Josey Ranch – August 2023

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The low temperature of the day was in the 80s…first thing in the morning. Josey Ranch Park (Carrollton, TX) just after sunrise was the most comfortable it would be for the day. The water level in the largest pond was low – the cattails no longer standing in water, lots of dirt ‘beach’, cracks in the soil along the banks, soil pulling away from the sidewalks.

The ducks were maturing. The only male ducks I saw were ones that were just growing their adult plumage.

The two swans were on the opposite shore where the water was a little deeper.

A group of killdeers were feeding on recently exposed mud. The pond was going to shrink more with temperatures still soaring above 100 degrees almost every day and no rain.

A flock of pigeons welcomed the morning from the roof of the Senior Center.

A Great Egret was looking for breakfast but I didn’t see it find anything.

I headed over to the pocket prairie. It must get watered occasionally but there were still big cracks in the paths.

A few plants were blooming.

Around the smaller pond, there was a tree that looked like it had fall foliage although it might have been more sinister – a tree so heat stressed that the leaves (or maybe the tree) was dying. A great blue heron was under the tree - looking toward the water for breakfast.

The was a hot morning and I opted to head back to the air conditioning rather than do more walking!

Unique Aspects of Days – September 2022

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The unique aspects for September….

Queen Elizabeth II died. The event is something that will be memorable about 2022. Her coronation was in the year I was born...she was the only well-known person I can think of that was on the international stage for that long period. Closer to home – her death accompanies the older generation of my family ebbing away. I am fortunate that both my parents are still around.

Making a quick run to Walmart for coffee. My dad makes coffee every morning and had somehow forgotten to tell anyone that there was not enough left in the container to make another pot. If I had not been visiting…they just would not have had any morning coffee that day!

Murmuration of pigeons over the Walmart parking lot. Somehow lots of pigeons were on the Walmart parking lot…and they flew up in a big swirl when they were startled by something (maybe a car?) and they did the usual turning in unison….the undulating ebbs and flows in the air. It seemed like they stayed a loft longer than required to escape danger and I wondered if the birds enjoy the ‘dancing’ in the sky.  

Talking with a man hauling hay at the gas station. I stopped to buy gas at a very large gas station just off the highway and a man with a trailer full of the round bales of hay pulled up on the other side of the pump. We had a short conversation and l learned: he is getting $60/bale rather than $30 he got last year, his fields are Johnson grass and cows like that kind of hay, this haul was from the 3rd mowing.

A upside down truck on the highway. The only time I got on the highway once I was in Carrollton, there was an upside truck on the other side….traffic just beginning to back up. It wasn’t obvious how the accident occurred; the truck was against the dividing wall that kept it from crossing over to the other side of the highway. I came back an hour later and could see that the truck was still there (upside down), but a crane has been brought in….and it was rush hour. Fortunately, I was already at my exit and the backup only slowed me down for about 5 minutes.

Rats. My parents had their house treated for rats. Insulation in the attic was replaced and holes in the eaves were sealed. There is a 10-year warranty. Hopefully this is a truly unique experience.

Grilling when it was windy. We didn’t use our gas grill when it was windy at our Maryland house, but we discovered that the house does a reasonable job of blocking the wind at our Missouri house….another reason to like our new location/house.

Laundered/dried our pillows in our new appliances. We don’t launder pillows frequently…and this was the 1st with our new washer and drier. We discovered that the sensor in the drier thought they were dry when they were dry on the outside…but not on the inside. We had to manually run the drier again….but the process was still faster than with our older appliances.

Bakery bread. I have started looking at the list of ingredients for breads…and buying ones where the ingredients are about the same as for homemade bread. It seems like commercial breads have a long ingredient list. I’m finding that the bakery breads with the shorter list taste great and are easier for me to digest.

A third COVID booster. My husband and I got the 3rd COVID booster along with a flu shot (one in each arm). I had more side effects (sore arm, aches) with this 3rd shot than I did the second…but they only were bothersome for about 24 hours and were completely gone in 48.

Josey Ranch

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The winter birds have already left Josey Ranch Lake (no shovelers or scaups or buffleheads or ruddy ducks). The normal residents were going about their morning routine when I ventured out at sunrise. The Coots were noisy.

I only saw one Swan. I wondered if there was a nest in the reeds (with the other swan on it); it would be great to have cygnets this year. The nest was flooded last year.

There was a Great Egret walking around the shallowed. Maybe the bird had already caught breakfast because it seemed to be moving about rather than actively fishing.

There was a pair of Pigeons interacting. I assumed the larger one strutting around was the male.

There were Cormorants that were staying on the lake but occasionally flying to another part of the lake. They too seemed to have already gotten breakfast; there were not diving.

Even Mallards are worth photographing in morning light!

I didn’t photograph the Canada Geese or the Grackles….they were a big part of the morning soundscape around the lake.

I’ll be in Carrollton again soon…can track the progress of the birds using the lake in late Spring and into Summer.

Zooming – July 2021

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The images this month are from Maryland, Missouri and Texas! The collection is skew toward plants but here are a few birds and dragonflies. There are at least two high key images as well. Enjoy the slide show for July 2021.

Birding at Josey Ranch Lake – Part 1

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When I was in Carrollton, TX  last week, I walked around the lake at Josey Ranch (near the public library on Keller Springs) on three different days. There are quite a few wintering birds there. Today I am posting about the birds I saw all three days.

The Great-tailed Grackles are there year round. There distinctive yellow eyes and the “beak to the sky” male behavior is very distinctive.

The Rock Pigeons are always around too. They’re are so widespread in North America that we forget that they were not native (introduced in the early 1600s). There are many people that bring bread to feed the birds. There was a huge amount of what looked like whole wheat rolls that had been dumped on a slope leading down to the lake – hence cluster of pigeons in one of these pictures…with a coot looking on.

The Mallards are always at the lake as well. The have a hard time eating the big rolls but enjoy the crumbs left by the pigeons.

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There are some resident Mute Swans. I decided to try something a little different when one got out of the water close enough for my zoom lens to allow a picture of the feet. The webbed feet are very large and wrinkled looking….they support a huge bird.

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I also managed to get foot pictures of the America Coot. They have lobes on their feet rather than webs…and the color of the feet is green yellow with dark markings! They too are in the lake every time I go.

There is usually a solitary Great Blue Heron at the lake. Maybe it is the same one…or maybe not.

There was a heron that seemed to be confronting a Great Egret one morning.

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The egrets are more numerous for some reason. Some of the egrets might migrate north and east to breed. I managed to photography one scratching its face with his foot.

Now for the birds that are only at Josey Ranch for the winter. The small Bufflehead is a diving duck – which makes it much more difficult to photograph. The male has more white…the female has a small white streak below the eye. On sunny days – a sheen of green can be seen on the male’s head. These birds nest in western Canada and Alaska.

The Double-Crested Cormorant also nests further north. There are generally only one or two of these birds at Josey Ranch. They are fish eaters….no interest in bread at all.

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And then there are the gulls that are often perched on the dock. Most of them appear to be Ring-Billed Gulls although one appears to be a juvenile Herring Gull (bigger and with a black beak). Both are only around during the winter.

The Lesser Scaup is also around only in winter. They breed further north in the US and Canada.

The Northern Shovelers are around only in the winter. They breed to the north and west into Canada and Alaska. There did not seem to be as many of them this winter. I’ll see If they are more numerous when I go in March.

Last but not least – there were the American Wigeon. Note what a difference the sun makes. The bright green streak on the head only shows up on sunny days!

Tomorrow I’ll continue with the more unusual birds I found at Josey Ranch.

Another Florida Beach

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After lunch at Dixie Crossroads, we headed over to a beach close to Titusville: Cherie Down Park in Cape Canaveral. It was a breezy cloudy day….a little cold. There were people fishing from the beach. At first it didn’t seem like there were very many birds. In some ways that made it easier to photograph the ones that were there.

The Sanderling at the water’s edge was the first bird I noticed.

The Ruddy Turnstone kept moving about. I’m not sure whether I photographed the same bird twice or it was two birds.

A Ring-billed Gull surveyed the beach from a pile of sand in the beach replenishment project area.

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Further away a Lesser Black-Backed Gull and Herring Gull were doing the same.

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A Pigeon posed with fluffed feathers…protection against the cold wind.

Lots of Brown Pelicans flew by.

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I managed to catch a sequence of a group as it went by. The ones with white heads are the mature birds…the brown heads are juveniles.

A Willet walked along the water’s edge.

Just before we left a group of Black Skimmer’s flew by…a good high point for the last of the field trip.

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Josey Ranch Birds – Part II

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There was finally another sunny day in Carrollton TX and I headed over to Josey Ranch Park again. I was lucky enough to arrive about the same time two women arrived with food for the birds. Two swans were at the boardwalk before the women could make their way from the parking lot to the boardwalk; the swans must recognize the signs of a forthcoming meal. The pigeons and seagulls flew in quickly.

After the crowd of birds gathered to enjoy the feast – the coots seemed to be arguing – chasing each other and churning the water. The northern shovelers in the background did not hurry over like the other birds.

How many birds can you identify in this picture? (see the bottom of this blog post for the most prominent ones). This is a good picture to see the relative size of the birds as well.

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There are not very many mallards at the lake this time of year. The light changes the green coloring of their head; sometimes the feathers look black!

Lesser Scaups are more prevalent.

The Great Egret is there every time ago – must be a resident.

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Pigeons are on the roof of the nearby senior center and library except with there is food! Iridescent neck feather and red eye – oh my!

The Northern Shovelers are not quite as numerous as the Lesser Scaups and they seem relatively used to people being about.

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I managed to get a seagull taking off from the lake – watch the one to the center right.

Birds in the ID quiz picture: swan (partial) on the far left, Canada geese in the upper third, ducks with large bills and rust colored sides are male Northern Shovelers, ducks with light sides and brown heads (yellow eyes) are male Lesser Scaups, coot in lower right (black with pointy beak), pigeon (partial) on bottom margin, gull?  Inflight in the upper left.

Josey Ranch Birds – Part I

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After the sadness of seeing the dead crow, I headed over to the Josey Ranch Lake to see the birds that were still very much alive. The day was still cloudy…but the birds didn’t seem to care.

There were Lesser Scaup – which I had seen during precious visits to Carrolton during the winter and early spring (February 2015, January 2017, and March 2017).

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The Northern Shovelers are there for the winter as well.

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The Great Egret is there all through the year.

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As are the Mute Swans.

Canadian geese are not as common. I had not seen them before this year at this small lake in Texas.

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American Coots and pigeons were plentiful and sometimes were in mixed groups on the shore.

The sea gulls – far from any sea – seem happier on the water.

Josey Ranch Lake – Other Birds

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I’ve posted about the herons and mallards at Josey Ranch Lake earlier this week. There were some other birds at the lake.

The grackles are probably the most numerous birds at the lake. I like to photograph the birds showing their attitude.

The next most numerous birds are pigeons. Most of them were on the roofs of the senior center or library – surveying the lake or grooming.

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A Great Egret was feeding in the shallows near the Great Blue Heron….the lake seems to have enough food to support quite a few birds.

I saw one swan. I wondered if something had happened to the others. In April I saw two and several times in previous years that have been 3 or more.

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Gleanings of the Week Ending September 2, 2017

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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.

Yoga and meditation improve mind-body health and stress resilience – A study that went beyond anecdotal reports of positive effects. They looked at brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and activity in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) and inflammation markers.

20+ Spectacular Photos From the…Solar Eclipse and NASA’s Best Photos of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse – Photo series from the web of the 8/21/2017 solar eclipse.

Dancing can reverse the signs of aging in the brain – Dancing is more effective than endurance training! Both dancing and endurance training increase the area of the brain that declines with age but dancing improves balance too!

The big idea: 5 ways to be a more thoughtful traveler – The articles ‘5’ are: know some history, think about how you’ll document your trip, read a book set wherever you’re going, learn some of the language, and understand where you come from. Good ideas!

10 Really Weird Animals of the Anthropocene  and Tongue Orchids & Corpseflowers: 7 insanely weird plant species – There is so much to learn about plants and animals…sometimes because they are changing and sometimes because they are hard to find/rare.

Trying to Create Something Different in the Nebraska Sandhills – I couldn’t resist this one…since I just visit Nebraska for the first time recently.

Image of the Day: Flying Blood Bag – The entwined network of blood vessels in a pigeon’s CT scan.

Our brains to change from early to mid-adulthood – The changes observed were so highly correlated to age that the researchers could estimate the ages of an individual simply by looking at the brain scan. 111 scans were analyzed from volunteers 18-55 years old.

On Education in the 21st Century – A paper by Richard Watson (futurist) for the Australia’s Department of Education. It talks about Slow Education (people centric, reflective, and aim to ensure that individual appreciate where the things they consume come from…emphasizes the importance of local difference, craft and quality over standardized production and cheap ingredients).

Interactive Infographic: The Global Business of Dying – The laws governing how terminally ill patients can choose to die vary widely – around the world and in the US (link to the US map is at the bottom of the global post).