Tag: Birding

What Stuff Are

“Why are you up so early, before everyone else in the family?” A young mom says to her 3 year old.

The 3 year old replies: “To See What Stuff Are!”

This was told to me by my mother many times throughout my life. I was a curious child and continued wanting to know what was going on around me. What were mommy and daddy doing when I was not around? I can remember sneaking out of bed and watching t.v. with them ( I was undetected behind a chair!). Maybe it was/is a sort of “fear of being left out.”

When I was 8 my maternal grandparents gave me a transistor radio. I listened to music and news and talk radio. I remember being at a sleepover at a friend’s. We were in a tent in her backyard and she was sleeping and I was listening to my little radio with an earpiece. I found the Christian radio programs being broadcast from over the border in Mexico. Hell fire and damnation sermons that fascinated me and were so different from my Unitarian church services. Hey, I could even send in some money and buy a piece of the cross Jesus was crucified on…not sure I am remembering that correctly.

As I grew older I wanted to know what was going on in other places. My brother and I got walkie talkies. I was excited to learn that not only could we talk to each other from the next street, we could pick up some police radio chatter! This is how I learned that someone was shooting people from the University of Texas tower. I went into the house and told my mother and some visiting friends what was happening. We turned on the t.v. and watched a live photo of the tower.

A year or two later we were visiting some friends of friends. The dad of the family introduced us kids to a shortwave radio. So cool! We could hear people talking all over the world. I wanted one and finally got one at Christmas or on a birthday. I would spend an hour or two tuning the dial. I would hear ham operators chatting with each other, morse code…which I briefly attempted to learn…and broadcast channels like the Voice Of America, Radio HCJB from Ecuador, and Radio Havana, Cuba. I listened to all sorts of languages, often having no clue to what language it was.

I got rid of my last shortwave radio about the time it could be accessed over the internet. And then only checked out the stations a few times. I have no idea how to do that now. Instead, I have discovered live streaming on You Tube! Lately, I have spent a lot of time checking out a few regular feeds to watch the anti ICE protests in U. S. cities. One or two of the reporters seem to be unbiased journalists. Others are pretty open on their point of view. I mostly watch the liberal leaning ones, but sometimes check out the right wing feeds.

Imagine a bear in a cave, supposedly hibernating, but actually watching You Tube on her Ipad…that is me. Last night I was up late watching a fire someone had set near a detention center in Los Angeles. But, I can only stand so much of people chanting and yelling F*** ICE and watching people being dragged from cars or houses and being shot.

So, I tune into live bird and animal feeder streams from all over the world. I have watched live (and sometimes old clips) views of jackals and gnus at a watering hole in Namibia; hummingbirds in Costa Rica; Pandas in China (in captivity); badgers in Denmark; and birds coming to snow covered feeders in upstate New York and Canada.

A recent discovery is live feeders in South Texas and in South Carolina.

You Tube Feed South Carolina-Deer and Raccoon
Raccoons And Fox-South Carolina
Raccoon, Armadillos, and Opossum (in background) -South Carolina
Javelina, Skunk, Raccoon, and Opossum-South Texas Feeder

I have seen some tussling (usually within the same species) and growling and other threatening behavior between species. But, mostly they are feeding right next to each other…aware of their differences…but tolerating each other as they eat. I know these feeders do not replicate their lives in the wild…but it does make me think that maybe different people can get along better and even be kind to each other and share resources…?

Meanwhile, I will go check out videos of the venerable Monks and their Walk for Peace day 98.

*photos taken off You Tube from my Ipad

*Teenager with head down taken by Barbara Downes

Youtube.com

South Carolina Crittervision Critter Cam: Do a search for this on Youtube…I think this is going 24/7

Blue Indigo Trails Camera in South Texas-do a search on Youtube.com…they may only be streaming at night

Embracing Spring

Last month I was expecting Spring and actively looking for signs of the early anemones. I looked for them everyday in my front yard. On February 18th I saw the first ones!

Anemones

A Host of Anemones At The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (February 2024)

Purple Anemone At The Wildflower Center

The first day of Spring is celebrated in North America on the Spring Equinox, I am celebrating Spring now because so much fresh life is emerging all around. Green shoots are coming up from the ground and sprouting from tree branches. And there is the blooming of flowers…from the pinky purple buds on my redbud tree to the purple spiderwort blossoms popping out every day. The days are getting longer and warmer. Birds are becoming more vocal and active. Some will soon leave to breed farther North (white throated sparrow seen below), while we welcome other species home from their wintering grounds in the South. I am guessing some of you have already seen some purple martins (early Spring arrivals). Other critters are emerging on sunny days (lizards, snakes, insects)

White Throated Sparrow At Wildflower Center (ready to fly North to spend the warmer months)
Carolina Wren Wondering What Their Significant Other Is Up To
Significant Other Taking A Dust Bath In Potting Soil In Our Raised Garden Bed
Anole Sunning On My Porch Glider

I am embracing them all in my heart and soul, these little joys of Spring.

And, No, I didn’t forget! The Blue bonnets are starting to bloom!

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (February 2024)

(all photos taken by B. McCreary)

Spring Feathers

Last month I shared my trip to the Texas coast. It was a much longed for getaway scheduled after the crowds of spring break and before the crowds of summer. It was just coincidental that this visit was during the peak of the spring bird migration. Ordinarily the Texas coast is a wonderful place to look for birds, but the numbers of different birds during migration make this a special time. And we happened to visit during a fallout…this is when bad weather conditions temporarily prevent the migrating birds from traveling on to their breeding grounds. I got a good look at many wonderful birds from rose breasted grosbeaks to indigo buntings to orange colored orioles. However, most of the photos I actually got were of birds that can be seen year around.

There were large birds…

Brown Pelican

Birds flying…

Brown Pelicans

Birds flying in large groups…

Brown Pelicans

Birds with long beaks…

Tri Colored Heron

Colorful birds with short beaks…

Indigo Bunting

Delicate shore birds…

Stilt

And other types of flocks…

Birders at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center

Port Aransas has so many places to see birds from the beach to the ship channel to designated nature preserves. Birders can walk for a mile or so on some sturdy boardwalks at The Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture and Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. A fun and short walk is at Paradise Pond, a small wetland tucked behind the Restaurant San Juan.

Lots of beautiful birds seen and perhaps a trip during Fall migration is in my future.

*Bonus bird seen on the way home- Wild turkey flew across the highway just north of Kenedy, Texas

*Bird photos taken by B. McCreary

*Photo of birders taken by D. McCreary

A Closer Look

I am a birder. There is almost nothing I enjoy more than heading to a local park (or my backyard) to see what might be flitting about.
But, I didn’t come by this love of birds naturally. Oh, I enjoyed helping my grandmother fill her bird feeders with cracked corn and she taught me what a cardinal was. But, I really just wanted to watch the squirrels. I was a mammal person. I loved spotting deer in fields during drives in the Texas hill country. I was thrilled when I first saw a fox cross the road. It wasn’t until I was a volunteer with a local wildlife rescue group that I began to appreciate birds. More baby birds and injured birds came into our care than mammals. I started to learn to identify birds and learned about their needs and behavior. It was seeing them close up that made all the difference.

This time of year one of my favorite birds to look for is the Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). I will hear their sweet high pitched notes above and look up and see a flock of up to several dozen birds land in a tree. At a distance they may just be dark silhouettes with a crest on their heads and they don’t look particularly interesting. If the light is good and the binoculars handy, their beauty is revealed. Against a blue sky they are magnificent looking with a black face mask, red wing tips, and a bright yellow tail tip.

Cedar Waxwing in Burr Oak (photo by Betty McCreary)

I wonder what or who else in the world I might learn to appreciate by looking a little closer?