A Year's Worth of Rain

Here the rain, 

like everything else, 

suggests permanence 

and eternity. 

I say to myself:

it's raining today 

and it's going to rain tomorrow 

and the next day, 

the next week 

and the next century.
~Elie Wiesel, Dawn

I think we have caught up. We'd been in drought, but these weeks of almost relentless water have taken us to damaging riches. The lakes are full and overflowing. Water systems are overtaxed and broken.

The photos of this Mourning Dove were the best for the day so I will start with it.

I took the luxury of escaping the house during a break in the clouds this morning (actually - we were in a thick fog between showers) and drove to the ponds of Witter Lane. It doesn't take long for birds to find their way back. It was a slow drive - I calculated it by the metadata of the photos. Having such luck on a wet and nasty day, I pushed it (my luck, that is) and headed to Shallow Ford Road.


Those birds that do not startle as one drives by will often fly when one stops. So I was lucky to see all that were too far to hear the car, or brave enough to face me, or curious, or foolish, or that startled and then settled back for a photo anyway. Unlike my DH who has only so much patience for these drive-bys, I slowed down to a crawl and risked getting stuck in the ditch - with the car half on, half off the pavement. And I took a million photos (well, about 100, but you only get to see the best of this poor lot. Lucky you.) - fussing with the auto-focus and the vehicles that insist of zipping by.


Here are many blurry bird and a few flowers. Most have been identified by me or the database or curators.

Loggerhead Shrike - A "sit and wait" hunter that is pretty deadly. One way you know a LS is around is if you find small creatures impaled on barbed wire or a mesquite thorn. This guy has been hunting at the ponds for two days. I'm not sure I every saw one before this week.

These ducks were in the far pond. I could barely see them, but the camera brought them close enough for a guess or two.

Scaup?

I had scared off a number of doves - Mourning and White-winged, but then two Mourning Doves sat on this fence and let me get a few shots.

This is the sort of thing that sucks you into cruising the country roads and sitting around in parks trying to get just one more photo.

I had been waiting for the American Kestrels to get here. I knew it when I saw it.

I'm putting all of these in so you can see the feathers. None of these is a good shot.

But the feathers and markings are lovely. And I am reminded that they still just look like brown or grey birds.

I recommend you look at a video of a kestrel hovering. Once you have seen that hover (part of the hunt) you will never forget it and want to see it again.

There were two Northern Mocking Birds hanging around. They are hard for me if I don't see them fly - and thus the dark and light pattern of feathers.

After seeing the birds along Witter Lane, I decided to risk it and see what was happening at the slough along Shallow Ford. First the bad news - There was a sign warning about utility construction ahead. When I got to "ahead" there were no less than a half dozen earth movers wallowing in the mud. And the large pipes made it clear to me that some kind of sewer line is going in there.  Maybe it is for flood water or a storm drain. But, if that much work is being done of grazing land, can development be too far behind? The good news is that there were a few birds and things along the way - in spite of the beep-beep-beep of the "Snorts."*

When I first saw this pair from a distance I thought a couple of guys were out in a boat. Silly me. I usually just say "cormorant," but today I am going to say "Double-crested Cormorant" and let someone correct me.

I love the nightshades. Yes, birds that impale their prey and poisonous plants, I'm all about violence and death these days. Actually, I love that a sweet little nondescript bird can use tools and I'm fascinated by the nightshade family (hello - potatoes, tomatoes, Sliver-leaved, Horse Nettle etc.).

I thought the Cattle Egrets were long gone, but no. There they were in a field - a good dozen or so. They are not sporting their wild and crazy breeding plumage "Mohawks," but are still a sweet sight.

Of course, Cow-pen Daisy.

This I call "All the Usual Suspects." Of course, I knew they were swallows of some kind. I had seen swallows swooping around the ponds and fields on Witter. These sat, startled, sat, startled again - over and over - as vehicles drove past. I crawled up and got photos just good enough to tell that these are Cave Swallows.**

So after our NY sparrows and warblers, should we take on the swallow challenge too? <sigh>

Another Northern Mocking Bird. I had not seen them in a while and wondered where they were. I suspect they were in the foliage keeping dry or blending in with the grey grey days.

A Great Egret waded in another small pond.

Golden Eye?

I'm calling this Golden-eye too, but I think it could be a different plant entirely. I'll go back and pick a few tomorrow (there are many, don't judge) and so some research. It is hard to do some of this in a car. And the sunflowers/daisy bunch can be a challenge.

Look at this field! Isn't it gorgeous? It's the location of a gas line, so I suppose there was disturbed earth and sunshine enough for these to spread.

NOTES:

*From Are You My Mother by P. D. Eastman wherein a baby bird gets lost and seeks its mother. It asks a large earth-mover "Are you my mother?" and the equipment lets out a lout "SNORT." The baby bird concludes that it is not his mother, but a "Snort." I read that book so often to my baby brother that we all took to calling any kind of large construction equipment a "snort."

**"Lordy, Miss Agnes! There are Cliff Swallows, Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows, Chimney Swifts, Purple Martins, and so forth. This way lies madness as far as I am concerned, but it won't be too long a journey. In looking on Cornell's All About Birds, I could see that these ARE INDEED Cave Swallows.

Final Note: I saw a handful of Crows, but they moved beyond the construction plastic fence and I gave up on them. I am not posting the Turkey Vultures who were hard at work in another field taking care of some poor creature. I may have reported them, but these were not attractive photos. You are welcome.