Super Bowl?

We knew we were out of place when the bellhop asked us if we were in town for the Super Bowl.

"Is the Super Bowl in Houston this year?" I asked. DH and I exchanged confused looks. "Is it this week?"

We were assured that the Super Bowl was indeed in Houston this year and that people were arriving for the pre-game festivities. Some "big wigs" had already checked in at our hotel.*

We reassured the bellhop that we were not Superbowl "big wigs" - or even fans. We were only in town for one night - for a concert.

It was a reunion of sorts with friends made on our trip last summer. Bonding with a pair of amazing sisters, EG and SW, ensured loads of laughs and adventures AND and an invitation to this house concert. The performer was also our tour host, Ronny Cox.

Before the music we toured the venue - a high rise of condominiums.  It was a lovely place and we enjoyed walking around the terrace and viewing Houston from this Galleria area building.

DH and I stood at the pool and watched the sunset.

Then we settled into listen to Ronny, with Sal Garza and Matt Margucci. It was a wonderful evening that ended way too soon.

I took photos during sound check as the room would soon fill.

Then all settled in for good music and good company.

Matt Margucci

Sal Garza and Ronny Cox

Matt plays a few instruments.

I love house concerts as you can visit with the artists as well as members of the audience.  We met the third sister (These ladies are something else - funny, smart, interested in everything. I can only imagine what it was like growing up with the three of them!). The "equipment guy/sound man" turned out to be a fellow from Sweetwater, Texas. Sweetwater is a small place - we had friends in common. We are all connected.

Quote of the evening: "None of those stories I sing about are true. I made 'em up." ~ Ronny Cox

I slept dead-out and awoke to a clear morning. DH and I walked around the neighborhood - stopping for breakfast and killing time before fighting** our way out of Houston, heading home.

Part of the view from our room.

No one was walking except us and this guy.

We stopped at Panera for breakfast and sat next to the tomato table.

At our stop for lunch I noticed this "escape route" at a house next to the burger joint.

NOTES:

* Full disclosure - we were at that hotel because 1) it was close to the venue and 2) it was free with "points."

**Our normal route was a nightmare of construction with the associated accidents narrowed lanes and poor signage bring. We took a different route out of town (a few miles longer, but with NO construction).

A Good Long Walk and more

Morning in the park. I love this old tree.

Zelda and I have been walking at least a mile and a half every day...just trying to keep our girlish figures in spite of the ravages of childbirth.*

I'm combining a few of the walks because nothing much happens each day, but taken all together, they make a nice series of moments.

Visiting with neighbors is unusual. We usually walk too early to see anyone beyond early morning runners or folks picking up their papers. But later walks have provided the opportunity to visit and sometimes a friend will drive past, recognize us, and stop along the curb for a quick chat.

One old friend, who has recently acquired a business down the street, stopped us and commented on the new vests purchased for walking in the dark (AND walking in areas with hunters about). I don't know if we look better or crazier than our usual.** The important thing is that we are seen as we cross the streets.

We also have neighbors who have a yard sale/flea market business. There is a big white truck packed with mystery and treasure parked in their drive. We enjoy a "nodding acquaintance." As Zelda and I walked "off schedule" yesterday we ran into one of the folks as he was walking with a friend towards the front door. He stopped and came over to meet Z. Then he asked about Paddy and Scruffy - sharing tales of our walks with his friend and expressing sympathy over our loss. They were good dogs and we loved them. And, they are missed in the neighborhood.

[We so live in our heads that we forget our experience of the neighborhood is only one - there are the  parallel experiences of our neighbors. And, if we take the time, we may get a little peek into their world. Or not. People "know" us from our daily walks even if we don't really know them.]

One final neighbor moment involved the people who now live in Lavern's house. Lavern worked with DH long ago. After she retired she worked at our polling place during elections and made fig preserves (I seem to know all the fig people). Anyway, Lavern lived in a white wood-frame house with a big porch. One could often find her in the porch swing on cool mornings or catch her going out for the paper in her nightclothes.*** We had watched signs of a change at the house - old furniture on the porch and piles of tree trimmings at the curb and knew that something had happened. We had not seen Lavern in months. Well, her granddaughter now lives in the house with a husband and child. We met them in the front yard late one morning and visited.

Further down the street the mannequin is moving on through the seasons/holidays. The Christmas tree and lights are gone, replaced by a big red heart.

Happy Valentine!

All the recent birding experiences have coalesced into constant distraction. It is almost impossible to walk through the morning bird songs without trying to identify individuals (or wishing we could identify individuals by their song). We've seen two great blue herons (flying overhead), countless vultures (both black and turkey), plenty - if not a murder - of crows, cardinals, cedar waxwings, sparrows and sparrows and sparrows. Did I mention the white-winged doves? They are everywhere! And we've heard the sounds of a woodpecker in the woods.  Binoculars would help with those darned sparrows, but I keep forgetting to bring them along.

And the herd - you've wondered about the herd? One day we walked in the middle of the afternoon - expecting nothing as all the activity seems to slow. Suddenly we heard a great rustling and rush in the woods and watched as the herd crossed the busy street to a field, then across another to a less developed area. I counted about 15 deer.****

Zelda was frantic. I suspect this was her first experience with deer in the flesh. We regularly walk the fields along the woods and she sniffs the deer trails, but we can no longer hike the the back area where the herd tends to shelter. We rarely see them. Perhaps if we try an earlier walk we may see them grazing in the pastures denied us.

What was that up in the tree?

It's a soccer ball wedged in a forked limb.

On a recent hike, she couldn't hold back and went dashing into the grassy meadow between the park and the real woods. I lost sight of her, but heard the rustle as she scampered along. Suddenly she burst through and landed in the short grass of the park and searched for me. I will need to guard against this sort of thing (I believe they are hunting in this posted area), so we will walk further from the temptation. But there is something wonderful about a dog running wild and free.

Zelda wants to go into the woods, but the sign says "No!"

We have had some rain and cold. We found ice on the surface of the drainage.

Air bubbles caught below the icy surface.

NOTES:

*We each have bodies impacted by reproduction.

**I like "crazy." People leave the crazy lady alone.

***There is something freeing about walking around the yard in your nightgown.

**** A few days earlier I had been returning home about 3:30 p.m. arriving alongside the park in time to stop with other vehicles and watch the herd cross the street. The time seemed strange to me, perhaps they were frightened from the woods by a predator. I don't know. But I saw them run.

And so we pray

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

~ A Prayer of St. Francis

Brother Sun

Tradition has attributed many things to St. Francis. The prayer above is just one. Another is the story of how he answered a question while he was out in his garden. As Francis hoed a row of beans, he was asked, "Brother, what would you do if you knew the world would end today?" "Well," replied Francis, "I would keep hoeing this row of beans."

Today I am hoeing my garden.

More on Francis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi

http://www.cuf.org/2006/11/keep-on-hoeing-the-wisdom-of-st-francis-in-preparing-for-christs-coming/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canticle_of_the_Sun

Brother Sun and Sister Moon
I seldom see you seldom hear your tune
Preoccupied with selfish misery
Brother Wind and Sister Air
Open my eyes to visions pure and fair
That I may see the glory around me.
I am God's creature, of Him I am part
I feel His love awakening my heart.
Brother Sun and Sister Moon
I now do see you, I can hear your tune
So much in love with all that I survey. 

Donovan P. Leitch 

Sister Moon

FINAL NOTE: 

A number of artists were asked to compose for the Franco Zeffirelli movie about St. Francis, Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Some of those failed efforts became part of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. Nothing is lost. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Sun,_Sister_Moon

Bird Nerd Sees the Owl

Hello, "I'm a bird nerd."

I know many folks for whom that would be in all caps. And a few more for whom it would be in BOLD as well.

I'm just a minor case "bird nerd" and having fun at it.

A friend called this week to let me know that an Eastern Screech-Owl returns to their neighborhood each year. In fact, there is usually a nesting pair and she has watched as many as three babies learn to fly. Then she invited me to come look.*

Upon arrival, we looked for the owls, but they either weren't up yet or were out hunting. "Do you mind if I call them?" I asked. She had no objection so I played the recording I have on my cell.** Almost immediately we heard the owls calling from inside their hollow tree home. We took about a 30 minute break and tried calling them again.

This time the call was not returned, but one owl came to the edge of the hollow limb - to investigate. It was getting dark and I did not get a good photo, but my friend said she would look for some she had taken.

These owls are fairly common. But, then again they aren't. They are a reminder of the wild that is all around us. For that, they are pretty special to me.

Here you go:

All rights reserved by D. L. Cowen

All rights reserved by D. L. Cowen

NOTES:

* We have had Eastern Screech-Owls in our neighborhood before. We would hear them while walking in the early evening or just before dawn. We had them in my parent's neighborhood as well. They have a wonderful group of calls - perhaps not what you would expect from an owl. Still, once you have heard a screech owl, you know it. [We haven't heard any screech owls - or the Great Horned Owls who used to nest in the neighborhood park - for years.]

**If you would like to hear their vocalization, please visit this site: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Screech-Owl/sounds

Another Christmas Bird Count - Granger Lake

 This is the second wave of the thunderstorm breaking apart and moving around us.

I hate to start with the weather, but I must. The day was proof of the changeable weather in Texas. We started the morning with thunderstorms. The storms blew through pretty quickly leaving it a little chilly, until it wasn't. The sky cleared and the winter sun was ridiculously bright, but it was never really hot as the wind blew up enough dust to leave a fine film of grime on your face. And by the time the sun went down, I needed a jacket.

We left the house at 5 a.m. so that we could meet with others at the Granger Lake CBC [1] who were staking out a spot where Short-eared Owls are seen. At least six of us stood around in the rain and waited...no owls. The sun came up and we divided the group into two teams. Our area leader EF had provided pages of guidance and 11 pages of maps of the area that was about 10 square miles (or thereabouts - our boundaries were rivers and streams and a lake and some crazy county roads). We were organized and ready.

The rain stopped just before dawn.

How often are you out in the wild and up to see this?

DH and I traveled with two young and experienced birders, JW and CM. They were, as we have found most birders to be, generous of spirit and patient with two inexperienced people of a certain age. [2] We learned SO MUCH and enjoyed what turned out to be a wonderful day (in spite of the weird weather). This trip was very different than our count in Georgetown because of the different habitat. The area was a mixture of farmland, low grass prairie, riparian, and woods, but mostly farmland - former blackland prairie. Like our earlier trip, someone on our team (JW) had experience in this area and knew where we could expect certain birds. Fortune smiled once again!

The rest of this will be some of what we saw. Don't expect bird photos. The birds were usually at too great a distance for my equipment. The list of birds observed (as a team) is at the end of the post. My list was much smaller although I was surprised at how many birds I did recognize (and many were pointed out to us - in song and sight). The list is also fairly dramatically different from that of the first count we attended - similar number of species, but some different ones and different numbers of individuals (An example: First trip saw loads of cowbirds and robins while we saw no cowbirds or robins on the second).

There are birds in this small tree. Really.

One bird....

Two birds...see, not making it up.

After the Short-eared Owls didn't show (but we did hear a Northern Bobwhite [3]), we went to a field where  Mountain Plovers had been seen in past years. [4] This well-plowed field was a little hilly and we saw birds in the distance moving down into a low spot.

Scofflaw that I am, I suggested I walk down the turning row/dirt road-ish track to get a better look (I had memorized this bird and I was cautiously optimistic in my ability to recognize it. And who is going to worry about a 60-year-old woman walking down the turning row?). I grew up in a farm community and never worried about walking in someone's field. I recognize a big crowd of people might be a problem, but I couldn't see the harm in tiptoeing out to look. Apparently I violated one of the cardinal rules of CBC. You don't go on any private property - including out in any fields - without permission . I get it, I get it. I understand trespass. And I understand not interfering with someone's property (I pick up after my dog - I'm a good neighbor - really).

<HEAVY SIGH>  I won't do it again.


In any event, I got a-ways down the road and checked the birds - walked a little further and checked again. Yes, it looked like them. I was convinced these were indeed the plovers.

Back at the car, the guys, who had been looking through a spotting scope,  were confident in the identification as well. We all agreed we should go to the other side of the field along a different county road in hopes of a better view. SUCCESS! We then notified our area leader and he got the word out to the other teams. Suddenly vehicles appeared from all directions bearing birdwatchers (armed with high-tech spotting scopes and tripods). The vehicles had barely stopped when eager birders jumped out, setting up their gear with much practiced speed. The excitement was palpable.

We were about to leave the plover viewers when I thought to snap these shots.

We are talking some serious gear. And some of these folks travel widely for the opportunity to see birds.

As I kicked the mud from my boots I got a little nervous. One birder said, "This is what I'm here for." All I could think was, "What if we're wrong?"

But we were right. Mountain Plovers were putting on a show a mere spotting scope-viewing distance away. Photos were taken. Birds were counted again and again - making sure of the number (we saw 17). Congratulations where shared.

We joked that we could have called it a day, but we were only a few hours into the count. More birds were waiting!

Checking a creek crossing.

Birds in the distant tree. NOTE: We saw a number of windmills. I love to see them still at work on the farm.

The rest of the day was equally wonderful, if not so dramatic (except for a little close encounter of the bovine kind). We experienced all kinds of birds. [5] DH and I became more comfortable with identifying some in flight (gotta love those American Pipits and Meadowlarks). We heard the call of the Pileated Woodpecker - not once, but at least 3 times. We heard the Barred Owl's haunting call along the San Gabriel River. We heard the Western Meadowlark's song!

The San Gabriel River.

A snag in the middle of the river at another spot.

Some of the woods we explored. No lions, tigers or bears...just sparrows, cardinals, woodpeckers and sapsuckers...and a wild beauty.

Improvised bridge? Evidence of birds?

I'm calling sapsucker - likely Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We saw two in this section of woods.

We ended our day at dinner with others from the count and listened to the roll call. The bird list is read and teams call out if they observed that species. Observers shared locations of some of the "rare birds." I wondered how many would return to the fields the following day in hopes of a glimpse of color or the sound of a warning call or ancient avian melody.

As the sun set we ended the count.

NOTES:

[1] http://www.audubon.org/join-christmas-bird-count - As far as I can tell, this one was the last in our area. Maybe it will be like childbirth - we may forget how tired and sore we are today by the time the next count is scheduled in December 2017.

[2] I will admit the day was long and I "took a knee" a couple of times. Once was literal - slipped on the steps down to the river at Dickerson's River Bottom. The others were times I stayed near the car taking photos and getting a little rest before the next hike.

The steps at Dickerson's Bend - take care, especially in damp weather.

[3] Bobwhites have been missing. I'm not sure they really know what has caused the dramatic drop in population. I've heard it is partially due to the demon KR Bluestem that isn't a clumping grass - Bobwhite habitat involves clumping grass for cover. I've also heard the population dropped as part of the scourge of the Imported Fire Ant (quail nest on the ground). I can guarantee my hunting had NO impact whatsoever as I have never hit any flying thing - ever. Anyway, a quick search disclosed a couple of articles if you are interested:

http://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_rp_w7000_1025.pdf
http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/out-there/2013/11/what-happened-our-quail-observations-old-quail-hunter
http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-wildlife/birds/archives/1993/the-case-of-the-disappearing-quail.aspx
http://texashomeandgarden.com/idea-center/garden/what-happened-to-the-texas-quail/
http://wild-wonderings.blogspot.com/2014/12/red-imported-fire-ants-and-bobwhite.html

[4] https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Plover/id

[5] Just go to All About Birds (Cornell University) to start learning about different birds. I use a number of sites, but often start here:  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/


OUR LIST:

1 Northern Bobwhite  4 Double-crested Cormorant 6 Great Blue Heron 24 Black Vulture 65 Turkey Vulture  2 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 Red-tailed Hawk 1 American Coot 37 Killdeer 17 Mountain Plover 1 Wilson's Snipe 10 Greater Yellowlegs 75 Ringbilled Gull 8 Eurasian Collared-Dove 3 Inca Dove 70 White-winged Dove 40 Mourning Dove 1 Great Horned Owl 1 Barred Owl 1 Belted Kingfisher 11 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2 Downy Woodpecker  2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Crested Caracara 7 American Kestrel 16 Eastern Phoebe 7 Loggerhead Shrike 4 Blue-headed Vireo 18 American Crow 2 Horned Lark 11 Carolina Chickadee 10 Tufted x Black-crested Titmouse (hybrid) 4 House Wren 13 Carolina Wren 2 Blue-grey Gnatchatcher 2 Golden-crowned Kinglet 13 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2 Eastern Bluebird 6 Hermit Thrush 7 Northern Mockingbird 6 European Starling 130 American Pipit 3 Dedar Waxwing 17 McCown's Longspur 5 Orange-crowned Warbler 70 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2 Field Sparrow 5 White-crowned Sparrow 5 Harris's Sparrow 7 White-throated Sparrow 7 Vesper Sparrow 110 Savannah Sparrow 4 Song Sparrow 5 Lincoln's Sparrow 40 Northern Cardinal 50 Red-winged Blackbird 4 Western Meadowlark 190 Western/Eastern Meadowlark 70 Brewer's Blackbird 5 American Goldfinch 5 House Sparrow CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A BOVINE KIND: Our group headed out into the pasture of the wildlife management area one last time. CM and JW headed off and we lost sight of them. I was pretty much "walked out" so DH and I flushed and counted a few sparrows and pipits. Then we noticed cattle in the pasture noisily moving in our direction. DH suggested they might be expecting to be fed when they saw us and I agreed we not try and wrestle with a ton of steak. After exiting the gate, DH decided to nap in the shade while I wandered down the road taking photos. Then I noticed a bawling calf walking the fence-line OUTSIDE of the fence. He and one of the cows were in a call and response type of communication. And the calf (all a few hundred pounds of him) was heading closer to my sleeping husband. I headed back down the road to wake DH, called the Ranger and made one futile attempt to get the calf back in the pasture as DH headed to the parking lot for our car. Please note, one of the beasts was clearly a bull (trust me - I may not have been raised on a farm, but I know a bull when I see one).  They made a lot of noise, but left us alone. Still, I was glad to be on the other side of the fence. The calf found mom and dad, but I couldn't interest it in the gate to the pasture. Other Stuff (but not the evidence of ballooning spiders - so disappointed I could not capture that):

I love cockleburs and you can almost always find them in fall and winter along the banks of rivers. Don't put them in your pocket.

Bracket on fallen tree.

I'm calling  Blanchard's Cricket Frog. What? Don't you see it? The sun was in my eyes...I was at the edge of the high river bank...and I was using a cell phone. The frog almost escaped the photo. Now do you see it?

Here you go! We saw another as well, but it jumped into the river before I could get a photo.

Mistletoe - it's stunning in the winter.

There has been a good deal of damage to the trees along the river. I'm guessing drought followed by flood has been too much for many trees. This one is hanging on.

The tree alley just inside one of the wildlife management areas. It's pretty, but caution is always wise. As DH stopped under the trees for a nap, I was taking stock of all the poison ivy clinging to the trunks.

As we walked the river bank we heard and then saw this motorboat heading downstream.

One of the giants of the woods.

None of my photos of the pastures turned out well, but I'll share this one of the cattle trail we followed while flushing out a few pipits and swallows.

The wild is there for us, but nothing is free. We discovered one of the areas where many types of sparrows have been found in the past was undergoing "improvement."

Paving paradise.

And, finally, - I wrote of our efforts on Saturday to scout out the area for the meeting spot and area boundaries. We noted birds, but weren't actively looking for any. We happened upon Robert and Eliza Bird's plot in the Granger City Cemetery and Bird Street just down the way. On "count day" we had been experiencing a dearth of blackbirds. Then on this trek through the cemetery we found the Starling's plot. Then we found the blackbirds - Brewer's blackbirds and, yes, European Starlings....

The headstone for Robert and Barbara (James) Starling. Some quick research indicates Barbara died in 1990 at the age of 48. She had 11 brothers and sisters (or so states the obituary of her sister, Faye James Palmer who died in 2012 at the age of 93). It appears Robert is still living.