Some of the reasons we go to the river

Birds:

Most mornings at the river we drink coffee and eat breakfast on the porch. Birds are everywhere. Some of us sit with binoculars. Others are less formal in their watching.

Some birds I know. Some, well, I have old eyes and bad ears. One fellow was making a racket and I looked to my youngest brother, "What's that, a jay of some kind?" He glanced over to a cedar tree and replied, "woodpecker." "I did not know they made that kind of sound. I only know them if they are pecking," said I. "Well," he said. "That's the only bird I know that can hang onto the bottom of a branch like that." Sure enough, the woodpecker wandered all over and around the cedar limb (hanging underneath with no problem) and then flew off to a post where I took his picture. He never "pecked," but even my poor camera shows him to be a woodpecker.

Woodpecker (don't ask me what kind)

(Told you it was a woodpecker)

Anyway, on this trip we saw tufted titmouse (small mouse-grey bird that has a crest like a cardinal), scarlet tanager (bright orange-red, NOT cardinal red, with dark wings), wrens, a roadrunner, cardinals, hawks, turkey, scissor-tailed flycatcher, turkey buzzards, numbers of doves, and ravens - among others I often lump together as "little brown birds." [I am sure my brothers identified more than this. I am only claiming what I can claim.]

A word about the ravens. They were numerous around the swimming hole. They seemed to be calling and answering each other. I called and they answered. My just-younger brother identified them (and he knows birds). And I realized that the "haw" in the park that I have been identifying as a crow call just might be from a raven.*

Don't even bother blowing it up. It is a blurry bird, but almost certainly a scarlet tanager.

Deer and other warm-blooded four-legged creatures:

We made repeated "game crawls." At times we met each other coming and going. With no cell phones, it was sometimes hard to coordinate who was going with whom and when. The crawls occurred early in the morning or just before dusk when the animals were more likely to be out grazing. One weird afternoon trip found a good number of white tail deer and axis deer and a couple of other creatures wandering the road near a small town off the major roads.

The axis deer were everywhere. They are beautiful creatures and the bucks have quite impressive antlers. We saw herds of up to 30 animals.

We stopped to see these beauties.

They were almost so close we could touch them.

Two axis bucks were grazing in this clearing.

Closer - beautiful antlers

The white tail deer population appeared in good shape as well. We saw a few small bucks, but many doe, yearlings, and fawns.

OK. I know it is bad, but this is the best photo I was able to get of a white tail. I suppose you can see it was a doe and twins.

On one of my last crawls made just after I dropped off the evening floaters, I saw two does cross the road. I turned onto the cemetery road and twin fawns turned and ran ahead of me. They disappeared about 20 feet from the car, just behind a bush next to a game fence. They DISAPPEARED. I did not understand until I drove up to the the bush and discovered a big hole in the fence.

Escape hatch in the game fence - it was easier to see in person.

Close-up. I cannot imagine patrolling a good sized property to insure no one (or no thing) is "making holes" in my fence.

We also regularly saw a large group of blackbuck grazing in a field. They were too far for good photos until a last minute, unscheduled ride caught them close to the road.

Blackbuck

Closer

These guys are not exotic, but it was interesting to see them on the side of the road.

Not horses. Not deer. [They make me laugh.]

On our final, early morning cruise we must have seen over a dozen rabbits. I cannot remember the last time I saw so many jackrabbits and cottontails in such a short time span. RF suggested that some of the clearing of brush must have improved the rabbit habitat. I later wondered if the parvovirus outbreak I heard about in our area was also a problem in the hill country. Perhaps a lack of predators has resulted in an increase in rabbits.

We saw one armadillo during the middle of the day as we walked down the river trails looking for a missing kiddo. He lumbered along and we hurried past - too busy to really pay too much attention.

I saw a house cat stalking through high grass - another sign that big predators may be absent.


Insects and bugs:

In the late 1990s we took the kids and cousins on wild insect gathering expeditions at "any place with a light" in the tiny town north of our campground. The car wash was especially rich as the insects were attracted by both light and moisture.

Now we don't collect insects, but we do still appreciate them.**

My sister found a huge beetle in the roadway on her way back from a domino game. I am sure she would have kept it had it been a rhinoceros beetle. I did have to "put it away" as some in the party found it disturbing. It came home with me - thought I would share with some of my biology friends.

Beetle and river rocks and Texas buckeyes

We found a number of other creeping and flying creatures. It is good to see all of them - especially the bees!

Dung bug - I love these guys. I saw my first one at the hunting lease when I was a kid. I don't know that I have seen one in 10 or more years. And here this guy was rolling its prize along the main road. Needless to say, I stood in the road to keep the vehicles from "running it over." I later saw 8 or 10 "taking care of business" on the cliff trail, but I was picking up trash and did not have my camera.***

"You been messing with the bees?" ~ Harry Nilsson****

We stopped to take a photo of the "old man's beard" and saw this.

This butterfly was maddening. It finally cooperated and opened its wings for me.

The dragonflies hover above the river, dipping down for water (or for a meal).

Other:

I discovered at least two specimens of the dreaded "fishing bobber" grabbing tree.*****

While wandering along Buffalo Creek (looking for PJ) I noticed this tree had snagged two bobbers.

My walk along the cliff trail lead to this dangerous bobber-grabber.

Close-up of two tangled bobbers

Wildflowers to come in a separate post. I am tired and there are simply too many of them.


NOTES:

*I hang my head in shame. I am such a "close enough" naturalist. No one should rely on my identifications, I guess. I promise to go to the Cornell site, review film, and listen to recorded songs to clarify what the park black birds are - at this point, I suspect ravens. I didn't even know we had ravens here...I thought they were an east coast bird. You know, Baltimore...

**DH appreciates NOT finding plastic bags full of frozen insects in the frig. I find it a little boring to store only ice cubes, Flavor Ice and bacon.

***http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dung_beetle

****http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Point! (For RF)

*****These creatures are generally found growing on the banks of streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes.