Snake Bird

 

I went yesterday to Bob Bryant Park in Bastrop, TX to do some morning birding.  We have had some tremendous rains the last two days and the temperatures have dropped dramatically.  People on the listserv I frequent were talking about fallouts in the area.  So, off I went.  I was hoping to find some warblers, but it was not to be.  I did, however, have some good birds.  Not all was lost.  In fact, I am rarely disappointed by a birding trip.



Coming off the river just at the scenic overlook, I emerged into a wide open space and looked up at some Black Vultures and one hawk, which subsequently I knew was a Swainson’s.  Yet, out of the corner of my left eye came this other large bird very high up.  I put my binoculars on it and was surprised to identify it as an Anhinga.  Now, I have seen plenty of Anhingas perched on limbs of brush and trees overhanging freshwater ponds.  I wondered if I could get a photograph.  Pointing my camera, I click the shutter a couple of times.  Well, one of the photographs turned out, and so I have cropped it for this post. 



Anhinga (cropped photo)

Truly interesting birds, they often are observed swimming in water submerged with only their necks visible.  This is accomplished because their feathers can be saturated with water.  This is because of the feathers structure not from a lack of oil (as is the case for cormorants). Hence, Anhingas are given a colloquial name of snake birds.

They have a cervical structure that allows for the retraction of the neck so that it can be shot forward as a spear.  This behavior led to this species being called darters.

Anhinga (original photo)

Good Morning, Friday

May 24, 2013

 Colorado River Refuge beginning at the Twin Bridge Trail: 8:30 AM--11:00 AM.  Partly Sunny and muggy, 80’s F.

 

A Greater Roadrunner greeted me at the parking area of the trailhead.  Preceded west along the river toward the RR bridge and then turned back to make a loop along the Cottonwood Trail, following the road back to start, then driving to the Dragonfly Trail head and out Riverside Drive to Lovers Lane.  Shocker was a Cottonmouth shooting out of a crevice in the rocks underneath the RR trestle.  21 Species heard or seen.

 

Great Egret

Cattle Egret

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Red Shouldered Hawk

Mourning Dove

Greater Roadrunner

Yellow Billed Cuckoo

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

White Eyed Vireo

American Crow

Barn Swallow

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Wren

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Cardinal

Red Winged Blackbird

Painted Bunting

A Favorite



A year and five months has transpired since the Bastrop Complex Fire.  With the fire came so much destruction of the environment and personal property.  In case you think this a lament, it’s not.  It’s a celebration.  One of the signature birds of the Lost Pines region of Texas is the Pine Warbler.  One might think that the loss of so many pines in the fire would also have cause the Pine Warbler to disappear.  Wonders of wonders, it’s here.    It’s found in the surviving pines and in the burned area.  It’s even coming to feeders, and the photograph above of this male Pine Warbler on the peanut feeder is proof enough.

Celebrate!

Bastrop State Park

I went to the park this morning to do some birding.  It was a good morning starting with three Bewick’s Wrens and Chipping Sparrows.  Eastern Bluebirds and American Goldfinches with a couple of Pines Siskins mixed in were next.  The small lake near the cabins produced Eastern Phoebe, a pair of Pied-billed Grebes, a Mallard and one Belted Kingfisher.  The trip also produced Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Pine Warblers.  Yet, as you can see the picture of the day is not a bird at all.  The sumacs have donned their winter color, and it is good.

Something You Don’t See Everyday

I remember as a young boy watching Roadrunner and Wylie Coyote chasing around.  Wylie always got the worst of it.  In one such episode, the roadrunner ran straight up a very tall cliff.  I just didn’t think that could happen even then but laughed all the same when Wylie suffered his fate.

I have learned otherwise since.  A week ago, we visited the reopened Bastrop State Park and there found a roadrunner.  While we were trying to take a picture before he scurried off, he ran straight up a tree and onto a limb!  It was amazing to see it do so—run up the tree, bark clips flying while the bird did not.  So, there he is sitting pretty with dinner in his beak.

A Lover of Meadows and Woods

On September 4, 2011, 34,000 acres and over 1600 homes burned in the Bastrop Complex Fire.

What does one do when one loses the environs and surroundings which attracted them?  There is no such event that eventually hones your definition of being and welfare than a devastating loss of home and surroundings.  Sure, this begins as a lament.  Yet, it becomes for this author affirmation of long held belief, articulated long ago by William Wordsworth (1798).

“Therefore am I still

      A lover of the meadows and the woods,

      And mountains; and of all that we behold

      From this green earth”

Some would argue that it was fire that is to blame for this loss.  However, it is we ourselves who shoulder the responsibility for the tragedy that resulted in the loss of several thousand acres of the Lost Pines of Central Texas.  Fire was the agent, but it is how we behaved and the decisions we made as we occupied this part of the world.

Fire is something of which to be afraid.  Fire is something we do not understand. Of course, we know its benefit of warmth so comforting in winter months.  We appreciate it in the preparation of meals.  However, we do not understand fire’s role in maintaining habitat and the environment.  We are so afraid of fire that we often do the very things that cause the worst imaginable outcome. One of the lessons learned from this tragedy is that fire is a necessary ingredient in the propagation of new pines and the control of duff and litter on the floor of the forest.  By suppressing fire, we might create even greater fuel loads in the area. That is precisely what happened.  The consequences of our actions will be evident for many years.

But I am still a lover of woods.  I miss these woods.  Yet, I am determined to do my part to assist in the recovery of the woods.

Remarkable September

 

The month of September will be an unforgettable one for us.  After several years of drought and over 100 days of triple digit days, what has become known as the worst and most devastating fire in Texas history struck Bastrop County.  34000 acres and 1600 homes were burned and destroyed.  The toll on livestock and wildlife is enormous.  The environment will not recover for some 40 years according to experts.  The Lost Pines are truly lost.

 

Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to attend as faithfully and diligently as we can to the area.  Campaigns are beginning to formulate ecologically sound restoration of the area.  The burned area included Bastrop State Park.  95% of the park was damaged or destroyed.  The good news is that the CCC built buildings were saved.  Some 100 acres were kept free of fire.  Still efforts to replant are necessary, require thoughtful planning and execution, and must guard against harmful invasive species. 

Landowners in and around the area are also asking what might be done in good stewardship of their own property.  Many of us have much to learn in hopes that our children and our grandchildren will be able to enjoy the land and the environs once again.

Personally, I look to the future with hope.  To all, I say, “The Sun Also Rises”.

Walk in the Woods

Saturday mornings we find ourselves walking the trails of Bastrop State Park. We have been doing so for over a year now. Consistently, we have seen groups of boy scouts and their leaders around the lake as well as families with children walking in the primitive camping area, exploring nature and testing their mettle in a setting beyond the normal creature comforts of home and hearth. And it is good.


Some of these have carried binoculars; some have spent time overturning rocks. Some have concentrated their gaze on the forest canopy; others have their attention drawn to the forest floor. Pine Warblers calling in early spring and Summer Tanagers in late spring are so noted. Rabbits and Copperheads rustle through the leaves and try to blend into the surroundings hoping that the youth around them will not notice.

It is on these outings that I find myself thinking of my youth when my father brought me my own first pair of binoculars. I do not think he had a clue as to how that would shape the rest of my life, nor did I.

I would encourage you to take your children and grandchildren to the woods. Provide them with binoculars and field guides and take the time to learn about the natural world around them. I find myself grinning when I see a young person staring in awe of a male Rose Breasted Grosbeak or dumbfounded because the male and female Painted Bunting look so different in coloration. Celebration comes at the moment that young person says to me, “There’s Peter, Peter, Peter”, and without ever seeing the bird knows it is a Tufted Titmouse.

A walk in the woods, a simple gift, time well spent, who knows what such might mean to our youth and the future.

Sure Sign of Spring

Flowering Dogwood in Bastrop State Park

Bastrop, TX

Barn Owls

 Barn Owls have been located just west of downtown Bastrop in an old two story house. The owner believes they have been there for several years. These photographs were taken just prior to dusk and do not approach anything close to National Geographic quality.




Several members of the Bastrop County Audubon Society have observed these birds since August. Having been able to photograph one adult early in September, I drug my family out the following evening and found three more out. The second photograph is of two on the house. The third was in the pecan near the house. Incidentally, Barn Owls hiss and wheeze when calling. They do not hoot as other owls do.

       
These are nocturnal and hunt rats and mice. While hunting it relies on sound as well as sight. Its eyes are not large for a nocturnal hunter. Yet, the facial feathers and tufts are arranged in such a way as to funnel sound to their ears. The ear canals are directed differently which is thought to assist the owl in triangulating the source of the prey.




Barn Owls are one of the most widespread species of owls. They occupy every continent except Antarctica and the major islands of the Pacific. In The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, however, there is a warning as to the disappearance of Barn Owls from parts of the United States owing to several recent developments. One is the regeneration of forests in the Northeast, conversion of land to row crops in the Midwest, and to the clearing of old buildings and barns elsewhere. Providing Owl boxes and platforms may be the best way to counteract this.

Colorado River Refuge

Anyone who has recently moved to a new town knows the joys or frustration of looking for new birding spots. It is a pleasure to have found a very short distance from my new home a set of trails and a nature refuge. The refuge is the joint work of the Lower Colorado River Authority, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the Bastrop County Water Control and Improvement District #2. Other entities have contributed to the development of the refuge. This is a 60 acre plot adjacent to the Lost Pines Nature Trails, which is another 30 acres. Together these provide for some wonderful hiking and birding experiences.



The area consists of old growth riparian forest. Having visited only a few times, the birds observed have been Yellow Rumped Warblers, Carolina Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Lincoln Sparrows, Turkey and Black Vultures, Red Shouldered Hawk, and Tufted Titmouse. Lincoln Sparrows are quite numerous at this time. There is more to see, no doubt. This spring, much time will be spent hiking the refuge.