Random Holiday Nature Scenes

We had a rather uneventful Memorial Day, without much to report. We did go on a couple of walks around the neighborhood, and I thought I’d share a few sightings of local flora and fauna.

The first was actually last night, and not local at all, at least not in the “neighborhood” sense of the word. We were coming home from visiting with friends who live about ten miles south of town, and we spotted something white flashing in the pasture not far from the road. I immediately recognized it as the north end of a southbound pronghorn (which, of course, is not really an antelope). I’ve always heard that there are a few pronghorn around Midland County, but this was my first sighting. Very cool. Unfortunately, while we did have a camera in the car, we weren’t quick enough to get a shot.

The next two pictures are of two pairs of quail that were hanging around the north pond. The first one seems to be doing his impression of the king of the hill (I guess he’s got a bird’s eye view of things):

The next one is a photo of the other two quail flying away in a panic. I had spotted them earlier and figured they’d fly when we got closer, so I had my point-and-shoot aimed in the direction I guessed they’d fly. They were as fast as I expected, and I didn’t know if I’d even gotten them in the shot until I downloaded the photos onto my computer.

The final photo is simply a reminder that if you want to find something green in Midland, you can drive out to Woodland Park and pretend we’re not in a drought of epic proportions.