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| Am I the only one who is noticing the squirrels seem to be more active in their food storage? |
We were up and walking our Z-girl in the park fairly early. DH and I haven't walked in the park much lately, but I convinced him to join us today.
It wasn't as early as we once walked, but then neither one of us gets up too early these days. We wanted to know was whether the Scissor-tailed flycatchers were still in their pre-migratory roost in the pecans along the river.
They weren't there this morning.
Are they really gone? I'll check again for a few more days - a little earlier - closer to when I have heard them before. But they may be gone.
There were squirrels in the park. Zelda saw them and we saw a little of what her life in the wild must have been.
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| This Fox Squirrel had a bunch of pecans. |
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| For much of the first two years of her life we think she was in the wilderness-alone. This is "Stalking Zelda." |
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| She sees the squirrel. She moves when the squirrel moves. She stops when the squirrel stops. We drop the leash and let her give chase, knowing the leash will slow her down enough to allow the squirrel to escape. |
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| Not recognizing we participated in his successful evasion, the squirrel chewed us out from high above. |
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| My walking buddies. |
It was a short walk, but a good one. We had appointments and needed to move along.
On the way to the first one, I checked the ponds on Witter. A Great Blue Heron waded at the first ponds. All of the ponds have been drying up. But rain threatens today.
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| The sun peeked through only a few times. It looked like communion. |
The Neotropic cormorant* in the turtle pond watched for breakfast from the fallen log. Only a handful of turtles kept him company. The kingfisher that often perches there has been gone the last few days.
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| This is a photo from a few days ago. There can be from 5 to 11 turtles sunning themselves here. |
As I headed down the road I noticed a raptor in one of the other partially dead trees. Stopping on the side of the road, I turned on the emergency flashers and grabbed Daddy's binoculars...Crested Caracaras...a pair.**
I've seen six of them now - in the past two days. The others were observed along State highways 87 and 183 between Victoria and Luling.*** One was flying. One was hopping toward certain death on the highway when another swooped in and they both flew off into a field. The others were perched on roadside trees.
I love these birds. I love that I know them. They are such exotic looking creatures and the name is equally special.
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| See - it was hard to miss the dark blob in the tree. |
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| This is as close as the phone can "look." It was clear from the binocular view what they were. |
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| They are such striking birds - with their white head/neck/shoulders and black crest - that people can and will identify them from even this terrible photo. |
There was a time when these birds were only found along the border - certainly south of San Antonio. Now I have heard they can be found as far north as the Red River. It's climate change. And it is why we document sightings.
NOTES:
*https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Neotropic_Cormorant/id
**https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/id
*** I was traveling fast - dropped off a retablo at the museum in Victoria (but that's another story) - stopped only for birds - the dead Great Horned Owl and the live Crested Caracaras.
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| I know these birds too. I saw the feathers rustling in the breeze as I drove by. I turned around and took a few photographs. This broke my heart. It's a stunningly beautiful creature. |
Bird people...
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