I was sitting in our home office a few days ago, arranging books in the shelf by cover color in ROYGBIV order, as one does, when I received a text. MLB was in the den, and texted me, as one does when the other party is fifty feet away. Despite the critical importance of my… Continue reading Fowl Lurkers
Category: Wildlife – Birds
Raptor in Flight
Alert Gazette readers will recall that we have a[t least one] (possibly murderous) red-shouldered hawk living abiding in the trees adjacent to our house. He or she (or they) frequently fly around the vicinity and since we’re not small mammals, it’s a treat to see them and to listen to their plaintive cries. I’m hardly… Continue reading Raptor in Flight
The Mystery of the Murdered Fawn
It’s been an interesting week or so here at Casa de Fire Ant, thanks to the endless parade of wildlife traipsing past our abode, occasionally stopping to destroy our lawn on their way to whatever other endeavors attract them. Last week, we went out of town for a couple of days but I left my… Continue reading The Mystery of the Murdered Fawn
Tough Love in Birdland
Alert Gazette readers will recall this account of suspected predation of a nearby bird nest by a rat snake. As devastating as it surely was, the parents refused to be discouraged, went right back to work, and hatched another brood of birdlets (black phoebes, to be precise). To date, the new batch of nestlings has… Continue reading Tough Love in Birdland
Snake Karma
Late last month we were confronted with the sad sight of three nestlings that had apparently fallen from their nest attached to a stone column about ten feet above our back porch. Two of the baby birds were already deceased and the third would soon be. There was no sign of a disturbance in the… Continue reading Snake Karma
Mors Ab Alto*
*With apologies to the 7th Bomb Wing, USAF We returned home last Sunday afternoon after a whirlwind** 750-mile weekend trip to our old stamping grounds*** in West Texas, and as we drove over the low water crossing to pick up our mail, we saw that a squirrel had recently been hit by a car and… Continue reading Mors Ab Alto*
Clash of Species – Woodpeckers vs Snakes
Earlier this spring, an oak tree across the street from our house attracted the attention of a pair of golden-fronted woodpeckers*. The tree’s trunk has a hollowed-out place about twenty feet off the ground and the opening faces our front windows; I can see it from my usual seat in the living room. Since April,… Continue reading Clash of Species – Woodpeckers vs Snakes
Stranger Things in the Back Yard
I haven’t had much activity on the game camera lately, possibly due to the fact that the batteries were dead. Once I figured that out, I replaced them and set the camera on a step on our back porch, facing out into the yard. When I downloaded the images this morning, there was our neighborhood… Continue reading Stranger Things in the Back Yard
A Week in the Texas Hill Country
MLB and I spent last week at Horseshoe Bay, and it turned into quite a busy time. (Important Note: The following is the equivalent of showing blurry vacation slides from that trip with your parents to Knott’s Berry Farm to captive friends who reciprocate by never coming back to your house, even when tempted by… Continue reading A Week in the Texas Hill Country
Rooftop Serenade
Lately, this is what we’ve been hearing, coming down our chimney and serenading us, unbidden. Your browser does not support the audio element. If you live anywhere in North America, you no doubt recognize the random stylings of Mimus polyglottos, otherwise known as the Northern Mockingbird (although the georeference seems superfluous since there’s no Southern,… Continue reading Rooftop Serenade