Walking on Sunshine

This morning Amy and I were striding down a paved walking trail when suddenly I realized I was walking alone. I turned quickly to see if Amy had fallen into a mysterious hole, but instead found her staring intently at a small lump of mud on the sidewalk. “That’s what I thought,” she exclaimed. “That’s a turtle!” I craned my neck to get a better view. Sure enough, what I thought was a dirt-clod was actually a living thing.

From Mr. Turtle’s perspective, he’s just basking in the middle of the sidewalk, minding its own business when he’s unceremoniously scooped up and gawked at by two enormous creatures that don’t have the decency to let others alone.

The ‘lil guy (or gal; to be honest I don't know the gender) is a river cooter of some variety. Maybe a Texas river cooter (Pseudemys texana) or an eastern river cooter (Pseudemys concinna). Either that or it’s one of the many varieties of slider that someone “set free”. Being that he’s so puny, I’m going to assume that he didn’t find his way here from little Johnny’s aquarium. What an interesting thing have happen!

Now, I admit, normally I’d just admire the wildlife from a distance, but “Turtleboy” here was in a high traffic zone and heading for some smooshing, so we moved him closer to the pond. He hesitated just a moment, then plunged into the cool, not-so-clear water and was gone. Hmph, not even a “thanks.”

There you have it people. Be vigilant and remember to look down once in a while. You might be walking on somebody else’s sunshine!

Dallas Blooms!

Spring is in the air and cities around the United States often celebrate with some sort of flower festival. Here in Dallas, the Arboretum puts on what has come to be called “Dallas Blooms”, which basically kicks off the season, and indeed the rest of the year.

Botanic gardens and arboretums are wonderful destinations to shake those winter blah’s, offering everything from seasonal outdoor festivals and art shows to concerts, dining and more. And the wonderful thing is, every time you come back, there is something else to see! Bring your cameras and binoculars, or just come and enjoy the spectacle.

This year (as with most) I helped the Dallas Bonsai Society put on their Spring Show, so I was there for the opening weekend of “Blooms”. The flowers on the grounds are bursting with color. Our trees looked in good form this year. Next door the Daffodil Society displayed their beautiful flowers. It was a great weekend. I can't wait to get back and spend more time checking out all the new things the arboretum has to offer!

Great Backyard Bird Count - Part Deux

Ok folks. Two days left on the Great Backyard Bird Count. Time to kick it into high gear. Most of the country (according to the plot map on the GBBC site) looks a nice pretty red; that is, lots of submissions. GOOD JOB!

I walked outside this morning and the day is overcast. For me, that means it may be a bit “squinty” out there until the clouds clear out. I snapped the fine picture above of a mourning dove just before its mate showed up and they started preening. Sadly, the follow-up photos were rather blah because the sky is completely blown out right now.

Mourning doves are a pretty common site around most parts, and easily spotted. They have a light brown to buff-colored overall appearance with black spots on their wings, a dusty blue eye ring surrounding a jet black eyeball, pink feet and dark beak. They do a lot of ground feeding, especially around my place, because my bird feeders aren’t large enough to support them.

Check out some more neat facts on these and other birds at the All About Birds website.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

A dear friend of mine (whom I’ve been known to call Mom from time to time) recently gave me the latest issue of Birds & Blooms. This reminded me that a yearly event I like to participate in is almost upon us. The Great Backyard Bird Count is just two weeks away! What is the GBBC you ask? Well, it’s a joint project between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Audubon Society and Bird Studies Canada to create a “map” of bird migration patterns and population sizes, and helps answer questions like how the climate influences migration and how disease and the changing landscape affect populations. You can count birds for as little as 5 minutes or all day long. You submit your counts online, and don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own window unless you’re the adventuresome type.

Counting is fun, easy and is something you can do with your kids! Amy and I have participated a number of times now and look forward to it every year.

To find out more, please visit The Great Backyard Bird Count website.

An Uneasy Truce

Now here is a picture you don’t see every day. I caught this red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) perching on top of a swing set at our neighborhood playground. Not that seeing this raptor is uncommon, but seeing it sitting so close to birds that it normally doesn’t get along with is unusual. The weather was blustery and cold, and obviously the hawk didn’t feel much like hunting. Strangely, the crows didn’t seem to want to move him along either. Normally, crows will harass a bird-of-prey to drive it away from the area. I guess everyone was concentrating more on staying warm.

Red-tailed hawks are one of the most common raptors you’ll see in Texas. Their range extends to almost all parts of North America, and they inhabit nearly all types of habitats, including deserts, grasslands, mixed forests/fields and even urban areas. Somewhere along the line they inherited the nickname of “chicken-hawk,” though they don’t actually attack chickens that often. Females are also usually a bit bigger than the males, a condition called sexual dimorphism.

Learn more about this fascinating bird at Wikipedia, and at DesertUSA.com.

Whooooo Are You?

Back in May, Amy and I were lounging in front of the TV, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large object fly in front of our breakfast room window. Knowing it was much larger than your average songbird, I went to investigate. What I found was a young screech owl clinging to our fence. Unsure of what the owl was going to do next, but hoping he’d stay still long enough, I grabbed my camera to snap a few photographs.

It looked like the owl was attempting to fly up into our apple tree, but didn't seem to know how to fly well enough. After a few snapshots, I decided to leave it be and see what happened. As it turns out, our breakfast room window was a perfect observation spot. About an hour later, we found it up in the tree and to our astonishment, a sibling and a parent were there as well! There are two phases—a grey phase and a red phase. These owls were in a grey phase.


With an adult in the area, it's a good thing I retreated when I did. My father has been attacked multiple times by screech owls when attempting to get close looks at juveniles. Both times he took cuts to his head and face. These creatures mean business when they feel their young are threatened. So if you encounter one, do not attempt to get too close, or you may be attacked and injured.

Although screech owls usually nest in cavities, Amy and I wonder if this family might have been in a more traditional nest. There is a nest in the top of the tree that I’ve yet to get up to, but I’m hoping to investigate the nest soon as the owls are now long gone. I never really found any owl pellets around the apple tree, but there is a lot of leaf litter under the tree and I wasn’t too keen about looking too hard with any adults above my head.

The Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) is a smallish, nocturnal owl which mostly inhabits woodland areas. These owls can be found all over the Eastern half of the United States and into parts of Canada and Mexico. Their diet consists of small rodents and mammals, insects, worms, lizards, fish, amphibians, and small birds. Their call is a wavering trill followed by a monotone trill. You can listen to one here. Learn more about these nocturnal hunters at the Owl Pages.

A Friend or Relation?

For the past month or so, we’ve had the pleasure of the company of an Eastern Cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) in our backyard. I’m a bit surprised that our efforts at making our backyard critter friendly have netted us this unexpected visitor. Not that cottontails are an unusual site in suburban neighborhoods—they're actually quite a common site on Amy and my walks—but this one has stayed mostly in our yard for almost a month now. This might be due to the fact that she was so young when we first encountered her (see the photo that my wife took the first evening we spotted her. Look how tiny her ears are!).

Eastern cottontails can be found over most of the eastern half of the United States. They are generally brown or grey of coat and have white tummies and tails that are puffy and white on the underside.

Their preferred habitat provides cover when needed, and since they are herbivores, includes areas with plenty of grasses for feeding. Our rabbit has dined quite a bit on dandelions and the other odd weeds that I can’t seem to remove from our yard. However, I’ve noticed that my tender bonsai tree leaves are also good snacking material when I was foolish enough to leave them at ground level! Many people say that it’s not a good idea to feed wildlife as they can become dependent, and their foraging skills can erode. Although we generally try to let nature run its course, we can’t help but throw vegetable scraps on the lawn now and then to keep her interested in staying.

We almost named this rabbit “Twitchy” because sometimes she just bounces all over, changing directions and hopping in funny ways. If I can figure out how to post a video of it, I’ll try and put one up.

The life expectancy of an Eastern cottontail is relatively short given that they often fall prey to larger predatory animals. This is one of the reasons rabbits tend to reproduce so quickly. However, these rabbits are not without their own bag of tricks. They are very fast and can change direction easily to confuse pursuers and leap great distances (8 to 15 feet) to get out of harm's way. It’s a good thing we have a sturdy fence and plenty of overhanging trees for cover. I guess it’s not so surprising after all that this one has decided to stay so long! Find out more about the Eastern Cottontail at places like Wild Texas and NatureWorks.