Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Birding in El Sauz
Yeah, I've been a little behind on postings...these are pictures from about two weeks ago when me and another birder went to El Sauz for about a week. In short, three of the five grids had parts under water, one was in thick oak forest and sand dunes, and the other in rolling grasslands. There's definitely a different set of birds over there, with a number of shorebirds like white ibis, black-necked stilts, laughing gulls, willets, plus yellow-billed cuckoos, green jays, great-tailed grackles, red-winged blackbirds, and even some least grebes.
It's also a little closer to civilization, so we were able to get to places that cooked food for you (restaurants, yes I think they're called restaurants?) a little more often, and on the day that got rained out I wandered around downtown Harlingen.
Me crossing one of the salt marshes on the first day. The rain boots I'm wearing were at this point filled with water.
Wind-driven well surrounded by submerged marsh on ranch interior. Mostly red-winged blackbirds at this point.
Me on one of the higher points of the ranch, a huge sand dune surrounded by oak scrub. Note the goofy look, binoculars, and oh-so-fashionable snake guards.
Sand dunes at El Sauz.
From the tops of sand dunes.
Anyway, now I'm back at the main ranch, and I'll post something more recent as I can.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Birding continues
(Dated from 2 weeks ago?)
Another week, another set of grids. The birding schedule has been pretty packed in the last week or so, with only more to come. With helping our resident grad student, owl surveys, and the daily point counts the hours have been pretty packed and don't leave much room for my brain to work. Some of the grids we've been working force us to travel through some pretty thick vegetation, so along the way I've been adding to my ever-changing collection of embedded thorns, prickly pear spines, and scratches. And although I'm not usually a person for naps, I could say they've become more or less necessary for me to function.
I could go on, but that's getting a little old just reading that over again. As I had with the mammal trapping, I've been slowly improving my song recognition skills. I still have a lot to learn, but at the very least I can say I'm getting better. I saw my painted bunting, along with a number of other new breeding and migrating species. The other day I saw roadrunner chicks in a nest. No more close encounters with rattlesnakes (though I still wear the snake guards), but lots of lizards are scurrying along and legions of butterflies are taking the skies.
Last weekend we met with the ranch manager and some of his guests at the fancy lodge. We were lured us in with beer and food (it doesn't take much), and the guest writer sort of ambushed us with some questions about who we were and what we thought of the ranch. I found out the photographer was Wyman Meinzer, apparently renowned in Texas and a contributor to National Geographic and a host of other things. He had some pretty good stories about his years-long quest to befriend the roadrunners.
Anyway, things are going.
New species:
-Painted bunting (Passerina ciris)
-Mississippi kite (Ictinia missippiensis)
-Dickcissel (Spiza americana)
-Ash-throated flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens)
-Brown-crested flycatcher (Myiarchus tyrannulus)
Another week, another set of grids. The birding schedule has been pretty packed in the last week or so, with only more to come. With helping our resident grad student, owl surveys, and the daily point counts the hours have been pretty packed and don't leave much room for my brain to work. Some of the grids we've been working force us to travel through some pretty thick vegetation, so along the way I've been adding to my ever-changing collection of embedded thorns, prickly pear spines, and scratches. And although I'm not usually a person for naps, I could say they've become more or less necessary for me to function.
I could go on, but that's getting a little old just reading that over again. As I had with the mammal trapping, I've been slowly improving my song recognition skills. I still have a lot to learn, but at the very least I can say I'm getting better. I saw my painted bunting, along with a number of other new breeding and migrating species. The other day I saw roadrunner chicks in a nest. No more close encounters with rattlesnakes (though I still wear the snake guards), but lots of lizards are scurrying along and legions of butterflies are taking the skies.
Last weekend we met with the ranch manager and some of his guests at the fancy lodge. We were lured us in with beer and food (it doesn't take much), and the guest writer sort of ambushed us with some questions about who we were and what we thought of the ranch. I found out the photographer was Wyman Meinzer, apparently renowned in Texas and a contributor to National Geographic and a host of other things. He had some pretty good stories about his years-long quest to befriend the roadrunners.
Anyway, things are going.
New species:
-Painted bunting (Passerina ciris)
-Mississippi kite (Ictinia missippiensis)
-Dickcissel (Spiza americana)
-Ash-throated flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens)
-Brown-crested flycatcher (Myiarchus tyrannulus)
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Flowers of S. Texas (part V)
Pitaya Cactus (Echinocereus enneacanthus)
Purple Pleat Leaf (Alophia drummondii)
Dayflower (Commelina erecta)
Flax (Linum rigidum)
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