Big Bend's Birds of Spring

Red-tailed Hawk on blooming Acacia

In addition to the Common Black Hawks of my last post, there are many other birds returning to Big Bend from their winter getaways, as well as year-round residents exhibiting annoying testosterone-fueled behavior.  

Turkey Vulture eating dead lizard

Turkey Vultures have peppered the sky for a few weeks now, having spent the colder months in Mexico, Central and South America.  These birds have extremely acute olfactory organs for finding rotted meat, and have some nasty (to us) habits such as urinating on their legs to keep cool, and vomiting when alarmed.  They also have trouble getting out of the way of speeding cars, and can easily take out a windshield.  Should a vulture's guts be ripped open in the process, you might just decide to give the car to a junkyard.  I understand the smell is Putrid Times Ten.  Well, as Jan Allen, one of our volunteer interpreters calls them, they are the Road Kill Cleanup Crew.  They serve an important purpose in the ecosystem, and despite their reputations, are a welcome sight to nature lovers.

Gray Hawk in Cottonwood

A pair of Gray Hawks have returned to their nest at Cottonwood Campground.  The Vermillion flycatchers, which are year-round residents there, are singing their zippy songs (similar to the Eastern Kingbird - which sounds like fingers zipping along the teeth of a large plastic comb.)  There were two males at Cottonwood vying for the love of a particular female, and one Lothario just wouldn't be chased off by the offended and rightful suitor.

Two Males, One Female - the stuff of drama

Vermillions are fidgety little things

These babies have a loose, fluttery flight that makes them easy to photograph

At the Sam Nail Ranch spring, I saw my first Green-tailed Towhee, along with perhaps a dozen mockingbirds, several cardinals and pyrrhuloxias, hermit thrushes, a spotted towhee, sparrows (rufous-crowned, white-crowned, and black-throated),  and I'm pretty sure there was a brown thrasher skulking in the underbrush.

  

Green-tailed Towhee

Hummingbirds are busy visiting feeders at Panther Junction residences, and ash-throated flycatchers are calling "pip...ker-BEER" at Rio Grande Village.  Bell's vireos in the campground are performing what I call the "rattle song" even though I can't think of an actual rattle that sounds like it.  I just visualize squeaky rattling whenever I hear the songs of these plain-Jane little birds.

Ash-throated Flycatcher in Mesquite

Ash-throated Flycatcher in flight

Ash-throated Flycatcher at Mule Ears Springs trail with blooming ocotillo

Among the annoying behaviors are those birds of the male persuasion who bash themselves against glass windows because they see their reflections and mistake them for intruders in their territory.  At the Persimmon Gap Visitor Center last year we had a curve-billed thrasher, er... thrashing himself against the door and window.  This year I've seen a roadrunner getting squirrelly at the door after hours, and this week both a Ladder-back Woodpecker and Common Raven were making pests of themselves.

Ladder-back Woodpecker male on Visitor Center door

Maybe he's just mad because the VC is closed?

This is how a male woodpecker ought to behave (below).  This fellow at Sam Nail Ranch was cleaning out a nesting hole for the Missus.

"Our" raven George is most distressing, because ravens are supposed to be too smart to fall for such silly deceptions.  Zydeco king C. J. Chenier has it right, "Women are smarter than a man any day."  Gracie just looks at George (presumably in disgust) pecking at the "intruder" in the window for hours on end.  Our volunteer Jim made a contraption that was supposed to thwart his pecks and gouges that are ruining the caulking and UV coating.  But it just gets George up a little higher to do his damage.  It's just a plain waste of poor George's energy, too, and Lord knows desert critters need to conserve what they have.  

George and his "antagonist" - Alas, the Raven Contraption doesn't work

Here are more birds seen this week.  My life-listers are the Black and Gray hawks and the Green-tailed Towhee.  Woo-hoo!

Canyon Towhee at Entrance Station

Pyrrhuloxia male

Aforementioned Red-tailed hawk taking flight

Aforementioned Ash-throated Flycatcher taking flight

Black Hawks Make Whoopee

The Common Black Hawks have returned to Rio Grande Village from more southern climes, and were busy today adding to their nest and making whoopee.

 
Although it's hard to tell the sexes apart, I'm assuming it was the female that stayed at the nest to arrange the large twigs brought by the male.  I could hear him snapping them off the cottonwood trees.  

 
Then the female left to perch on a snag, and in a little while the male joined her for some love-making.  This happened twice, each time the activity was initiated with a wild hawkish cry. 

 

Then he went hunting and brought her back a small food offering.  

 
After awhile it was back to nest-making.  It is well hidden in the leaves of the tall cottonwood, but careless visitors could cause them to abandon the nest. 

That's why we have these nifty new signs warning visitors to keep their distance.  Another nest, perhaps last year's, is in a more visible location, but was passed over in favor of one more secluded.

Despite the name, black hawks are not common at Big Bend.  So give these lovebirds some space, so they can make whoopee.  And babies.

Winter's Last Moon

Composite of the "Super Moon" rising March 19, 2011

It's the first day of Spring. 

It was 102 degrees in Castolon yesterday, in the park's southwest end, ushering out the last day of winter at Big Bend National Park.  The moonrise was much-heralded as the largest perigee moon in 18 years, because it was closer to the earth. (The moon orbits the earth in an ellipse, the farthest point being the apogee.) I watched it rise from behind the Deadhorse Mountains, along with other folks who had come to hear moon lore from one of our rangers.   

Moonrise framed by ocotillo

First the clouds glowed just a little, then more intensely as we waited for the first glimmer of the moon itself.  Coyotes sang in the far distance for a few delightful seconds.  Through binoculars I watched the moon's rim peep over the mountains, and within a minute or two it had presented itself in entirety.  The evening was warm, and Jupiter had already popped out through orange sunset clouds in the west.  Sirius, then Orion's Belt and other constellations appeared as the sky darkened.  The moon rose through thin layers of clouds until it was bright enough for me to walk in the desert without running into cactus or ocotillo. 

Yeah it's a manipulated photo, but it's art, right?

I wouldn't say it was a moon larger than any I'd seen before.  I've seen many that blew me away by their apparent gigantic juxtaposition with the horizon, perhaps distorted by atmospherics.  But it was a combination of good weather, good scenery, and good people that made it memorable.  The ranger said we could all howl at the moon.  I wonder what the coyotes thought.

Popped a flash on the ocotillo with moon in center

LAGNIAPPE - a littla this, a littla that

Sunrise on Winter's Last Day, with Persimmon Mt. to the right

*Big Bend had a little retirement party a couple of weeks ago for a veteran employee.  His uniform was a little scruffy and he needed a shave, but he was adored just the same.  Jeep, one of the park trail horses, was headed for a well-deserved rest, and the send-off was superb.  The park superintendent even presented his retirement plaque, which was signed on the back with good wishes.   The school children turned out for the ceremony, speeches were made, a song was sung (by me) and carrots and brownies were served with iced tea. 

The song was inspired by one written by a cowboy in 1901 for his horse Chopo, and sung and arranged by Rod Taylor who performed at the Cowboy Poetry Festival in Alpine.  I rewrote some of the verses, and apparently Jeep approved because he let out a huge whinny during the song.  Jeep’s replacement is a small pony-sized white horse-with-no-name, and the kids will probably have a good time trying to find a name that fits him. 

Javelinas in housing area - ain't they cuuuute?

*I saw Venus in broad daylight a couple months ago.  I had my binoculars trained on some far-off swifts and spied a very bright point of light.  It wasn’t a jet glistening in the sunlight miles above the earth.  It wasn’t even moving.  I took away my binoculars and couldn’t see it at all.  It was sheer luck that I had found Venus in the middle of the day.  I later learned that if it is far enough away from the sun like it was then, one can find it in midday if one knows where to look. 

George and Gracie

 *Gracie, one of our resident ravens, had disappeared from her night roost with George, and he was coming around the Entrance Station without her.  This went on for about a month.  Doug says this happens every year about this time, and likely Gracie has been sitting on a nest somewhere.  I was feeling sorry for George, since he seemed so lonesome and out of sorts, and I thought something evil had this way come for Gracie.  But she’s been back, and I’m wondering if there will be little Georges and little Gracies around the Entrance Station any time soon. 

*Heard on park radio:  “What is the park policy regarding nudity in the backcountry?”  Reply:  What site are you referring to?   (Imagine everyone glued to the radio for answer…)

*At the Entrance Station:  Guy presented an Access pass and when I asked for ID of the passholder he held up a small bulky envelope with the woman’s name on it.  “Here she is,” he said.  She was on her way to being scattered in the park.  My son has been asked to scatter my ashes around Mt. Rainier, but I may have him save some for Big Bend. 

Terlingua Ghost Town Cemetery

*Spring Break lasts two weeks.  The first week was rather mild, and my cousin and her husband from Bridge City visited.   Second week is when most schools and colleges in Texas were on break, so it was hectic.  I know we’re spoiled, because our brief Spring Break pales in comparison to the everyday crowds in parks like Yellowstone.

*I got Religion.  The Order of the Iron…I am a lapsed Ironer, but the realization that my uniform needed creases brought me back into the, er, fold.  I also had my eyebrows plucked for the first time in my life by the Holy Order of Mary Kay.  I was determined to buy only cleanser at the Mary Kay party, but then I had to go for the tinted moisturizer, then the mineral powder.  Later added eye shadow and rouge.  When in Texas, do as the Texas gals do….Can’t say for sure it’s a great improvement, but at least I’m making the effort!

Yucca at Entrance Station March 13

*Wildflower season won’t be so good this year, since we’ve had no rain to speak of since Labor Day or thereabouts.  The February freeze nipped some of the early bloomers in the bud, as it did the huisache tree at our apartments.  It also wrecked the palm leaves and river cane. But there are some compact mounds of yellow flowers starting to show on the roadsides.  A few yucca, including the one at the Entrance Station planted in 1995, are blooming.  I hope the cactus put on a good show again this year.

Our yucca March 19

It's nearly 90 degrees in the shade - and it's the last day of winter!