Not a long post this week, but I want to let you know how to find the red-shouldered hawk nest. I have found two spots from which you can see the nest and I will be checking out a third when I get a moment. The nest is in a large sycamore on the… Read more »
People gather the most information about their surroundings visually. I realized this when an old dog of mine lost both his sight and hearing and it hardly slowed him down. If I were blind and deaf, I would have been in terrible trouble, but Al (my beloved corgi) did not gather the most important information… Read more »
Big spring arrives soon with fields of wildflowers buzzing with bees, birds migrating through, butterflies flitting hither and yon, and mosquitoes. That last one isn’t a delight, but reality is what it is. But before big spring gets here, you might take a moment to enjoy tiny spring. I should note that tiny spring is… Read more »
Ancient Europeans took note of a flower that grew in barren soil. They decided that this plant must be stealing the nutrients other plants need and hoarding them for itself. Hence, it was like a wolf, stealing animals from the flocks they tended. They called the flower lupine which is Latin for wolf-like. We no… Read more »
I don’t know how many creatures live in Buffalo Bayou Park, but I do know that we have almost exactly as many as the Park can support. If the Park could support more critters, they would have been here already. When you run into critters in the Park, they are not there for rest and relaxation…. Read more »
We have just one Park and just one bayou within it, but lots of different shore birds find ways of staying fed on the same basic diet (fish, amphibians, insects and crustaceans.) You might imagine, given that this, that our Park is a battleground of all against all. But that’s not what happens. Each animal… Read more »
The Snowy Egret In this corner, we have the magnificent snowy egret, the most elegant bird in North America. This is the bird for whom the entire Audubon Society was formed. Hunted almost to extinction for its fabulous feathers, the snowy egret is now plentiful, a conservation success story. Snowies are energetic fish hunters who employ… Read more »
Big shout-out to fellow master naturalist David Strong who noticed two red shouldered hawks tending to their nest in the Park, snapped a great photo (above) and let me know where to find the nest. The plan formed immediately! I would document the nest-building, egg laying, fledgling feeding, first flights. This was going to be… Read more »
Ahab had his white whale, I have my beavers. There are a pair (at least) of beavers living on Buffalo Bayou. I have seen them in the Park a few times, once on land feeding and several times swimming (the beavers, not me). When I started this blog, I couldn’t wait to write about the… Read more »
There aren’t that many weeks left in the year. I thought I might use that fascinating observation as a excuse to post some photos that I had taken this year but had not used. Next week, you might get that post. But while combing through a year’s worth of photos, I ran into this striking… Read more »