This week, I visited our miracle prairie and was blown away by how birdy it was. This almost never happens, but that prairie was genuinely full of birds. Maybe not rarely seen birds, but it was full of the birds that should have been there. I saw ruby crowned kinglets, phoebes, orange crowned warblers, a… Read more »
I am giving a birding presentation this week and preparing for it, I ran into something I never knew and I can’t stop thinking about it. As anyone who has used a bird guide knows, the organizational system behind all bird guides is identical and impenetrable. Experienced birders learn how to navigate the books and… Read more »
Between travel and an injured foot, it has been weeks since I’ve really spent time in the Park. The two hours I spent Monday felt like a great big hug. The prairie grasses are everywhere announcing themselves. Even pros (one of whom I’m not), can struggle to identify prairie grasses when they are not blooming…. Read more »
We have approximately 250,000 Mexican free-tail bats when the colony under the Waugh Drive bat bridge is rolling. That’s roughly 6,250 pounds of mammal. I’m not sure, pound for pound, there is a larger concentration of wildlife in the city. This huge biomass creates its own gravitational field. We have a pair of red-shouldered hawks… Read more »
In the summer, almost every night, Swainson’s hawks fly through the stream of bats emerging from the Waugh Drive bridge and indulge in an orgy of bat consumption. They grab a bat in one claw and put it in their mouth, often while grabbing another. I really should have written about this in the spring… Read more »
The Jane Gregory garden is a model for what can be accomplished if we make decisions with insects in mind. (I’m going to refer you to my insect rant if you don’t understand why that is crucial to our survival.) The plantings are so lovely that it is one of the prime spots in Houston… Read more »
This post was supposed to be about the Cherokee bean plant blooming on the path south of the greentree trail. I took tons of photos of bees feeding on the plant. I even saw a hummer visit but was too slow with the camera to share it with you. I researched all about this pollinator… Read more »
I love sycamore trees, especially in winter when all the leaves have left and the white branches shine like bones. As much as I love sycamores, I haven’t written about them much. We have an incredible one on the greentree path. I believe it to be one of the oldest trees in Houston. But I… Read more »
Heat be damned! I spent an hour sitting in the miracle prairie because I couldn’t wait to see what was going on in there. Lots. But I didn’t get any photos. No one stood still long enough. Everyone was looking for something to eat. And since almost everyone is also edible, everyone hustled. I positioned… Read more »
Over the past year and a half writing this blog, I have become aware of what I’ve taken to calling the jigsaw puzzle problem. Until I began looking at plants and animals in detail, I didn’t realize how interdependent the whole enterprise of life is. Monarch butterflies are a familiar example. Monarchs have to lay… Read more »