Baymule’s Journal

[fuzzi]

Anybody know what kind of bird these babies are?

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I don't know for sure, but iNaturalist said probably in the Phoebe family. That's good, they are flycatchers!

I think they might be Eastern Phoebes.

Eastern Phoebe Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

One of our most familiar eastern flycatchers, the Eastern Phoebe’s raspy “phoebe” call is a frequent sound around yards and farms in spring and summer. These brown-and-white songbirds sit upright and wag their tails from prominent, low perches. They typically place their mud-and-grass nests in...

www.allaboutbirds.org

 

[Mini Horses]

Eastern Phoebe.....per my Lens program

 

[Baymule]

Goldfinch?????

No, parents are a drab brown

 

[Baymule]

Baby birds fledged yesterday afternoon! I was sitting outside on the porch just in case they hopped out of the nest, I could grab them before the dogs did. The one out on the porch beam, just took off flying! It landed on the coop, then flew to the fence.

It didn’t flutter, hit the ground or anything clumsy, it just took off flying! Soon another, then another and finally one was left. It took off flying too. The parent birds flew all around encouraging their babies to follow. They all disappeared in the brush on the property next door.

 

[Baymule]

DD and family came in last night, left this morning with their dogs!

 

[fuzzi]

DD and family came in last night, left this morning with their dogs!

 

[Baymule]

Yesterday I went to a Texas Parks and Wildlife presentation at the Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=10

It is 11,000 acres dedicated to wildlife and the environment. It has a lot of unique areas like the bogs, where there are pitcher plants, a carnivorous plant that attracts insects, then traps them inside and digests them. Some of the insects actually flew away when we cut open the plants!

We wandered on a sandy hill, a brittle environment with little nutrients in the soil. The oak trees looked small to me, but were estimated to be 100-150 years old. Grasses were Little Bluestem, a clumping grass and various others. We drove on roads, stopping to look at the micro environments. It was truly a look back in time before bahia and bermuda grasses took over east Texas.

They are restoring turkeys, both Rio Grande and Eastern wild turkeys. They are also restoring the wild Bob White quail. Bob White calls are but a memory of my childhood, when they were everywhere. Bahia and Bermuda grasses both form a tight sod, Bob White quail need clumping grasses with the bare spots in between, runways for them. The babies are the size of a quarter with tiny toothpick legs, there is no way they can struggle in the tight sod of introduced grasses. Then add in fire ants, quail are ground nesting birds. They get attacked by fire ants. Toss in hundreds if not thousands of feral hogs and you have the perfect storm of disaster for quail. Over 700 hogs have been trapped in this wildlife area so far this year.

I saw a nest of red ants and pointed them out to the biologist. I told him and the other attendees that I felt like celebrating that nest of native red ants because they weren't FIRE ANTS.

It was HOT. Texas, scorching, unforgiving HOT. I was dripping sweat, soaked in sweat and not even a breeze was stirring. We all brought our lunches and after lunch, there was a slide presentation and more information about the management area. It is named after a biologist that was murdered by poachers in 1950. Land was bought in parcels as it came up for sale. It is fenced in barbed wire, which doesn't keep out the hogs.

It was a very interesting day, I was glad i went.

 

[Baymule]

My area has had a lot of rain. This flooding is along the Trinity River, about 40 miles from me. All rivers in my area are flooded, out of their banks.

My place is wet, but the road is holding up.

 

[Mini Horses]

That is a terrible situation for those homes! Needless to say many have lost everything

And it's not just homes, it's businesses, economy, tragic and long term rebuild.

Stay safe!!