I forced myself to pick 2 pictures from each month to feature in this post. They were taken in my yard, at the Springfield Botanical Garden (and the butterfly house and Japanese Stroll Garden there), my daughter’s yard and during my travels for prairie walks in SW Missouri, to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge in NW Missouri, Chicago IL, Branson, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. They are all taken outdoors! Enjoy the slideshow.
Most of the time our bird feeder area has a lot of birds…but sometimes there are no birds around at all. I suspect that a hawk is somewhere near when the feeders are empty and the area silent. Sometimes I even see the hawk. One recent afternoon, I looked out the window of my office just as a bigger-than-usual bird flew to perch on the fence. It was looking all around…and stayed in place long enough to be photographed through the screened window. I didn’t even leave my office chair!
A Cooper’s hawk – long rounded tail with wide terminal band, upright posture, red eye, dark cap with paler cheek.
Our feeders have a lot of cover around them (trees and bushes, a brush pile, grasses). While I have seen the hawk several times – I’ve never seen it catch anything near our feeders. The alarm sounds from the small birds seem to precede its arrival. Hawks do not always catch their prey.
The seasonal Gardens Aglow lights are a wonderful evening activity. They continue until December 28th (check the website for dates and times) at the Springfield Botanical Gardens’ Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden. Online tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children…but admission is free to Friends of the Garden or Springfield Sisters Cities Association! My husband and I are Friends of the Garden so the passes for the show I got in the mail because of my volunteering at the garden were given to 2 of my daughter’s students.
Our first visit was last week (we’ll probably go again before the end of the season). It was a cold and cloudy day, and we opted to arrive shortly after they opened at 5; we were early enough to park in the parking lot rather than the grassy area parking which is opened for the event. It didn’t take long before it was fully dark. I opted to use my small Canon PowerShot SX730 HS in night scene mode (stacks images in the camera) rather than my phone because the camera is easier for me to hold for the duration of the longer shot and the mechanism to zoom is easier too. There seemed to be a higher density of lights than I remembered from previous years. It is always well done; I liked that they have added lights to direct people to stay on the paved walkways…less chance of people trampling plants in the dark.
I enjoyed getting shots of lights and their reflections in water. There were plenty of opportunities!
Our walk took a little under an hour. The temperature was in the low 40s, and I was comfortable in my winter gear. My daughter bought some spring rolls at one of the food trucks – which she enjoyed but her hands got cold without gloves; she bought some hot cider just before we left to warm up her hands and to drink on the way home. My husband said his coat was great, but his gloves and shoes were not quite warm enough. It was a good first test of our winter clothing selections.
Internet Archive has digitized versions of many Life Magazines. I have been browsing through them – slowly since there was an issue for each week. As I looked at the issues from 1944, I thought about how the US was focused on the war and, while the war seemed to be moving in favor of the Allies, it was brutal. Casualties were mounting and at the end of the year the battle was still raging on. (Click on any of the sample images below to see a larger version and the links to see the whole magazine online.)
Life Magazine 1944-01-03 - US civilians buy their first jeep
Life Magazine 1944-01-10 - Bob Hope
Life Magazine 1944-01-17 - Rockets
Life Magazine 1944-01-24 - X-rays
Life Magazine 1944-01-31 - Yesterday’s battlefield
Life Magazine 1944-02-07 - USS Missouri
Life Magazine 1944-02-14 - Kansas raises fine families
Life Magazine 1944-02-21 - Evacuation hospital
Life Magazine 1944-02-28 - Pullman ad
Life Magazine 1944-03-06 - Belmont Radio ad
Life Magazine 1944-03-13 - Attu Island
Life Magazine 1944-03-13 - Tule Lake Hospital (Japanese Interment)
Life Magazine 1944-03-27 - Worst garden weeds
Life Magazine 1944-04-03 - Oil wells
Life Magazine 1944-04-10 - Dyslexia
Life Magazine 1944-04-17 - April snow in New York City
Life Magazine 1944-04-24 - Spring 1944
Life Magazine 1944-05-01 - Ruined Anzio
Life Magazine 1944-05-08 - Steamboat on the Mississippi
Life Magazine 1944-05-15 - Troop train
Life Magazine 1944-05-22 - In the Aleutians
Life Magazine 1944-05-29 - US submarine saves airmen
Life Magazine 1944-06-05 - Woman in California shipbuilding
Life Magazine 1944-06-12 - Rome falls
Life Magazine 1944-06-19 - Ships bring back wounded and dead
Life Magazine 1944-06-26 - Palmyra atoll
Life Magazine 1944-07-03 - Taps Normandy: June 1944
Life Magazine 1944-07-10 - B-29
Life Magazine 1944-07-17 - Penicillin
Life Magazine 1944-07-24 - War ravages Italy’s art
Life Magazine 1944-07-31 - Infantile paralysis (polio)
Life Magazine 1944-08-07 - Swedish glass
Life Magazine 1944-08-14 - Marshal Tito
Life Magazine 1944-08-21 - Truman of Missouri
Life Magazine 1944-08-28 - Invasion array
Life Magazine 1944-09-04 - Korea
Life Magazine 1944-09-11 - Dutch Elm Disease
Life Magazine 1944-09-18 - Brussels
Life Magazine 1944-09-25 - US production soars
Life Magazine 1944-10-02 - First battle of German begins
Life Magazine 1944-10-09 - Wartime England
Life Magazine 1944-10-16 - Fading Newport
Life Magazine 1944-10-23 - Colorado River
Life Magazine 1944-10-30 - Omaha Beach
Life Magazine 1944-11-06 - Kitchen preview
Life Magazine 1944-11-13 - Sea floods Holland
Life Magazine 1944-11-20 - Roosevelt wins a 3rd term
Life Magazine 1944-11-27 - Moscow
Life Magazine 1944-12-04 - Hitler
Life Magazine 1944-12-11 - List of US war causalities
Life Magazine 1944-12-18 - The battlefield of Germany
Life Magazine 1944-12-25 - Civil War breaks out in Greece
December had started off with some very cold days with low temperatures in the 20s or teens at night and barely getting above 50 on 3 days (other days the high was in the 40s). Almost all the trees had lost their leaves abruptly in November when we had some very cold days. As I walked around the yard taking pictures for this post, I found myself searching for color and interesting textures.
The Virginia Creeper that had been so beautiful in previous falls (red leaves) had either died back or retained the color for only a few days. Some of the vines retained their leaves – but they are brown rather than bright red.
The crape myrtles have interesting seed pods. I am going to cut them all back when there is a day above 50….they will look better next year if I do. One of them is tall enough to brush against the eve of the house so that one is the priority to get cut. The other one to tackle is the one that has a Callery Pear (wild form of the Bradford Pear) growing with it. The red leaves are the pear so I can (hopefully) cut it very close to the ground.
The bed near our front door has some color – bushes that are bright yellow (that need to be trimmed) and some plants that haven’t succumbed to cold temperatures yet because they are protected. The Japanese Maple in the corner has lost its leaves and may be dying; that corner has not worked well for that small tree.
The places where I put the bark mulch from our last tree trimming are holding up well. I will pull weeds from them and plant new plants into some of them next spring. The one under the Kousa dogwood mulch needs some native ground cover planted there…and maybe some of the lower branches cut.
There are seed heads on the lambs ear and goldenrod and chives…hopefully I will have more of those plants next year.
Our backyard is fenced and I am planting to not mow until early summer - leave the leaves. A lot of the leaves are from our neighbor’s oak and probably contain overwintering insects. The birds will appreciate the bounty – food for their chicks next spring. I am noticing that the circle where the pine needles are falling is enlarged than last year. I will be mowing less of the side yard next year! My long-term plan for the side yard a mowed path….not much grass at all…native plants filling in on both sides of the path (and maybe the path itself which might change from year to year.
The bed where we removed a pine tree that fell over is more exposed that most of our beds. The plants there had frost. The small cluster of American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) fruit is a pop of color. Hopefully next year the beautyberry will begin to grow more rapidly and become the dominate plant in the bed at some point. I will probably allow a native tree that comes up (bird or squirrel planted)…whichever one shows up first: oak, redbud, or hackberry.
On the west side of the house there is a clover pillow that seems greener than the area around it. Maybe the grass growing there is greener with the extra nitrogen the clover provides in the soil! The witch hazel is still small but I am hopeful I might see a few blooms next year. It is a Missouri native – Ozark Witch Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) which blooms in January/February.
I am watching the forecast for warmer day to get some cleanup done….and to put down a thick layer of mulch for my new bed that will be planting into next spring. My daughter will be getting more mulch when she has her oak trimmed.
We started our second season recording observations of birds at our home feeders with Project FeederWatch. Our set up is the same as last year. We have two old rocker recliners in our basement that have a clear view of our feeders on the other side of the patio from our window that is under the deck.
The Project FeederWatch season started on November 1 and there was still a lot of greenery. I cut back the Japanese Barberry (really want to take it out completely) but otherwise there is more vegetation than last year with the cedars, holly, and violets growing over the past year. The feeder nestled in the holly and cedars is a bit harder to reach. There is a brush pile in another part of the patio (in the lower left of the picture) that is my holding area for twigs I will burn in the chimenea eventually. The birds like that area too.
New this year is clump of vegetation at the edge of the patio between the two feeders: Pokeweed that seems to come up everywhere in our yard and grasses that had sprouted from birdseed from the feeders above. In general, the birds seem to like the extra vegetation and they eat the seeds from both plants occasionally.
The window and the low light make photography more for id than art. Even at the being of the season we had dark-eyed junco (a winter bird for us), downy woodpeckers, and northern cardinals, tufted titmice, and at least 3 kinds of sparrows…to name few.
Of course we have squirrels that come through too. They sit on the deck railing and gaze longingly at the feeders – which have proved to be mostly squirrel-proof!
My dad moved from Dallas to Lewisville TX, so my monthly road trips have shifted to visit the him at his memory care place in Lewisville. I made my usual stop at the Texas Welcome Center pm US75 along the way – noticing that the leaves have fallen from the beautyberry. I noticed an insect on the berries; it was a cold day so the insect did not move….easy to photograph.
It was the first time for me to visit the memory care facility since my dad moved there. They were holding their Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon – the Friday before Thanksgiving. The day was warm enough that Dad and I walked outside in the enclosed courtyard beforehand. I noticed the decorative patterns on the roof of one of the pavilions.
The dinner itself was tasty, and Dad enjoyed it thoroughly because everything was cut up already – easy for him to eat; there was ice cream for dessert. A live band provided country music – a little loud for me but great for him and the other residents. He stayed for the whole show!
The next morning, I was up and looked out the window a little after sunrise. My hotel window overlooked a storm water pond; on the other side of the pond was a Costco…and then a cluster of overpasses – an intersection of big highways. I was just far enough away that the highway noise did not overwhelm the white noise of the heating/air conditioning fan. A great blue heron was at the edge of the pond. Next time I will bring a better camera and maybe walk around the pond.
I was with my dad for a second Thanksgiving meal on that Saturday – with the assisted living side of the facility. It was similar but my sister had to cut up his turkey and ham. The music was a little different and he wanted to leave before the end. The loudness of the music made it impossible to have a conversation with our 6-person family group…but I did enjoy the pecan pie at the end.
Afterwards I enjoyed several hours with my sister and her daughters/grandchildren. It was a treat to see them!
The next morning, I looked out the window a bit earlier – before sunrise. I left the hotel about 7:30 AM and drove around to the closest parking lot to the storm water pond. There were two cormorants there.
The memory care facility had decorated with a lot of pumpkins for the holiday. I photographed one of the displays on my way in to see my dad. At 8 AM he had finished his breakfast and was working on his cup of coffee! I’m glad I ate at the hotel rather than planning to eat with him!
I opted to go back via I35 going north. It was an adventure and about 15 minutes longer than the other route – but a lot less stressful. For the next few months, I am planning to continue that alternate route to get home. I already identified a café I want to try in Prague OK (along the route); my paternal grandmother grew up on a farm near Prague.
The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
Vitamin C Rejuvenates Aging Ovaries in Primates - A long-term primate study suggests vitamin C may slow ovarian aging by reactivating antioxidant defenses—though fertility effects remain untested. Oxidative damage contributes to aging not only in ovaries but also in the brain, heart, and kidneys—raising the possibility that similar interventions might benefit other organs.
Rings of Rock in the Sahara - In northeastern Africa, within the driest part of the Sahara, dark rocky outcrops rise above pale desert sands. They are thought to have formed as magma rose toward the surface and intruded into the surrounding rock. Repeated intrusion events produced a series of overlapping rings, their centers roughly aligned toward the southwest. The resulting ring complex—composed of igneous basalt and granite—is bordered to the north by a hat-shaped formation made of sandstone, limestone, and quartz layers. Photo taken from International Space Station.
How your hormones might be controlling your mind - Hormones are chemical messengers released by certain glands, organs, and tissues. They enter the bloodstream and travel around the body, before binding to receptors in a specific place. The binding acts as a kind of biological "handshake" which tells the body to do something. For example, the hormone insulin tells liver and muscle cells to suck up excess glucose from the blood and store it as glycogen. We still don't understand exactly why some people are so sensitive to hormonal fluctuations, while others aren't. We know that hormones impact mood and mental health, but we need to figure out how they do so before we can come up with the proper treatments.
Texas Voters Approve $1 Billion per Year for 'Critical' Water Infrastructure – Wise move by Texas voters; hopefully it will be enough to keep up with the state’s growing population and resulting demand for water. More details here.
How Does Sugar Affect Our Oral Microbiome and Teeth? - Less processed foods, especially those high in fiber, are often less sticky, which decreases bacteria’s ability to adhere and overgrow at a surface. Additionally, the fiber acts like miniature brushes. “These fibers constantly remove plaque from your tooth surfaces. The additional chewing of these types of foods also increases saliva production, which washes out the oral cavity, removing excess bacteria from the mouth surface to limit the formation of biofilms. Meanwhile, additional sugar from candy and other sweet products disrupts this whole community. Not only are these processed foods stickier, giving the bacteria a place to latch onto, but they also form biofilms.
How Satellite Imagery Reveals Plastic Pollution Hotspots in the Ocean - Plastic pollution isn’t just a sad environmental story we scroll past on the news anymore; it has become a personal health emergency. It is a genuinely scary reality that microplastics, those tiny, unseen fragments, have made their way into our lungs and bloodstreams. To grasp the sheer scale of this threat, researchers are turning to Sentinel satellite imagery, utilizing it as an essential “eye in the sky” to track exactly where these hazardous accumulation zones are growing. However, mapping is just the diagnostic tool; the ultimate cure lies in fixing land-based waste management.
The photos showing why pink dolphins are the Amazon's 'great thieves' - As fishermen cast their nets into the river, suddenly a sleek pink shape emerged from the depths, swimming toward the trapped fish. Moving quickly, the creature – an Amazonian pink river dolphin – poked holes in the net and stole a catfish. Known locally as boto in Portuguese and bufeo in Spanish, the pink river dolphin is a funny sight. With its melon-shaped head, rose-colored skin, and slender, hundred-toothed snout, it is the largest freshwater dolphin in the world, growing up to 2.5m (8.2ft) long and weighing as much as 200kg (440lbs). Four types of pink river dolphins live in the Amazon River basin. All of them are endangered, facing significant population declines in recent decades due to hunting, entanglement in fishing nets, pollution and droughts.
Half of heart attacks strike people told they’re low risk - A new study led by Mount Sinai researchers reports that commonly used cardiac screening methods fail to identify almost half of the people who are actually at risk of having a heart attack. People who appear healthy according to standard assessments may already have significant and silent atherosclerosis. Because of this, depending solely on symptoms and risk calculators can delay detection until meaningful prevention is no longer possible. Doctors should shift their focus from detecting symptomatic heart disease to detecting the plaque itself for earlier treatment, which could save lives.
Clogged Glymphatic System Linked to Dementia Risk - The brain’s built-in clearance system, called the glymphatic system, removes toxins from the brain through the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) via minuscule channels that trace blood vessels. Scientists have suspected that the glymphatic system may play a role in processes such as sleep and recovery from traumatic brain injury. MRI scans from nearly 40,000 people revealed biomarkers linked to defective toxin clearance in the brain predicted the susceptibility to dementia later in life.
Ansel Adams Photos Capture Daily Life Inside Japanese Internment Camps During WWII - The establishment of Japanese internment camps is arguably one of the darkest moments in American history. Between 1942 and 1946, about 120,000 people of Japanese descent were forcibly relocated into these concentration camps. This was done out of unfounded suspicions that Japanese Americans might act as saboteurs or spies following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In 1943, celebrated American photographer Ansel Adams visited the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, creating a timeless document of the daily life on this site. The 244 photo collection can be browsed on the Library of Congress website.
Our last field trip of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival was to Cactus Creek Ranch – thorn-scrub woodlands and coastal prairie.
As we entered the ranch, there was a big pond to the left of the road…..and it had a resident alligator!
I took a few macro pictures of cactus as we got out of the vans near the house. The public rooms of the house are full of art and Cactus Creek Ranch conservation signs.
Around the house are bird houses and feeders…pots and sculptures…structures covering ant hills to protect the horned toads feeding on the ants!
A little further away from the house – there was a Vermillion Flycatcher and deer.
We drove around in the vans and the host’s golf cart. There were several good views of Belted Kingfishers.
I made a video of a female eating a small fish! It is handheld so not great – but it captures the 17 seconds of action!
A pair of Crested Caracaras were in a treetop – turning their backs to us!
There was a snake in one of the ponds. My picture is not good enough to determine the type although others in the group saw rattles!
We stopped at another place and I did some macro photos of a dragonfly, a succulent, and a busy wasp nest.
In the distance there were Wood Storks and an immature Little Blue Heron….3 sandhill cranes flew overhead.
At another stop, our host spread some corn on the ground, and we stood back to watch the Bobwhite.
On the way back to the house, there was a road runner beside the road! It was the only one I managed to photograph this trip!
We enjoyed the barbeque at the end of the trip and headed back to the Harlingen Convention Center and headed out on the first leg of our drive home. We stopped in San Marcos TX before driving the rest of the way home the next day.
On the last evening of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, we drove ourselves to the South Padre Island mudflat where we met our tour group for photographing the sunset. We drove out onto the mudflat – trying to avoid puddles.
It was well before sunset, and I enjoyed the antics of a Reddish Egret in the late afternoon light. The bird seemed to be finding tidbits in the small pool. It was a windy afternoon which caused the head and neck feathers to move about.
I was using my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) on a monopod (so I only had one thing to clean mud/sand from at the end of the evening). I kept trying to get a bird in flight flying across the sun…failed, but it was still fun trying. I always like to see the color change and the sun gets lower. The mosaic below is in the order the images were taken; click on any of them to see a larger version.
I made a movie of the actual setting of the sun!
We headed back to our hotel afterward…wanting an early evening since we had a last early morning field trip before we started home the next day.
Our fourth morning at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival required us to be at the Harlingen Convention Center by 7 AM for the bus; we were glad it wasn’t earlier! There was an odd cloud or smoke plume that obscured the sunrise; tt was moving rapidly and seemed to have an origination point so I think it might have been smoke.
We headed to the town of Edinburg TX and their wetlands oasis – the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands & Birding Center - about 40 minutes on the bus.
I often revert to taking botanical pictures…and there were a lot of interesting plants ranging from dessert plants to lush riparian type plants. Click on the image in the mosaic below to see a larger image.
I even enjoyed some artsy pictures!
There were quite a few birds: Black-bellied Whistling ducks (and a mixture of hybrid domestic/wild ducks/geese)
Northern Shoveler
American Wigeon (and a Ruddy duck)
American Avocet
Herons: Great, Snowy, Green
Ladder-backed Woodpecker and Inca Doves
House Sparrow near the feeders
Crested Caracara
Neotropical cormorant
Curved-billed thrasher
There were turtles in a lot of places too – even crawling up the dam abutment! There were Texas spiny softshell turtles on a concrete pad near the boardwalk.
We weren’t still long enough to do much butterfly photography – but I did manage three!
The trip had been advertised as a place to see Kingfishers, but the banks where they had frequented had been cleaned up (i.e. bushy vegetation removed) and the Kingfishers had moved elsewhere.
The week at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival was a big one for photography. It was hard to choose from almost 5000 images for the month. I finally managed to select 26 favorites…birds dominate but there are a couple of dragonflies and three reptiles (a lizard, a snake, and tortoise). I’ve included a picture of Reunion Tower in Dallas as my husband drove us through the city (I opened my window) and a tiled bench at one of the rest stops. We had our first frost at home.
The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
Everyday microplastics could be fueling heart disease - Microplastics—tiny particles now found in food, water, air, and even human tissues—may directly accelerate artery-clogging disease, and new research shows the danger may be far greater for males.
The Mystery of the Mast Year - Every few years, certain species of trees seem to go buck wild, dropping an extraordinary quantity of nuts, seeds, or fruits all at once. What’s more, this bumper crop tends to extend across vast geographical ranges, so that a white oak in Central Park is shedding buckets of acorns at the same time as a white oak in the Shenandoah Valley. Not all trees mast, but many species dominant in American forests do, such as oak, hickory, beech, and dogwood.
Ultra-processed foods quietly push young adults toward prediabetes - More than half of the calories people consume in the United States come from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which include items such as fast food and packaged snacks that tend to contain large amounts of sodium, added sugars and unhealthy fats.
Why Should We Avoid Heating Plastic? - When plastic is heated, its molecules will move around more freely and the whole structure will become less rigid. This makes it easier for those additives to detach and migrate into nearby foods or liquids. To reduce your exposure, heat food in containers made of inert materials like ceramic or glass, avoid storing hot, fatty, or acidic food in plastic, and try to shorten the storage time of all food and beverages in plastic containers.
'They're just so much further ahead': How China won the world's EV battery race - In 2005, China only had two EV battery manufacturers. Twenty years later, it produces more than three-quarters of the world's lithium-ion cells. Today, China dominates the production at every stage of the battery supply chain, apart from the mining and processing of some raw minerals.
Obesity-Related Cancers Are Rising in Young and Old - Six of cancers—leukemia, thyroid, breast, colorectal, kidney, and endometrial—increased in prevalence in young adults in at least 75 percent of the examined countries. However, five of these six cancers also showed increased prevalence in older adults. Colorectal cancer was the exception. The cancer types with increased incidence in both younger and older adults were all linked to obesity.
Growth of Wind and Solar Keeping Fossil Power in Check - This year it is projected that new wind and solar power will more than meet growing demand for electricity globally, keeping fossil fuel consumption flat. However, while the world is beginning to keep emissions from power plants in check, overall emissions continue to tick up, rising by 1.1 percent this year.
Researchers Discover ‘Death Ball’ Sponge and Dozens of Other Bizarre Deep-Sea Creatures in the Southern Ocean - Researchers have discovered 30 previously unknown deep-sea species in the remote ocean surrounding Antarctica - an achievement highlighting just how little humanity knows about some of the deepest regions of the planet. Fewer than 30 percent of the expedition’s samples have been assessed thus far so there could be more discoveries to report soon.
Short-Chain PFAS Eclipse Their Longer Counterparts in Blood Serum - The conventional wisdom is that short-chain PFAS are of lesser concern because they don’t bioaccumulate, but what we’re seeing is that they can occur at high levels in people. A new study shows that young adults who ate more UPFs also showed signs of insulin resistance, a condition in which the body becomes less efficient at using insulin to manage blood sugar.
Get Up Close with Alabama’s Rivers – Mac Stone photographing Alabama’s waterways…places full of biodiversity. The post includes pictures: southern dusky salamander, pitcher plant blooms, alligator snapping turtles, swamp lily, brown pelican.
It was a very hot afternoon (after our visit to Santa Ana) when we arrived at Bentsen- Rio Grande Valley State Park – about 90 degrees. On the plus side – we saw turkeys before we got to the visitor center!
We opted to take the tram to get an overall view of the park and then get off at the bird feeding station closest to the visitor center. The tram stopped long enough for me to photograph a feeding station dominated by turkeys.
When we got off the tram, the green jays and great-tailed grackles were at the feeder.
A golden-fronted woodpecker was on a post and then a roof.
A great kiskadee was on the same roof striking a vulture-like pose.
I was sitting in a swing and watching the plain chachalacas when I managed a short video which became the highpoint of my Bentsen visit. One of the birds started drinking from a puddle a few feet away from me. It was aware of calls from the other birds in its group….and showed its red bare skin patch!
We walked back toward the visitor center over the canal. Next time we visit, I’ll want to go in the morning!
We visited the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge on the third morning of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. The visitor center was not open (it was during the government shutdown), but the restrooms were. I knew the morning was going to include some hiking, so I brought along my trekking poles and they worked great – I got tired, but my back didn’t hurt!
There was a lot to see. The highlights in my photographs were:
Altamira oriole and a nest created by the species
Eastern Pondhawk (dragonfly)
A bee on the ground mimosa - Powderpuff (Mimosa strigillosa)
A preening Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and a preening Great Kiskadee
A Great Egret in the wind
A Green Heron – very hard to find among the plants
A Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Of course there were lots of plants/landscapes to note as well. Somehow a leaf on the ground full of holes looked interesting to me as I rested midway through the hike. Turks cap grows wild at the refuge. There are a lot of legumes in the area…many with thorns! And there is enough moisture for Spanish moss to thrive.
And now for the rest…mostly bird pictures that are mainly for identification…many of the waterbirds were almost out of the range of my camera or there was vegetation between me and the birds. The largest insect was on an awning near the tower.
I used the Deet spray on my lower legs but got bites (mosquito) through my leggings above my knees and on my arms through my sunblock shirt sleeves! Fortunately, they did not itch too much (after I put baking soda water on them); so far, I am not feeling any ill-effects; next time I will be more careful and spray myself more thoroughly.
There are red-crowned parrots and green parakeets in Harlingen TX. They are native to Northeast Mexico and might be to the area just across the Rio Grande River which is where Harlingen is located. Both species have adapted to an urban lifestyle. The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival field trip involved getting on a white van in the late after that slowly drove through Harlingen looking for sites the birds routinely come to before dusk.
We went to a Whataburger parking lot first….and the green parakeets showed up to sit on the nearby wires about 5:45 PM! They sat in groups – preening each other.
The red-crowned parrots were more elusive. We heard them in the air before we saw them. The van was parked in a church parking lot. There were a few parrots on a nearby line. I got bored enough to take a picture of a flowerbed with a bird of paradise plant!
Just as we were about to give up at 6:45 PM, a large flock few overhead (very noisy) and many landed on the lines at the end of the parking lot furthest from where we were. We walked down and took a few pictures even though the light was not very good. The sound the flock made was worth the wait!
And that was the end of our second day at the festival….
Anzaldus Park is not far from the National Butterfly Center in Mission TX. It was used as a COVID quarantine area and is sometimes closed by ICE, but when we were at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival it was open and we walked around looking for birds. Our guides that had been there over the years reported that there were not as many bird as before the quarantine/ICE usage years. There was considerable noise from an airboat stuck on a sandbar (trying to get back in the water) and then the boat roaring around in the water after the finally managing to get free); it wasn’t clear if the boat belonged to Border Control or ICE…they appeared to be unfamiliar with their equipment and the area….just out for fun on an air boat.
Common Gallinule
Great Egret
Hybrid Muscovy ducks
Terns (probably Caspian)
Scarlet Tanager
I couldn’t resist a feather photo. I wondered if the feather might have been from a cattle egret.
Soft Shelled turtle
Powderpuff (Mimosa strigillosa) and Mexican Ash (Fraxinus berlandieriana) So far, the Emerald Ash Borer has not attached this species…but it may only be a matter of time.
We got back from the morning field trips in time of a late lunch. I remembered to take pictures of two murals on the façade of the Harlingen Convention Center near where we exited the van!
The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
Spotted Lanternfly Biology and Lifecycle – Missouri is trying to stop them from gaining a foothold in the state….but it will take a lot of vigilance. The invasive insects are already in Illinois and could move into Missouri very easily – particularly as egg masses on vehicles. In the current infestations, spotted lanternfly has shown to have one generation per year consisting of four nymphal stages, an adult stage, and overwintering as egg masses.
Could Non-Invasive Colon Cancer Screening Replace Colonoscopies? – It would be great if these could work….colonoscopies are invasive tests….but, for now, they are the only choice for a reliable screening for colon cancer.
13 Non-Toxic, Plastic Free Electric Kettles for a Healthy Cup – A plastic free electric kettle is on my wish list for this year. It will be used a lot in my office.
Reindeer Hunting Artifacts Emerge from Melting Ice in Norway - Melting ice in Norway has revealed a 1,500-year-old reindeer trap, preserved beneath centuries of snow and ice layers. Archaeologists uncovered wooden mass-capture fences, marked antlers, weapons, and a unique decorated oar from the site this year.
Why are thyroid cancer cases increasing across the world? - We're likely observing a multifactorial phenomenon that includes environmental, metabolic, dietary and hormonal influences, possibly interacting with underlying genetic susceptibility.
A Bird in Mourning Wins the 2025 European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest – Great photos!
Anxiety is one of the world’s most common health issues. How have treatments evolved over the last 70 years? – I was surprised that no new drugs have been approved since 2004. While existing treatments can be very effective for some people — in fact, life-changing for some — we still have some way to go to develop effective treatments for everyone who struggles with an anxiety disorder, and ensure these treatments are available to them.
What a baby's first poo can tell you about their future health - T he Baby Biome study, which aims to understand how a baby's gut microbiome – the trillions of microbes living in their digestive tract – affect their future health. Babies born vaginally seem to inherit most of their bacteria from their mother's digestive tract; babies born via C-section had more bacteria associated with hospital environments.
From Ruins to Reuse: How Ukrainians Are Repurposing War Waste - Russian bombardments have generated more than a billion tons of debris across Ukraine since 2022. Now, local and international efforts are meticulously sorting the bricks, concrete, metal, and wood, preparing these materials for a second life in new buildings and roads.
Our Plan to Restore the Gulf Coast for People and Wildlife - America’s Gulf Coast stretches over 1,700 miles and is home to 15,000 species of fish and wildlife, making it one of the most biodiverse areas in the country. It’s also one of the fastest-growing—the counties that border the Gulf are home to approximately 65 million people. Despite the challenges, including federal funding cuts to states, shifting political priorities and increasingly destructive storms and flooding, the National Wildlife Federation remains optimistic about what we can achieve in the next five years and the decades to come.
Our second morning at the Rio Grand Valley Birding Festival started with a walk around the National Butterfly Center in Mission TX. It was a pleasant morning for a walk round the place. My husband and I stopped by the last time we went to festival in 2017, but it was a rainy and cold day….so we didn’t go past the visitor center! This time it was a beautiful sunny day, and we enjoyed walking around the space behind the visitor center with our guides. At one time there was a lot of anxiety that the border wall would cut through the center…but evidently the land for the center was preserved and there is still a lot to see there.
I saw a lot more than I was able to photograph! It was an interesting walk. I started with some plants near the entrance.
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Spiny lizards
Neotropic Cormorants in flight
Northern Mockingbird
Green Jay (including an interaction with red-winged blackbird)
Bronzed Cowbird
Plain Chachalaca
Great-tailed grackle (including a picture that makes it easy to see the size difference between the grackle and the chachalaca)
White-winged Dove
Black-crested Titmouse
Inca Dove
Hummingbird
Queen butterflies
A rescued tortoise (not native…shell damaged by a fire)
Logs with beer, banana, brown sugar mix painted on daily) that attract insects
Olive sparrow (I saw several during the festival but these were the only photos!)
Nest of an Altamira/Audubon oriole hybrid
An adult and juvenile white ibis flying
By the end of the walk, I was ready for a rest on the bus while we headed to another birding hotspot.
Our first afternoon at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival was spent at the Laguna Seca Ranch doing songbird photography from a blind. We met our guide at a Love’s near the ranch and caravaned on better roads to get there and through the gate. We stopped at an area for facilities and to sign in…then went to the area where a blind was set up. There were folding chairs and we all had a space to look through the curtains at a small pool with enhancements to make more interesting photographs: logs, freshly cut branches with green leaves, a tree near the pool, a branch rigged to drip water into the pool from a few feet above the surface. The guide spread nut butter on the logs (out of direct line of sight). I used my Canon Powershot SX70-HS (bridge) and my monopod.
The first picture I took was while the guide was putting out the nut butter – a dragonfly on a nearby branch. It was pink! I think it was a Roseate Skimmer.
A green jay made an appearance.
And then there was a coach whip snake that came for a drink. I made a short video.
Over the course of the next few hours, I took a lot of northern cardinal pictures.
The queen butterflies frequently enjoyed the mud at the edge of the pool.
The pyrrhuloxia were around as well but not as numerous as the cardinals.
A couple of female red winged blackbirds stopped for a drink.
The black-crested titmouse was a new bird for me. They are only found in far south Texas. Hybrids of this bird and the tufted titmouse (the one I see in Missouri) are found in the San Antonio area.
The golden-fronted woodpecker thoroughly inspected the branch that was rigged to drop water into the pool!
Just as we were losing the good light on the pool, a couple of crested caracaras arrived. It was a good finale for our time at Laguna Seca.
Copyright © 2025, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from last month:
Copyright © 2025 Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
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