And the crape myrtle is in bloom!
The birds
I can find 9 birds remaining in the state, that we have a good chance of seeing, and still need for the year. We need 2 to get to the target count of 400.
Wood Stork and Bullock’s Oriole. They’re both the same direction. The oriole is being seen at Choke Canyon State Park, only 160 miles north of here. The Wood Stork is at Wright Ranch Pond, 125 miles away, but almost on the way back. That would do it. Or there are two sparrows, Botteri’s and Cassin’s, we might be able to get that are only 65 miles from here at Palo Alto National Battlefield. That’s an easy day-trip. Maybe we should try them first. There is also a single parrot at 70 miles, Oliveira Park in Brownsville. Another day-trip. Lots of chances…
Mississippi Kite and Zone-tailed Hawk. They’re a little harder to pin down. They’re being seen, but rarely in the same place twice. Barn owl and Burrowing owl. Owls are a little harder to get. Neither one of them seem to be anywhere close to us right now. It might take a trip back to Lubbock unless I want to wait until they come back farther south in the winter.
Do you ever watch the television show, Survivor?
Twenty or so contestants are divided into tribes, stranded on an island, provided minimal resources, and left to fend for themselves. They work together, but once every three days they go to Tribal Council and vote one person off, until there is only one survivor left. Survival skills are a factor. Physical prowess is important to win challenges and be safe from being voted off. And strategic thinking helps. It’s fun to watch. Mostly.
The show is generally not about survival of the fittest. Many times, strong physical players are voted off early because they might be a threat later on; players that are well suited to the challenge and might have gone down as some of the best players in the history of the game had they not fallen victim to a group of physically weaker players banding together against them, before they then turn on themselves in the end.
I enjoy Survivor all the way up until the end. After 39 days, the final episode is settled by the last two or three players remaining, pleading their case to the jury for why they should win the million dollars; the jury consisting of the last 8 or 10 people that got voted out. To make it to the end generally requires deception and hurt feelings. At the final tribal council, the last players remaining, one at a time, often get gutted in front of everybody by hurt players looking to inflict maximum damage in turn for their betrayal. The winner each season gets a million-dollar check, but I doubt many of them get to walk away feeling very good about themselves. I don’t enjoy that part. I wish there was a way to change the dynamics and make the ending more of a celebration of a game well played.
The producers of the show put together the cast of characters for each season. They don’t know how the season will play out, but they can be sure to set up enough conflicting characters, enough of a dysfunctional family, that there will be plenty of drama. I think I’d rather see a competition between stronger players well suited to the challenge. Maybe one time they could select a group of Army Rangers to compete against a half dozen Marines, and a team of Navy Seals. There might not be as much whining about being cold, wet, and hungry. Actually, they probably wouldn’t be nearly as cold, wet and hungry, being capable of building their own decent shelters, and better at understanding the resources around them.
I don’t know how I could get what I would prefer out of the show without ruining it for everyone else and destroying its ratings though. Survivor has been on for 40 episodes, over the course of 20 years, and is still highly rated. I guess the show I just put together in my head would be the most boring, single-season, reality show ever.
Sometimes I wonder
Have you ever noticed that sometimes there are flies in the desert? Who would expect that flies would like such an extreme environment? Well, that’s not what I’m currently wondering about. When I am hiking in the desert and there are flies, I wonder if I’m swatting at the same six flies the whole time, that are just traveling with me, or are there that many flies every six feet?
Sunday
But I’m home now, writing about Saturday.
Loved the birding at Kickapoo Cavern. I added two birds I had missed at two other places.
There is a bird blind with a water feature. There are trails through good scrub and oak/juniper habitat. Spent five hours there. Found a bunch of good birds. Surprisingly, I got the bird there that I tried for and missed at Blue Creek Trail the morning before. Gray Vireo. It came to the water feature at Kickapoo instead of me trying to chase him down through a gravel streambed for a mile. Number 397.
The next bird, the Golden-cheeked Warbler, I missed the first day of this trip at South Llano River State Park. Most of my looks at year-birds this trip have been fleeting, or have been heard-only like the Band-tailed Pigeon. I got the pigeon very early in the morning on the first-light hike I made out of Chisos Basin in Big Bend. I was stopped by the sound of a distant Great Horned Owl, calling even though it was a little light for that. As I listen though, I realized the cadence was wrong. A couple more hoots and I recognized the sound of a pigeon; kind of a moaning sound they make. I played a tape of the Band-tailed Pigeon’s call and it matched exactly! That was my one and only contact with that bird this trip.
Anyway, the Golden-cheeked Warbler not only finally appeared for me but posed for as many photos I wanted to take.
Golden-cheeked Warbler. Bird Number 398 for the year! A very satisfying trip. I don’t know what the next two birds will be; there aren’t any new birds in my immediate vicinity. Wait. Wood Stork. That would be good. I haven’t seen one of them yet this year. I know where to find them up near Corpus in the middle of summer. Shouldn’t be hard to find one more after bird that. I’ve got six months to put together a plan…