording of myself talking), then get in some exploring. in the meantime, back to knitting by the fake fireplace.
The Hermits' Rest 