18 more hours done!

                                  THE EVAPORATING POND BEHIND THE TEMPORARY VIS

 

The amount of hours that I have to put in each week on the refuge, is a yearly good natured debate that Stephanie, the volunteer coordinator, and I have.  She wants me to put in 32 hours/week, and I think it should be 24 hrs/week.  To me, 32 hours is practically a fulltime job, and I’m retired!  The 32 hours for solos seems to be very common along the Texas coast and at many Arizona refuges.  At just about all of the other refuges I’ve volunteered at, I’ve only been required to put in 17-24 hours.  So, some weeks I put in 32 hours and some weeks I don’t.  There are  various arguments to support either position that I won’t go into here.  :)

Anyway, this weekend I put in two nine hour days working the VIS.  That’s a pretty good chunk out of my weekly quota!  This is not the busiest time of the year for refuge visitors, so I was happy to see this young Cooper’s hawk alight in a nearby dead tree yesterday.  He stopped for an afternoon preening session.

A little while later, this orange-crowned warbler (L), and a common yellowthroat (R) bubbled  through the semi live oak trees across the road.  I was anxious for my stint to be done because I knew that JOHN AND BRENDA would be arriving at the RV pads in the afternoon from Louisiana.  When I was done with work, we met, and I enjoyed a delicious lasagna meal that Brenda had prepared, and a great evening of conversation.  As others have said, meeting people in the RV lifestyle or from the RV blogland community is like meeting old friends. 

 

We were so busy chit chatting, that I didn’t even get any pictures.  I tried this morning before I headed in for work, but Brenda declined being seen on the blog in her PJs (:)), and John, and their dog Meg, somehow disappeared off of the highway as I tried to catch them on my way into the VIS.  Oh well, maybe we’ll meet again some time down the road.

 

For some reason, I didn’t sleep very well last night so today really dragged by.  I was happy to be done.

You know who was also happy I was finished with work after being cooped up in the rig for two days in a row!  After a good walk around the compound, it was play time…

Until a red-tailed hawk had the audacity to fly overhead and land at the top of an electrical pole!  I guess Emma thought it was a turkey vulture.  :)  She seldom barks, but when she does she puts her whole being into it!  Do you think she knows that if you are going to do something, you should do it well?  :)  Such expressive antics she goes through.

Tonight’s moon rise and sunset…

I’m supposed to have the next two days off, but with the Christmas Bird Count on Wednesday, and my normal bird surveys on Thursday, it seems to me I’m going to have to take some time to scope out the new way to get to the survey areas before then.  (was that a run on sentence, or just a very long one?)  Hmmm, looks like a 32 hour work week to me.  :)

                                                                          THE END!!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

This and that

First, I’d like to thank everyone for their comments on my decision to spend the summer in Indiana, and for suggestions of what to see in the area.  Lora was especially helpful with some websites of wildlife areas in close proximity.  I probably need to let some of you know that I was born and grew up in the city of Chicago, so I’m well aware of what the city has to offer.  I’d sure like to get a pizza from Frank’s Pizza on the northwest side, and am hoping that Ackerman’s Bakery is still in business.  :)

It was cold, overcast, and a little rainy when I got up this morning, so I decided to put off the bird survey until tomorrow.  That will give the back roads a little time to dry out a bit.  Instead, I headed into the VIS to pick up the contraption that puts sales tags on items like tee shirts.  I had three totes full of shirts waiting to be tagged with the new bar code thingy at the community building at the RV sites.  Colin had printed off the new bars codes for me before he left.
Since I had driven ten miles to get to the VIS, I decided to check the refuge roads to see what was happening in the blustery bird world.
With the weather, the shovelers and pied-billed grebes had moved into the more protected areas closer to the road.
As I rounded one of the corners, huge flocks of snow geese took flight in the distance.   It’s hard to describe in words the magnitude of the thousands of geese filling the sky.  I guess you just have to be here!  Tomorrow I’ll be counting multitudes like this.  What a sight it was.
I surprised this snowy egret along the way.  I guess it decided on flight rather than fight!  Notice the yellow dancing shoes…a diagnostic feature in identification of this species. 
Back at the ranch (RV pads), several Wilson’s snipes had landed in a flooded section of the lawn surrounding the RVs.
Usually, we just have about a dozen killdeer patrolling the area, but the 1/2” of rain overnight provided wetter areas that the snipes like.  Because the water table is not far below the surface in this marshy area, it doesn’t take much rain to provide wetland areas.  Emma doesn’t like getting her feet wet, and she is a real hoot to watch on a morning like today as she daintily prances around to find that perfect spot to do her business.  :)

Along about sunset, as I was on the computer editing my photos of the day, I began to hear sounds through the closed windows that made me think I was near an off-road vehicle race track.  As I scratched my head in surprise, Emma began barking with exuberance!  I need to tell you that there are only two things that cause Emma to bark… turkey vultures and cows.  Sure enough, another cattle drive was occurring down FM 1985.  It was too dark for any good pics, but I had to just chuckle at Emma’s antics at protecting us from this onslaught of bellowing bovines!  As she safely sat at the front window, her head arched backwards as the elongated woofs emanated from her core being.  She was successful in keeping us safe from this invasion, and all is well tonight.  :)  Of course, I’m sure in her mind, the cowboys had nothing to do with the cows staying away from us…
                                                                        THE END! 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Avian Potpourri

Fellow volunteer, Colin, and I did the bird survey this morning, and were treated to views of thousands and thousands of waterfowl taking advantage of the many flooded moist soil units on the refuge.  The massive flocks of snow geese, pintails, and shovelers were viewed through binoculars, so my pictures tonight are of those species that were in closer range.  This boat-tailed grackle stopped by for a moment.
Though not in our count section, this Easter phoebe and swamp sparrow made their presence known. 

I’ll give you more details on how the survey works next week when I’ll be doing it on my own.  It’s pretty regimented, but any day out in the field is better than a day in the office.  :)   As the count progressed, we shed a layer or two of clothes as the temps went from 35* to the upper 50’s.
As we drove from survey site to survey site, we noticed that the winter practice of burning fields has begun in southern Texas.  This burn was not on the refuge.  Ranchers and farmers burn the fields every year to refresh the foliage growth.  The haze of smoke spreads for quite a distance.

We were done with the survey by noon, so headed back to the rigs.  Along about 2:30, I had Emma jump in the car and we went for a drive on the refuge roads to see what we could see.
We had a nice view of a crested caracara on the beginning of the Shoveler Pond Loop.  This bird is considered a raptor, and feeds mainly on carrion and small mammals and lizards.  I think this particular bird was not actively hunting for food.  Notice how the area of it’s lower neck seems swollen?  After eating, raptors store food in their crop which is located just below their neck.  I’m thinking this guy just finished feasting on something.  :)  That pinkish area between it’s eye and lower beak can also change color in seconds.  Kind of like a turkey vulture’s head.  Under stress, the turkey vulture’s head goes from red to almost white!
There were a few dowitchers on the pond today, but since the hurricane the numbers of birds and alligators has drastically reduced.  Shoveler Pond was a totally fresh water impoundment on the refuge, but Ike caused it to be flooded with salt water two years ago.  It has been very slow to recover from that onslaught.
This snowy egret was making its way along the sides of a slough as we headed back to the refuge entrance.  I was hoping to maybe see a river otter in the late afternoon, but it was not to be.
On our way out, we flushed this red-tailed hawk. (wish I could have gotten a pic of the whole bird!)  Hundreds, if not more, of red-tails winter on the refuge.  This is a nice adult bird, and reminds me of the first red-tail that I banded in Greece, New York.  While holding the bird by it’s legs in my left hand to do some measurements, it reached down with it’s razor sharp beak and took a sizeable chunk out of the heal of my palm.  This is a formidable raptor, and certainly gained my respect that day!  I hope you have enjoyed this mixture of refuge bird life.  I sure enjoyed my day seeing them.  :)

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Back on solid ground

After two more days at sea after Nassau, we pulled into the port of Galveston early on Sunday morning.  Everything went smoothly with our disembarkation, and by noon we were back at Anahuac NWR.  I deployed the slides, turned on the water, and opened up the windows to air out the rig.  I was happy to be home.  While on the cruise, we spent quite a few morning breakfasts with folks that had sailed many times.  Only about 1/6 of the people onboard were on their first cruise.  I was surprised that so many people seem to cruise so often.  While I truly enjoyed myself, I’m thinking this will probably be my only cruise.  I guess I’m just one of those people that prefers my land yacht.  This foray into massive crowds of people makes me that much more appreciative of my more off the beaten path lifestyle.  :)

I had to set my alarm for 5:00 this morning (UGH!) so I could get Pam to George Bush International Airport in time for her flight to Chicago.  Having her travel with me on this cruise really enhanced my experience.  What a good time we had together!  I think I’ll even keep it a secret that she snores.  :)

On the way back from the airport, I picked Emma up from the kennel.  Boy, she was sure happy to be home, also.  She ran right up to the steps to get inside, and after sniffing everything out, collapsed with a great sigh.  With all that barking at the kennel, she probably hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in three weeks!
After spending the afternoon catching up on three weeks of laundry, Emma and I headed out to get a bird fix on the refuge.  :)  It was late afternoon, and many red-tailed hawks were perched along the roadsides.
As we drove the refuge roads, we stopped to enjoy the abundance of waterfowl that are feeding and loafing on the vast marshlands.  I think there are presently over 100,000 ducks and geese in residence. 
I even spotted two white-tailed kites along the drive.  I’m hoping to get a better picture of this raptor while I’m here.  They mostly feed on small rodents, and I’m very much in favor of that!  :)
This young white Ibis took time to pose for me at one of the water level control devises.  Next year, this bird will be entirely white in color except for black tips on it’s wings.

It seems the mosquito population has been very busy repopulating while we’ve been away.  That means you had better seek refuge inside by 5:00 each evening or not have any exposed skin surface.  I was outside in shorts with Emma this evening when the hoard of blood suckers descended… eek!

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy   

Plans go awry

We all piled into the Ford Focus this morning and headed off for Yellowstone National Park.  Our plan was to drive to Old Faithful, even though there was a horrible forecast and it was raining as we left.  We made good time into the park, but after about 12 miles into the park, we came to a standstill.  Obviously there was a buffalo hold up just short of Madison.  After about twenty minutes, we started moving again, and made the turn for Old Faithful.  That didn’t last long.  Three big buffalos decided to use the road to head up the hill, so once again we were restricted to their traveling speed.  There was only one car in front of us, but these people decided to spend a half hour slowly trailing the buffalos for pictures when they could have gone around them.  The result of their decision was that there was about five miles of backed up cars behind them.  Because my car is a stick shift, my left leg was wearing out as we very slowly inched up the steep grade.  Then I noticed steam coming out of the hood and an awful smell.  As soon as I was able, I pulled over on a service road and shut off the engine.  It turned out that several motorcycles also pulled over with us because their engines were overheating.  :(  Stan hopped out of the car to check what was going on under the hood.  It seems coolant was spraying out of the reservoir and onto the engine, producing the steam and smell.  There weren’t any broken hoses.  So there we all sat waiting for things to cool down in the rain.  Traffic remained at a standstill as we waited.  Since those folks weren’t going to go around the buffalos, we decided to turn around and head back down the hill.  We figured it would take another two hours to drive the relatively short distance to Old Faithful, and we didn’t have that kind of time considering the dogs back at the rigs.  We had no further car problems as we headed back down the road.  It was probably just a matter of too much coolant in the engine.
As we headed back towards West Yellowstone, we were able to see some elk on the hillside.  Can you find all three?

Since it was still raining, we stopped in town to do some wandering through the tourist trap stores.  Pam and Stan found a few things they couldn’t live without, but I found nothing I needed.  We stopped in a place for a pizza for lunch, and then headed back to the campground.

Pam and I took the dogs on a long walk, and to our surprise, the sun made an appearance.  We hopped in the car and headed up the hill to see if we could get any cell phone reception…it’s non-existent in the park.  Pam was able to get a connection and called her daughter.  I still had no reception.  We then went on a jaunt of the local sights.
The skies were becoming blue around the surrounding snow capped mountains.
 



There were many bird houses along the road, and we saw quite a few mountain bluebirds. 




As we continued around Henry Lake, we saw many beautiful log houses.

The wind had really picked up as we traveled, and lots of waterfowl chose to come into the more protected bays.





On one little bay of Henry Lake, I found a pair of bufflehead, and a pair of ring-necked ducks.





There has been a kind of drought of bird pictures from me lately, so I know you’re all glad to see some more feathered friends.  :-)

Since the sun was still shining when we returned to camp, I thought there might be a wonderful sunset tonight.  Wrong!!  The rains have returned along with a little thunder.  :(  We’re going to leave earlier tomorrow morning to give Old Faithful another try.  Wish us luck!

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

Blue Bill Point

It was an interesting journey today to get to the Army Corps of Engineers' Blue Bill Point campground on Fort Gibson Lake in  Northeast Oklahoma.  I traveled on US 69 the whole way.  It's a four lane highway that goes through quite a few towns along the way which is certainly more interesting than driving an Interstate.  But, I have one thing to say about Oklahoma roads....when they're good, they're good, but when they're bad, they're horrible!  After today's drive, I fully expected to find just about every screw loose in the rig.  Dang!  About 30% of the time I was tightly gripping the steering wheel trying to avoid all those lumps and bumps. 

Anyway, I eventually bounced my way into the Blue Bill Point campground, and was thrilled with what I found.  Compared to last night, this is heaven.

It's a big long site with electric and water.  You can see how far away the nearest campers are.  I could also stay here three nights for less than what I paid for last night.  :)

This is the view of the lake that I have from the picnic table.  I really do like the Army Corps of Engineer parks.

Although it was overcast for my drive (which I don't dislike), the afternoon was just gorgeous.  I especially enjoyed the fact that it was a Sunday afternoon, and most people left.  I've gotten used to the quiet and peacefulness of  National Wildlife Refuges. 

Lest you think that I have forgotten the birds, I've included a few pics that I took while I sat out on my patio this afternoon.  :)

A pair of scissor-tailed flycatchers made good use of the electrical wires to scan the skies for flying insects.

I had a good time watching two male orchard orioles battling for the attention of one female in the big trees on my site. 

There were also numerous Baltimore orioles singing their hearts out all over the campground.  There were also warblers and vireos flitting about, but they were too fast for me to catch them with the camera.

and of course, there was a pair of Canada geese that made their way through the grounds after most of the campers had left.  I'll be staying here two nights.  I may snoop around  Wagoner, OK, tomorrow to see if there's anything interesting.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy

A bird lovers post

If you don't give a fig about birds, I'd suggest you move on to another blog.  This post is just about birds!  After yesterday's fiasco with the flash card with the camera, I made up for it today.  I was up and out fairly early this morning to scout out locations to take my bird tours on.  I found a back up location for the golden cheeked warbler, and tomorrow I'll work on the black capped vireo.

I spent the afternoon in my "back yard" photographing my neighbors.  There have been large numbers of chipping sparrows at the feeders since I got here.  In Texas, you have to look closely at these chippers, because there can be another species mixed among them.

This is a clay colored sparrow.  It looks very similar to a chipping sparrow.  Another one of those LBJs (little brown jobs).

This is not the best of pictures, but it does demonstrate the difference between the black vulture (at the top) and the turkey vulture.  Notice the difference in wing patterns.

As I sat outside, it wasn't long before this black chinned hummingbird arrived to visit the feeder.

In the proper light, you can see that purple border to it's black chin.  This little dude took a drink, and then went on to do a courtship display for a lurking female.  The display involves the male flying a series of open U shaped acrobatics that occur in an air space of about twelve feet.  He certainly did soar his heart out.  It was so cool to watch.

Afterwards, the seemingly unimpressed female came over for a sip.  There are several males around, so she can afford to be picky.  :)

A short time later, a red tailed hawk came out of the woods.

He/she caught a thermal and was soon soaring high above with the vultures.

I had a new visitor to the avian cafe today....a lark sparrow.

What a distinctive facial pattern this bird has!  Notice the central breast spot on an unstreaked breast.

I also had a visit by several cowbirds. This ubiquitous species is the bane of our endangered species. Originally, when buffalo roamed the country, this species followed the herds as they roamed.  Since they didn't spend much time in one place, they developed the habit of laying eggs in other bird's nests since they wouldn't be around to raise their own young.  The female chose nests of smaller birds so that when their eggs hatched, their young could kick out the smaller birds that hatched.  They were successful with this adaptation.  That's the problem.  When they lay their eggs in the nests of golden cheeked warblers or black capped vireos, it really puts an additional stress on these endangered species.

The northern cardinal is the most common "state" bird in the country.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy