Dogs and Wildflowers (Another Trip to the Prairie to Come)

You shall walk where only the wind has walked before
and when all the music is stilled
you shall hear the singing of the stream
and enter the living shelter of the forest.
  ~ John Glascock Baldwin

Slow and sure will win the race...a prairie-to-be.

My friend CPW invited us for a walk in the wild today. 

The wildflower bloom has begun and an incredible variety of flowers were waiting for us. The first thing we saw as we arrived was a field of Texas Paintbrushes. CPW, Jack, and Terra greeted us at the house and we headed out for a second time to observe and identify plants and other creatures on the property they are restoring to Blackland Prairie.*

CPW, dogs, horses, and the wild...does it get any better than this? I think not.

It's a lovely place.

There is always so much to see.

The river flows on just beyond this tree line.

We did not walk the entire 50 acres, but did manage a couple of miles, through pastures, close to the pond, and along the river. The property has a variety of soil - clay, sandy loam, and a gravely section (perhaps because it was quarried down to the gravel layer during the war). With different soils come different plants.

These are the hands that plan and plant.

What a lovely morning - photographing flowers, reigning in adventurous dogs, sharing ideas for future wildlife related activities, but mostly enjoying being out in the wild.

Here's a little of our day (and some firsts - for me anyway):


Wild Dogs: 

Terra and Jack sniff out "something." Zelda rolls in it (not the last time, either).

Terra waited for us. She's the mature pup on this adventure. I had not met her, but enjoyed her enthusiasm.

Jack came back. He's the wanderer/dare devil of the bunch.

Zelda rolled in every disgusting smell she could find. She had one bath before I let her in the car. She had a second bath before I let her in the house.

I love this view of Jack running in the bluebonnets.

Well, and I love this stinker. She slept the rest of the day - 6 hours! We need to take more hikes!

Wild plants and wildflowers:

This may be the first year I have seen the blossoms of the Mexican Buckeye.

Fringed Puccoon [I'd remember this flower and name if I had ever seen or heard of it before this observation.]

Texas Baby Blue Eyes

False Dayflower

Texas Yellow Star

Texas Bluebonnets and a Texas Paintbrush

Pink Ladies

Yuccas

More Texas Bluebonnets

Winecup Mallow

Ten Petal Anemone and Woodsorrel

Texas Toadflax

A thistle - it will bloom soon enough.

Dakota Mock Vervain

I told CPW, "I think this is a broomrape,** but I haven't seen one in Texas." And it is. It is a Hemp Broomrape. [A first]

Texas Stork's Bill [a first]

Common Dandelion

A field of bluebonnets (and a dog)

Birds:


We saw more birds than we photographed. The Northern Cardinals were in the trees. We heard their "chip, chip, chip" - territorial call/warning. They sang to each other, but did not stay long.

Mockingbird

 Mourning Dove Nest...maybe.

We heard a bird singing and singing. Looking around we finally saw a small bird far across the yard. I took a few photos.

And I could see the bird start to sing, again and again. It was a Carolina Wren.

Other interesting things:

Evidence of beavers at the pond. Now that is exciting.

NOTES:

*First visit - https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7263365169211268358#editor/target=post;postID=3788833121544259272;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=13;src=postname

**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orobanche [I have seen Ivy Broomrape in the woods of Ireland and Oak Broomrape in Ohio.]