She did it again!

 

 

A great horned owl peeks over the top of a planter at the entrance to the Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas.  Last year she raised 3 owlets in the same planter. In the bottom photo you can barely see her tufts above the edge of the corner container. Dozens of people walk beneath her nest everyday. What a great view ....for her and all those who pass that way.

Happy first day of spring!

 

The leaves are still tender, the skies a bit stormy, but the Easter egg colored poppies promise more to come.

Peach trees are blooming in Texas

 

 

The peach trees are blooming in central Texas.....pink clouds on the hills. Visions of juicy golden fruit, ice cream with flecks of tart peach goodness, and crusty rich peach cobbler.....yum!

Searching for the golden-cheeked warbler

 

 

 

 

 

Searching for a tiny bird on a gray and overcast day doesn't usually lead to success. Reports of their presence here in good numbers drove me to give it a try. Turkey Creek runs through this area and  the walking trail crosses the creek 15 times. Recent rains made the trail slippery and I had to look down as much as up to avoid falling into the creek.

The endangered golden-cheeked warbler breeds in a oak/juniper woodland and seems to favor slopes and ravines. Several large tracts of protected woodland have been set aside for it in central Texas .

After hiking several miles and staring into canopy for a few hours I was only rewarded with its wheezy song, always somewhere just out of binocular range. So no good look again so far this year. But spring is still young, and I will be watching for more reports of my elusive nemesis.

I included an early blooming bluebonnet to brighten up the gray, gloomy photos. I am not complaining though because the rain is still needed so much.

A Four Planet Evening

A perfect end to the day. Four planets were visible in the twilight sky. Mars was in the eastern sky, Mercury was close to the horizon, and  Venus and Jupiter beamed over the treeline. The moon was bright enough to cast shadows though still not full. The air was filled with the scent of plum blossoms and banana fuscata, and coyotes howled at the joy of it all!

Blue skies.......

 

 ...all day long--nothing but blue skies.

Such a beautiful day! Trees blooming, sweet scents filling the air, bees buzzing....and blue skies smiling at me.

Black-headed Grosbeak

An unusual bird under the feeders in our yard made us run for the binoculars, camera and bird guide. Close inspection proved it to be a western bird rare to our region. We managed a few quick photos and will submit them to rare bird records for the state.

Mississippi Gulf Coast

 Sunday was a drizzly, windy,  cold day so we drove to the coast and dreamed of beaches, boats, and swimming. The wind was blowing in from the water making small white caps and sending the sand skidding across the highway. A brave wind surfer had the waves to himself  as he rushed along and was sometimes actually lifted from the water.


The 26 miles of beaches are man made.  The sand was pumped in mechanically years ago. The water is rather shallow since it is a sound protected by  barrier islands that are further offshore. When I was a child it seemed we could wade a block out and not be deeper than up to our knees.

This area has been almost totally destroyed twice in my lifetime, most recently by Katrina, and covered in black crude oil from the BP oil spill in 2010. Memories fade and people return to build again. Close to New Orleans, it was always the place to retreat to in hot summers. Huge mansions lined the road on the side across from the beach. Only concrete slabs mark many of those places now.

Many come for the gaudy casinos that have grown like mushrooms and were quickly rebuilt after hurricane Katrina. Beautiful facades hide smoky, noisy, tawdry game rooms that echo with the electronic fake sounds of coins spitting from the slots (everything is mostly digital now). It does bring visitors and money to the coast in the job starved region.

The fishing boats were waiting for the shrimp season to begin and the sharkhead souvenir shop is being rebuilt after having washed out to sea with Katrina.

Big Branch Wildlife Refuge

Big Branch Wildlife Refuge is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. New Orleans, showing up as the tall buildings in one of the photos , is on the south shore of the lake about 24 miles away. Pine woodlands and marsh border the lake on this side.

The endangered red cockaded woodpecker makes its home here. They nest in live pine trees and excavate holes in trees with red heart rot which causes the inner wood to become soft. The tree then exudes sap which acts as a deterrent against predators.

Thousands of ducks winter here. It was breathtaking to watch them circle the marsh in large flocks. The brown pelican, Louisiana's state bird, perched on a piling for a portrait. And pied billed grebes sat under tufts of grasses out of the stiff winds that blew all day. I was unable to get a photo of the bald eagle, but a pair of them made a quick pass overhead, too.

Rain!

A very strong low pressure moved through yesterday dumping inches of rain on a parched landscape. There had been some minor showers since fall with the passage of cold fronts, but nothing powerful enough to restore the ponds and creeks to usual levels.

This morning the pond is nearly full, and I am waiting for a crop of tadpoles because the frogs are happily chorusing along its banks.

Bar-B-Que

The smell of wood smoke and cooking meat fill the car as one approaches the Salt Lick,  and the salivary glands begin to flow in anticipation. Hundreds of people flood the restaurant every day of the week hungry for brisket, ribs and sausage. Simply prepared, simply served and simply delicious.

It's a real Texas treat!

a hint of spring

                                     

Carolina jasmine flowers, mayhaws in full blossom, the fields are greening up (the green fields are a bit of a cheat though because in Louisiana we plant rye grass for winter grazing, and it loves our usually mild winters). The purple martins are due to arrive any day so I cleaned out the plastic gourds that they use for nesting.  Time to do some transplanting and pruning shrubs and perennials. I do think I have a bit of spring fever.