Another day in the life…

Egad!  It was 23* when I took Emma for her first outs this morning and the north wind was blowing.  Much to my chagrin, she thought the brisk wind and crunchy turf were invigorating, and took her sweet time going about her business.  :(   Wouldn’t you think a short haired dog would have more sense than that?  Nope!  She ran around in circles on her long lead and fairly made me dizzy.  Eventually, we went back inside and I got ready for the bird count.

 

Fellow volunteer, Marilyn, and I headed out at 8:30 for our appointed rounds.  We about froze our fingers off walking the transect at the first stop.  The marsh was wet, but frozen.  The little killdeer and yellow legs were walking around on the ice looking for something to eat.  No ducks to be seen.  They were probably off to more sheltered grounds.  That was one chilly bird count this morning!

 

This afternoon, I needed to make the ten mile drive into the main part of the refuge to gas up the refuge vehicle before the weekend.  Since I was there, I took a ride down all the refuge roads for probably the last time.  After four volunteer stints here, I’m really not planning on returning, but you just never know.

As I drove down the entrance road, I noticed smoke from another fire.  This time it wasn’t the burning of rice fields or pastures, but the burning of debris piles still left from hurricane Ike.  You just can’t imagine the massive amounts of debris left from a hurricane unless you’ve seen it.  That raised shed, on the right, is one of many that was constructed to oversee the removal of all the debris.  Last year, big dump trucks hauled huge mounds of stuff away every day.  Now, they’re burning what is left.  I think it’s been over two years since that hurricane, and that gives you an idea of how long it takes to clean up from such devastation.

As I made my way around Shoveler Pond, this great blue heron decided to pose for me.  That beak is sure a formidable weapon, and this bird is an expert at freezing in place until an unsuspecting fish or frog moves past.  Then that beak moves with lightening speed to grab some tasty morsel.  I’ve enjoyed many a moment watching these herons work at getting a large fish, head first, down to their gullet.  

A Virginia rail also made an appearance today.  See how it has puffed out it’s feathers to keep warm?  You know it’s a chilly day when they don’t live up to being ‘as thin as a rail’!

 

Lastly, I need to vent a little rant on what some people do on our public lands.  Yesterday, Marilyn was working the VIS, and needed to visit the restrooms that are located across from the VIS.  As she entered the restroom, she found that someone had taken a crap in the hand washing sink!  Can you believe it?  There are two stools located there, so why would someone do this?  And guess who had to clean it up?  The volunteer!  I just don’t understand.  What a disgusting thing to do!  I know what I’d like to do to the person who did this.  What is this world coming to?  Ugh!

 

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

The Birds and the Bugs

Today was bird survey day, and fellow volunteer, Marilyn, was supposed to go along with me to learn the ropes.  She will be taking over the survey when I leave.  However, she forgot about it, so I headed out on my own.  It seems the birds had decided to use other areas to visit today, so it was a pretty dismal count.  You just never know what you’re going to find on these surveys.

 

After lunch, I headed out to try to find and photograph the remaining species on my list for Stephanie.  She had added a mourning dove to the list; a common species.  But try as I might, I couldn’t find one mourning dove to photograph today.

I did find a ruby-crowned kinglet, however.  Those of you that are birders know that this little mighty mite never sits still for more than a second!  It’s a challenge to photograph because as soon as you get it in your sites, it flits off somewhere else.  It was pretty warm today, so it was busy catching bugs on the wing. (you can probably guess the most abundant bug:))

No otters; no bobcats; and no mourning doves were to be seen, but plenty of white-fronted geese, great blue herons, killdeer, white-tailed kites, neo-tropical cormorants, greater yellowlegs, and snowy egrets were found. 

There were even herds of illiterate cows around.  :)  Guess they just ignored the sign…

Remember when I posted this picture of an unknown insect a couple of days ago that was sent to me by my friend, Jack?  Well, he took the advice of one of my commenters, CYNDI, and sent the pic to WHATS THAT BUG.  Turns out it is a type of walking stick that can accurately shoot a sort of venom out of it’s legs and right into your eye!  Mind you, Jack took this photo while laying prone on the ground!  Not sure he would have done it if he had known about that venom stuff, but he is a kind of wild and crazy guy.  :)  Anyway, after submitting the photo, it has been named the Bug of the Month!  Ha Ha!  Who would have guessed??  Jack will now be known as Bug Man Jack to me from this day forward!

 

I’m thinking I may submit a picture I took last May to WHATS THAT BUG to give Jack a little competition.  After all, who wouldn’t want Bug of the Month on their resume?

                                                                     THE END!

 

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

A postponement

In last night’s post, I stated that I would post the first part of my top ten adventures in 2010 tonight.  Well, that just isn’t going to happen, people.  :)  It was a long work day for me today, and as AL suggested today in his post, it is best to be mentally awake when you’re composing for your blog.  So, I think it will be a few days before I can put those posts together.

In the meantime, I’ll just ramble on a bit about today.  It was bird survey day, and I was ready!  When I arrived at the first count location, I was shocked to see that the road in front of me had disappeared!  In it’s place was a long, muddy, brand new levy with a huge John Deere tractor making it’s way through the muck and mire.   There were actually several of those behemoths working the area.  I was so discombobulated that I didn’t even think to take any pictures of this predicament.  There are three more count spots that I normally drive to along the road that used to be there.  What a dilemma.  I decided there was no way I was going to try to drive the suburban into that mess.  All that machinery churning around also meant that there weren’t very many birds in the first count area either.  :(

So, I could only do four of the seven stops this morning, and I had minor issues at two of those.  Ranchers are allowed to graze cattle on certain sections of the refuge, and one of my sites had a herd milling around when I arrived.  If you remember from last week, I have to walk a transit at each site, and I wasn’t crazy about doing battle with the cattle.  It’s usually cows that I encounter, but there was a big bull amongst them this morning.  Well, I gave it my all and headed out waving my arms and telling them to move on.  I thought there might be a stand off, but then they suddenly all turned and headed for the hills! (not that there are any hills to head for here:))  I counted the few birds that they flushed as they made their exit, but it was a little dicey tip toeing through the cow pies.  :)

As I arrived at my last site, and began the sitting still for five minutes scanning the area count, a huge diesel dump truck pulled up behind me.  The driver got out (revealing a huge plumber’s crack as he climbed out) and wanted to know if I was the big honcho of the refuge.  I told him no, I’m just doing a bird count.  He then went on a real chin flap about ducks and such; gave me his business card, and told me to call him if I ever needed a big load of dirt!  Alrighty then!  I’ll certainly keep that in mind, and thanks for chasing off any birds I might have counted with your big noisy truck.  I had to chuckle about that.  I guessed it was just going to be one of those mornings.  :)

A disappearing road, a bovine encounter, and an offer of a huge truck load of dirt… I just love this lifestyle!

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

Another day, another bird survey

Once the windshield defrosted this morning (I don’t have a scraper), I headed out to do this week’s bird survey.  After the thousands of waterfowl we saw last week, I was really looking forward to doing the count on my own this week.  I should have known!  There’s one thing you can count on about birds…they have wings!  :)  And they used those wings to travel to other areas of the refuge.  :(  It’s not that I didn’t see any birds, I just didn’t count the numbers that we did last week.

This is a scientific survey, so the rules of what to do and where are pretty strict.  There are seven sites that I visit in the East Unit of the refuge.  The count, obviously, has to be done on non hunt days. (this area is where a public hunt is allowed on the weekends)  I don’t want anybody to mistake me for a low flying double-breasted migrant bird lady!  :)
I couldn’t count these snow geese because they just flew past outside my count area.  I just put this pick in for AL…is this that curvy S thing that leads you through the picture?

As I approach each count area, I record which birds I flush and how many.  Then, once stopped, I scan the count area for all species, and how many of each.  After five minutes of scanning, I then walk a predetermined transit that I believe is 500 feet long counting all birds that are flushed while I walk.  The levies determine the boundaries of each count area.  Some of these fields are flooded, and others aren’t.  Flooded fields are the only areas where you’ll find waterfowl.  In the other unflooded areas, I mainly count land birds and raptors that are hunting the field.
While I was driving between count areas, I came upon this red-tailed hawk perched in a dead tree.  It wasn’t long before it took flight.  High perches are what red-tails like.  Their eye power is unbelievable.  They can see a mouse a mile away!  It was early in the cool morning, so the thermals that these hawks float on to hunt just hadn’t developed yet.
The bird on the left is a Savannah sparrow, and the bird on the right is an Eastern Phoebe.  There are a gazillion Savannah sparrows on the refuge, and I generally kick them up in good numbers no matter what count plot I stop at.  That little splash of yellow on it’s eyebrow (known as a lore, in bird circles) is diagnostic of this sparrow.  The amount of yellow is variable.  Of course, the Eastern phoebe didn’t make an appearance until after my five minute scan of the 7th area, so I couldn’t count it.  :(
One of my favorite birds on the refuge is the marsh wren.  I just love the way they hop around in the reeds of the marsh and chatter away as they’re doing it.  They don’t hold still for long!  You’ve got to be quick to spot one.  Looks like this one is doing the splits!  :)

Now I’ve got a couple of hours of data entry to do of today’s sightings.  These surveys are my favorite thing to do on the refuge.  Hope you’ve enjoyed a morning in the life of a NWR volunteer…

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

This place if for the birds!

Literally!  Some readers, who have been journeying with me for quite a while, know that this will be my fourth time volunteering at this refuge.  My blog posts are generally full of bird pictures from here since it is a refuge for birds.  :) 

 

The volunteer coordinator, Stephanie, doesn’t want any grass growing under my feet, so she sent me off this morning with the folks that are presently doing this year’s bird survey route.  When I get back from my cruise, I’ll be working on this as well.

There were four of us in the vehicle, and since I was just along for the ride, I sat in the back.  Of course that meant I didn’t get to see very much.  At one of the stops, I got out for this pic of a young double-crested cormorant.  I liked how the bird and the dead tree both seemed to be flowing to the right.  Seems funny to see a bird with webbed feet perched in a tree!

As I was taking the cormorant picture, this fellow stealthily made his way from one side of the road to the other by swimming through the culvert pipe.  I was happy to see about a half dozen alligators on today’s drive.  They are the survivors of the devastation of hurricane Ike.  Many of the ’gators’ were drowned in the 15 foot high storm surge that came five miles inland.  This guy was about four or five feet long.

After the official bird survey was over, we did a little birding on our own.  The sora, a type of rail, was working the shallow water along the levy.  Don’t you just like the white dot camouflage? 

As we walked a short distance of the levy, this elusive marsh wren kept hopping in and out of the reeds while keeping up a buzzy chatter. 

Lots of waterfowl are out there on the wet areas of the marsh, and many of them took flight as we drove along the back roads.  Hunting season begins soon, so they’ll be even more skittish as time goes by.

I felt like Jeff Corwin as I tried to sneak up on this big old guy.  :)  Yes, I’m back at Anahuac NWR, and happy to be here, mosquitoes and all!

 

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

They're back!

The golden-cheeked warblers have returned!  I had a fantastic hike on the Cactus Rock Trail this morning, and was able to verify eight male warblers singing in the Ashe juniper woods along the trail.  With all the cold wet weather we've been having, I was beginning to wonder if they'd ever get here.  A week and a half ago, I couldn't even find a titmouse along the trail, but today, bird life was plentiful.  That made it easier to work in the office this afternoon.  ;)  I was the laminating queen once again.

When I got back to the rig, I put Emma outside and then went about getting some pictures of advancing spring in the hill country.  I hope you enjoy the eye candy.  :)

As you know, birds are my thing, but I enjoy seeing the spring flowers even though I don't know what they are.

These yellow blooms are less than a half inch across.

The blues are my favorite colors.

The hillsides are covered with these blooms.  It must be from all the rain and the warmer temperatures.  I'm sure hoping the blue bonnets will be abundant soon.

These yellow blossoms will produce small berries on this shrub.  I've been told they make excellent jam, but it is a lot of work to collect enough berries to be useful.  Of course, the birds like them too.  Notice the leaves on this shrub.  Those points are as nasty as can be.  They're so sharp, that they stick into  the bottom of your shoe and draw blood like a cactus if you're not careful!  Lot's of plants that will get you in Texas.  :(

You know I can't refrain from getting a few bird pictures on a nice sunny day!  This is a pine siskin....

and here's an American goldfinch,

and a lesser goldfinch.

This is not a great picture, but I just love the way this male Carolina wren sings his heart out everyday from the top of this dead tree.

And my favorite for today, a small flock of cedar waxwings.  There have been quite a few flocks moving through the neighborhood lately. They are so sleek looking, and normally travel in a group.  In this case they're sitting next to a cedar tree, not in one.  ;)

Tomorrow I plan to do the full hike at Doeskin, and hope to discover more golden-cheeks.  It's a rough job, but somebody has to do it.  ;)

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

Looking for the endangered one

Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1992 to protect and provide habitat for two endangered bird species.  I headed out this morning hoping to find the first golden cheeked warbler of the season.

Chuck, the refuge biologist, and I have a friendly contest to see who can spot the first golden cheeked warbler of the year.  They spend the winter in Mexico and should be arriving any day now.

As I started hiking the cactus rock trail, I had high hopes.  This is a 1.8 mile hike along the crest of one of the hills that has mature Ashe juniper trees clinging along the slope.  This is the favored habitat of the golden cheek.

Half way along the trail, I stopped to enjoy the view of the Texas Hill Country.

At the fork in the trail, I headed to the right since I wasn't having much luck with birds.  Actually, I got skunked!  I didn't see or hear one bird on the hike other than two turkey vultures.

When I got back to the car, I drove a mile further up the road to the Sunset Deck.

The Sunset Deck is located at the top of the hill, and

offers a fantastic view of the area.

That's Lake Travis in the distance with a fire going on to the left.

Spring is beginning to pop up around the cactus.

So, I didn't find any warblers today, but neither did Chuck.  Tomorrow's another day, and the winds are continuing from the south so I'm hopeful. :)

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