Mustang Island Boat Tour

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The first tour of the Whooping Crane Festival for us was a birding-by-boat tour of Mustang Island on our first afternoon in Port Aransas TX. It was a sunny day…perfect temperature for the tour. We saw cormorants as we left the dock area for the main channel.

The bird sightings included a first for us: the white morph of the reddish egret. They are distinguished from other white egrets/juvenile herons by the pink and black bill. We saw more white morphs than the usual more numerous dark morphs! One of the images has a little blue heron along with the white morph of the reddish egret…for size comparison.  

A yellowlegs was searching for food in the shallows. It is hard to judge the size. Does the bill look long enough to be a greater yellowlegs? Not sure.

There seemed to be a lot of great blue herons as well. The wind was blowing enough to ruffle feathers.

A white ibis strolled near the shoreline.

A pelican on a post kept our boat in view.

A ring-billed gull was also enjoying the view from a post…did not seem as keen to turn as our boat moved past.

Turkey vultures were doing cleanup on a coyote carcass. There is some trash in the background. I try to avoid taking pictures of trash. The area was relatively clean, but trash is inevitable even in wild areas within water or wind distance of developed areas.

A little blue heron looked very intent on something in the water…ignoring our boat.

The osprey swooped in…and missed!

The cormorants with white outlining their yellow chin are neotropic cormorants. There was a group of them on a sandbar as we went by. Most of them stayed facing the sun but a few looked our way!

Port Aransas is on a barrier island with a ferry to cross the channel. Our tour boat went past the ferry crossing…a different perspective than when we were on the ferry in our car!

On the way back to the dock, we passed the jetty again with gulls and pelicans….and a royal tern.

Tomorrow’s post is about the sunset dolphin cruise that was the finale of our first day at the Whooping Crane Festival.

August Road Trip

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My monthly trip to Carrollton TX was warped because it was so hot. I took the shortest possible rest stops on the drive down – didn’t make the usual stop at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge because the temperature was already over 100 degrees. I did stop to buy some barbeque brisket to enjoy the next day with my parents (reheating rather than needing to cook).

Since I didn’t stop at the Texas Welcome Center – my sister’s picture of her beautyberry had to suffice as the documentation for what the plants look like in August.

On the way home the temperature was a little milder. It was in the low 70s when I left to drive back home at 6 AM! There was a full moon that I photographed when I got out of the car to close the garage door using the keypad.

The day was great for soaring birds. I saw two large kettles of turkey vultures– swirling around and around…upward and then gliding down – along the highway between McAlester and Tulsa OK.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in March 2023 – Egrets +

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The pelicans were the stars of my two visits to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in March, but there were plenty of other things to see. The egrets came in a close second to the pelicans. The Snowy Egrets were in breeding plumage.

A cattle egret was as well.

The redbud near the visitor center was blooming and the tree was situated where I could walk up to get some macro images. The flowers are reminded me of orchids!

The trunk of the tree had yellow-orange lichen…always worth a close look.

On my first visit there were a few Snow Geese (one was smaller…probably a Ross’s). They were gone before my second visit.

The Yellowlegs was still around.

I saw two herons: a Great Blue

And a Little Blue. The Great Blue Herons are year-round residents. The Little Blue Herons are only around during the breeding season.

At the turn around point during my second visit, I noticed some vultures in a tree. The ones near the top were Turkey Vultures and there was a lone Black Vulture further down the tree!

I needed to get to Sherman by noon but still made a quick stop to photograph a Red-Winged Blackbird. I had been hearing them loud and clear but this one seemed to be posing just for me.

My visits to Hagerman are always a little rushed…I drive portions of the wildlife tour and stop for photography – using my car as a blind. Even so…it seems like the 1.5 hours I allot myself passes very quickly!

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 30, 2021

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Environmentally friendly ways to cool homes – This will be an increasingly ‘hot’ topic for individuals and various levels of business and government. Many electrical utilities are already seeing increased energy consumption during the summer.

What’s Up with White Squirrels and Black Squirrels? – I haven’t seen any white squirrels but we have the occasional black one in our neighborhood (in Maryland).

Medical errors keep killing patients – but there are laws, incentives and mindset changes that could reduce the death toll – Medical mistakes are s leading cause of death, behind heard disease and cancer. This should not be the case. Surely incentives can be used to force changes to the unacceptable status quo.

Deaths linked to ‘hormone disruptor’ chemical costs billions of lost US productivity – A study that included more than 5,000 adults ages 55-64 done by NYU Grossman School of Medicine. The people with the highest concentrations of phthalates in their urine were more likely to die of heart disease than those with lesser exposure. I am no longer storing food in plastic containers unless they phthalate free…the bigger problem is cosmetics/hygiene products. It’s hard to know which ones have it.

Why are you seeing lots of vultures now? – Our area has resident turkey and black vultures…we see a few all year long. In the fall we might see an uptick because of vultures from further north migrating through.

Mushroom consumption may lower risk of depression – Yet another reason to enjoy mushrooms in your diet!

US Moving Towards 30% Electricity from Wind & Solar – By 2026! That is not that far away. I know I’ll probably have solar panels on the roof of my house well before that (and probably some energy storage as well).

Possible Mammoth Butchery Site Found in Arctic Circle – On an island off the northern coast of East Siberia. At the time the animal was killed (26,000 years ago), sea levels were lower, and the island was connected to the mainland.

Nature-based activities can improve mood and reduce anxiety – A metastudy that looked at 50 studies and 14,321 NBI records done by the University of York. Interestingly – they didn’t find that the activities improved physical health!

It’s Time to Ban Gas-Powered Landscaping Equipment – We already have some electric landscaping equipment: blower, trimmer, weed eater. The mower will be next. I am looking forward to it since I notice the exhaust smell and get a scratchy throat every time I mow.

Zooming – June 2020

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Only two pictures in the slide show below were taken away from my house. The other location was a short walk from my house to the neighborhood storm water retention pond.

There are quite a few birds as usual:

  • Starling

  • Cardinal

  • Carolina Wren

  • Blue Jay

  • Red-winged blackbird (fledgling)

  • House finch

  • Mourning dove

  • Chipping sparrow

  • Turkey vulture

It seems like there are more other animals that usual: cat, deer (with faun), turtle, and black squirrel.

Overall it’s a good mix – but I am missing the usual garden and butterfly pictures as I look at these and think about June the past few years (see June 2019 and June 2018). In previous years June was a hyper month at the beginning with two volunteer gigs (Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy and Howard County Conservancy’s hiking with school field trips) overlapping and helping my daughter move (last year). June 2020 has been a quieter month…but still enjoyable.

CSA Begins

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Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) finally started this week. The cool weather in mid to late May slowed down the development of the items normally ready in the first weeks of June. I am so ready for the glut of fresh veggies! We sign up for the medium share which is always a bit overwhelming in the beginning. Last year I was traveling a lot in June and the freezer got filled up very rapidly. I did learn to prep and freeze leafy greens for use in smoothies….my favorite summer breakfast.

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The farmer has added signs to the side of the barn where the shares are distributed emphasizing the changes this year because of the pandemic. There were yellow markers sprayed on the gravel 6 feet apart so the line could space out appropriately. For the first day of the season, everything worked very smoothly – even for the two people in front of me in line who were new to the CSA this year.

The first share of the season included (from left to right):

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  • Butter lettuce – I had the outer two rounds of leaves in a salad almost immediately.

  • Radishes – I cleaned and froze the leaves to use in smoothies and had one radish in the salad with the butter lettuce

  • Garlic scapes – I will have these cooked with scrambled eggs or as a topping on chili or in a salad. These are one of the treats of getting veggies from the CSA.

  • Collards – I had a choice of kale, collards or chard and picked the collards because I already have some kale left from the grocery store and I like collards better than chard.

  • Strawberries – These will be gone very quickly…another treat of the first weeks of the CSA.

  • Red leaf lettuce – I could have gotten Romaine, but I opted for the more tender and colorful red-leaf.

  • Spinach – I was pleased it was in a bunch rather than having to weigh leaves -  always slow going. I cut the root end off the bunch and cleaned the leaves thoroughly before putting it into the same bag as the radish leaves….to use in smoothies in the upcoming week.

 That’s quite a pile of veggies!

Unique activities for yesterday:

Climate and Sustainability Webinars (via Zoom). The first one was yesterday and was focused on healthy soil. They continue every other week for the remainder of the summer. I’m looking forward to the upcoming topics: regenerative gardening, regenerative landscaping, what can the pandemic teach us about being (un)prepared for climate change and other global disasters, the power of individual choice and climate change is bad for your health. I am already way over the number of education hours needed to sustain my Master Naturalist certification for 2020 but these are too interesting to pass up!

Turkey Vulture. Just before the webinar started, I noticed a vulture swooping low over our yard…and then – Surprise!!!e - it landed on the roof of our covered deck. It seemed to be making eye contact with me through the window.   I see them frequently soaring over the landscape….but usually not at such close range! I took a picture zoomed a little then zoomed more to get more detail on the feet and head.

Laredo Birding Festival – Day 4

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The last day of birding at the Laredo Birding Festival started with the van leaving the hotel at 6 AM! It was the earliest start of the festival, but we were accustomed to it by that time. The front of the hotel was alive with activity in the darkness.

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Our destination was the La Perla Ranch, prized for its habitat and plentiful birds that thrive near its sensational water features. They had the name of the place on the chairs at the hunting lodge!

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The first bird of the morning was a Great Horned Owl on an antennae. What a great start to the day of birding! The bird seemed to be very scrutinizing our van breaking the calm of the morning.

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The sun was not quite above the horizon yet…I got a silhouette of a Crested Caracara through a fence. The bird has a very distinctive profile.

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And then we arrived at the hunting lodge the ranch provides…the sun came up. I liked the ‘barn’ birdfeeder in one of the trees.

A Turkey Vulture sat hunched in the top of a palm. Others were soring overhead. Some wild turkey moved rapidly our of my camera range…I missed photographing them entirely.

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There were quite a few Meadowlarks although almost out of range of my camera’s zoom. This is an area where the Eastern and Western Meadowlarks overlap. They have such minor distinguishing characteristics; I’m just saying the bird in this photo is a Meadowlark.

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We did some walking around ponds. Most of the birds were far away.  Pied-billed Grebe are easy to distinguish from the Least Grebe (we saw both). My photo is of a Pied-Billed Grebe because it has dark eyes.

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Just barely within the range of my zoom: a Green Kingfisher. The area south Texas along the Rio Grand is the only place to see this bird in the US. This one is female.

Cinnamon Teal were also on the ponds. The coloring of the male is indeed ‘cinnamon’!

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I didn’t get a great picture – but was thrilled to see and get a photo of Peregrine Falcon. All the other ones I’ve photographed were on man-made structures (like bridges).

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Sometimes I just paused and looked around at the ranch – glistening water surrounded by dry areas… wildflowers. It was a wonderful place to spend the day.

A Belted Kingfisher (female) surveyed the water from a dock on one of the ponds. We had seen a Ringed Kingfisher earlier on one of the larger ponds but I didn’t get a picture; I was surprised at how large it was.

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How many birds can you identify in this picture?

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The largest white bird is a Great Egret The smaller ones are Snowy Egrets.  There are two types of cormorants: the Neotropic Cormorants are the smaller and darker ones; the larger and lighter ones are the Double-crested Cormorants. In the foreground are Ruddy Ducks with their tails pointing upward.

For the last picture of the day – a parade of Egrets (the Great Egret bringing up the rear)!

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Whopping Crane and the rest from a Central Florida Field Trip

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Continuing the third day of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival….this is the last post about our field trip into Central Florida. The high point of the day was seeing a Whooping Crane. This is one that started out life at the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge (program now ended) and doesn’t migrate. It generally stays on a cattle ranch and enjoys cattle feed! We stopped at the ranch’s entrance, so the pictures are a little blurry with the max zoom required to take the picture.  There were some sandhill cranes around as well and it was obvious this bird was different – bigger and very white. Our guides told us that the dwindling numbers of whooping cranes in Florida will be captured and relocated to join a non-migrating group in Louisiana.

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Even though it was chilly while we were in Florida, it was still much warmer than in Maryland. There were flowers blooming and going to seed.

The deciduous trees had lost their leaves. The guides pointed out bald cypress domes…the tallest and oldest trees being in the center.

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I was pleasantly surprised by the paint job in the rest room of the place we stopped for our picnic lunch. Very artfully done!

A cow escaped the pasture and was in tall grass heaven near one lake. Fortunately, the grass held the cow’s attention and it didn’t wonder up into the picnic area.

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We stopped when we spotted a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on a fence post. It moved to the fence wire and I got another angle.

We were just getting ready to retreat to the bus when a Crested Caracara flew in with some prey followed by an entourage of Turkey Vultures. The big lenses and binoculars were trained on the caracara trying to figure out what the prey was. Maybe a snake.

They stayed around long enough for me to take a portraits. The crest of the caracara reminds me of a bad toupee.

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The vultures kept a respectful distance but would move in as soon as the caracara left.

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We made a last stop before the end of the day at the Helen and Allan Cruikshank Sanctuary where we had spent a very rainy morning a few days before. This time we saw an Osprey before the scrub jays.

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But the Florida Scrub Jays showed up soon enough. One alighted on the hand of one of our guides – probably thinking there would be a peanut for it…no peanut appeared.

Another bird stomped on the hat of our other guide. The bird obligingly turned around for him to get a selfie. That was the last event of the day. Note that all the jays we saw were banded…sometimes multiple times.

Our day in the field (5AM to 4PM) was probably the best of the festival…so much seen in a relatively short period of time!

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – Part 2

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Continuing the sightings at Hagerman…

We saw several Great Blue Herons (and there were probably more about than we happened to see. One of them was startled my something and I snapped a picture as it took off with its neck still straight out rather than folded into the tight S for longer distance flying.

There was an Osprey eyeing our cars from the top of the road we were on – the top of a dike between two ponds. My sister contorted herself through the sunroof to take pictures! I had a better vantage point from the backseat comfortably seated although I did catch the edge of the opening in one of the pictures. The osprey migrate through this area.

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We saw a blob of white out in the lake and watched it as we got closer. It became two white blobs. Then we were close enough to see what it was: two American White Pelicans. They are well known for migrating through Hagerman. I used my zoom to get some pictures of the one that was awake and preening.

Somehow I decided that most of the ducks were mallards and too far away to photograph on the cloudy day but the one picture I took of a duck and looked at on a larger screen when I got home turned to be a Northern Pintail! I should have looked more closely at the ducks…but I would have needed to take a spotting scope and spend more time; I didn’t have either this trip. This is a wintering area for pintails.

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Heading back to the visitor center – we saw two Turkey Vultures in a field. These birds breed in the area but may not stay for the winter. They are stay year-round in Maryland so I was surprised to see the range map for them showing that they are summer residents only in North Texas.

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Back at the Visitor Center, we spent some time walking around the butterfly garden and I was surprised at how many butterflies were around. I took two pictures of Sulphur butterflies and discovered when I got home that they might be two different kinds: Cloudless Sulphur

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Our visit to Hagerman was a great way to spend 2 hours on fall morning. Next time, I’ll allow myself even more time and do some hiking along with the auto tour.