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Archive for the ‘Birds’ Category

As in Life, a Rainbow Hides in Every Storm

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2011| 5 Comments »



This is all I could see outside my RV window at 7 a.m. this morning. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.” — Frank Lane

Travels With Maggie

I’m writing my blog this morning as pelting rain drums a tune on the roof of my RV, which is rocking and rolling with the wind. A clash of distance thunder sounds the cymbals.

There’s something in me that loves an enthusiastic storm, especially when I’m all snug and cozy in warm flannel pajamas with a good book to read. A cracking fireplace blaze would be nice, but when living in a 22-foot home on wheels, one has to make sacrifices.

My canine traveling companion, Maggie, since it is only 7 a.m., is still sleeping. If left undisturbed – and thunder and lightning don’t normally wake her – she’ll sleep until about 9:30 a.m., when she’ll wake up and give me that “I’m ready for my morning walk RIGHT NOW” look.

This scarlet cheer was tucked beneath a hedge. -- Photo by Pat Bean

This scarlet cheer was tucked beneath a hedge. -- Photo by Pat Bean

If it’s still raining, we’ll use my large umbrella. Maggie knows the drill. And she won’t dawdle, as she normally does.

I usually dawdle, too, another reason why Maggie and I are the perfect traveling companions. I carry binoculars around my neck and frequently stop to search out any bird sounds I hear.  Yesterday a knock-know drumming alerted me to a cute little downy woodpecker in the tree above my head. A soft whistling then refocused my binoculars to a tufted titmouse in the same tree.

 I also take time to snap a picture or two with my small digital camera. Remembering to stick it in my pocket for our walks took me a long time, but these days I feel naked without it.

The first bloom on the Japanese magnolia tree in my son's yard. This tree blooms before it puts on leaves and is always a winter treat. -- Photo by Pat Bean

A few minutes ago, on a whim, I shot a view of the storm outside through the inside of

my RV window. Looking at it, I thought about the photos I took yesterday of winter color around my son’s Texas Gulf Coast home, where winter never fully settles in for the duration.

 The contrast between the images speak to me of the silver lining behind every storm.

Do they say something to you?

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Numbers Can’t Compare to a Meadowlark’s Golden Throat

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 31, 2011| 4 Comments »

A chukar on Antelope Island, where this game bird was transplanted, is usually easy for a birdwatcher to find. I've seen many of them, and each time was as delightful as the first time.

 “Life is a great and wondrous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here right now. Don’t miss it.” — Leo Buscaglia

Travels With Maggie

I keep a list of every bird species I see for the first time and a list of the all the places I’ve been. I’m always delighted when I add to these two lists. But thankfully, I’m not like the birder who passed me on a trail on Antelope Island in Great Salt Lake a couple of years ago. .

Maggie and I were dawdling along, she sniffing the flowers and everything else we passed as cocker spaniels do, and me watching red-winged blackbirds flash their scarlet marked wings while listening to a couple of breeding male meadowlarks trying to out sing each other.

Barely slowing his pace, the middle-aged hiker asked if I had seen a chukar. I replied that I often saw this partridge-like bird in the rocks near the bend up ahead. About 10 minutes later, the man ran past me going the other way.

Prong-horned antelope are also easy to find on Antelope Island if one takes the time to drive around and look. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“Got it … that’s 713 birds for me now.” His voice was like the rumble of a passing freight train.

How sad, I thought, that he didn’t take a minute to admire the flashy scarlet markings on the blackbirds or to enjoy the melodic voices of the two meadowlarks.

Numbers on a list are only that. It’s being present in the moment – seeing the golden hue on a meadowlark’s throat as it tilts its head toward the sky in song, or the magic of a sunrise slowly coloring the sides of a canyon – that makes my heart beat faster. I enjoy such wonders whether I’m seeing it for the first or the hundredth time.

But I’ll still keep my lists. I like making them. They’re also a great way to recall the wonders I’ve taken the time to enjoy.

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Mom and Son Share a Passion for Bird Watching

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on January 28, 2011| 5 Comments »

One of Lewis' and my favorite bird-watching places is the Quintana Jetty that juts out into the Gulf of Mexico. On this day we both added a purple sandpiper to our life lists. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“Be grateful for luck. Pay the thunder no mind – listen to the birds. And don’t hate nobody.” — Eubie Blake

Travels With Maggie

When I visit my son, Lewis, he and I usually sneak off for a day of birding. While I’ve gotten other family members a bit interested, Lewis, like me, is passionately hooked on identifying every bird that crosses his path.

He and I have spent many an hour enduring heat, rain, cold, wind and mosquitoes, indulging our birding addiction. Our most successful outing was a dawn to dark adventure in which we reached our goal of identifying 100 different bird species. We had 82 different species by noon, but it took right up until dusk to get the final one, a common ground dove that crossed the road in front of our vehicle when we were almost ready to give up and head back home.

Lewis blames me for his bird-watching addiction. All I did, however, was to throw my field guide at him when he asked me the name of that bird over by the pond. It was our first bird outing together, and it was taking place at the Brazoria National Wildlife just 15 minutes from my son’s home in Lake Jackson, Texas.

White ibis and two snowy egrets at Brazos Bend State Park, which is located less than an hour's drive from my son's home in Lake Jackson, Texas. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“See if you can find out.” I told him. I was busy watching my own bird at the time, a yellow-crowned night heron that, back then, was a new life species for me.

A few minutes later, Lewis called out that it was a neotropic cormorant, which immediately grabbed my attention away from the heron. Lewis was correct in his identification, and I had another life bird. All my other birding at this point had been done in Utah, where normally only double-crested cormorants can be found

Every bird, which was about 42, that we saw at the refuge that day were firsts for Lewis newly started life list. I added eight new ones to my personal tally before flying out later this day back to Utah. Before long, Lewis’ list of birds exceeded mine. It was an easy accomplishment for him because the Texas Gulf Coast is one of the best bird-watching areas in the country.

I caught up with again when my dog, Maggie, and I became full-time RV-ers. We now claim the entire country as our birding territory.

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Ten Ingredients For a Perfect Day

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on January 23, 2011| 6 Comments »

Camden, Arkansas, sunrise -- Photo by Pat Bean

My perfect day begins with a beautiful sunrise. What makes up your perfect day?

“If the world was perfect, it wouldn’t be.” Yogi Berra

Travels With Maggie

Most of my days begin with cream-laced coffee, which I drink while tapping away at the keys of my computer. If one is a klutz like me, that can be a dangerous combination. Coffee and a computer keyboard don’t go well together.

My early morning northern cardinal visitor -- Photo by Pat Bean

I should know. I’ve mixed them a couple of times, one of which cost me $100.

I’d have to say that a morning that begins with spilled coffee usually doesn’t bode well for the rest of the day. While I’m not particularly suspicious, it does seem that catastrophes are quite likely to follow my grandmother’s conviction of coming in threes.

This morning, thankfully, didn’t begin with my favorite Sumatran coffee spilling out onto my computer. It begin with a beautiful sunrise and a bright red northern cardinal outside my window. I took that as a good sign, and then begin thinking about what went into the making of a perfect day.

I had the first three: luscious coffee; blazing pink, orange and purple sunrise; and a cheery bird. What else did I want? Name seven more, I ordered myself. Here’s what I came up with.

            *Learn something new.

            *Finish rewriting a chapter in my travel book

           *A long walk in the sunshine with Maggie – Old Sol’s  supposed to come out today.

           *A flyby of the red-shouldered hawk that has been hanging out nearby.

           *An e-mail from my son who is in Afghanistan.

          *Something to give me a good belly laugh.

          * Hugs from three young grandsons, whom I’m currently visiting.

Of course winning the lottery would be nice, too. But then I forgot to buy a ticket.

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Things Aren’t Always What They Appear to Be

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 22, 2011| 3 Comments »

 

Great Egret

Snowy egret

 If you just see the photos of the two egrets on the right, you might think they were the same size, or even that the one on the left was the largest of the two. It’s all a matter of perspective — as you can see from the picture  below of the two of them together. 

                 — Photos by Pat Bean

                                                _____________

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” — Friedrich Nietsche

Travels With Maggie

One of my proudest accomplishments when I was a journalist was to get comments about a story I had written from people representing two sides of a polarized issue, each claiming my article had taken their opponent’s side. It was only then did I pat myself on the back for getting the story “mostly” right.

How each of us view life is colored by a unique perspective – our own. Truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

Eyewitnesses accounts of events can vary so greatly they sound like two different happenings. I see this frequently when I read accounts by two different reporters covering the same speech.

As you can see when you get the full picture, the snowy egret on the left is quite a bit smaller than the great egret on the right. These two were sharing a log at Estero Llano State Park in Texas' Rio Grande Valley.

For example, an environmental reporter might lead with a lumber industry spokesman’s quote: “A tree can produce enough oxygen to keep five or more people alive for a year.” But a business reporter’s lead would more likely be: “Logging is the life blood of hundreds of small communities; stop cutting trees and people will starve or turn to welfare.”

Both reporters, in the space they were allowed, quoted the speaker accurately. And the speaker was correctly quoted both times. The stories just came from different perspectives.

Travel has broadened my perspectives. I’m constantly reminded it’s a very complex world out there and that answers to problems do not come easily, nor without compromise.

Even through my camera lens – when indulging in my birdwatching passion – things aren’t always what they seem.

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A Gray Rainy Day and Mount Pisgah

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 16, 2011| 6 Comments »

 

Mount Pisgah -- Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.” __ Gilbert K. Chesterton.

 Travels With Maggie

 It’s raining, a steady pitter-patter on the metal roof of the RV carport that’s currently sheltering my RV. The world from. my window is tinted with dripping grayness, broadcasting a message for Maggie and I to enjoy the warm coziness inside our tiny home on wheels this morning.

 This travel writer actually enjoys such lazy days. They give me time to make traveling plans, which currently include sheltering from winter in Arkansas for a few more weeks, visiting Texas’ Gulf Coast, squeezing in some bird watching in the state’s Rio Grande Valley, and finally attending a grandson’s wedding in Dallas.

Mount Pisgah from Black Balsam Knob -- Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 These activities should keep me busy until mid-March when Maggie and I begin our real travels for the year. First on our agenda map is to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway between Smokey Mountain and Shenandoah national parks. It’s been a trip long in the planning, and one of the scheduled stops is the Mount Pisgah Campground.

 I mention this because in response to a recent question (Jan. 13 blog) about special places, one reader said hers was North Carolina’s “ Mt. Pisgah, up high where the Rhododendrons grow.”

I did a bit more detailed research about the peak, and learned there’s a “moderately difficult,” 1.6-mile path to the summit from Milepost 407 of the parkway. I think these old broad legs can handle that, especially since reviews of the trail report that the view from the top “is spectacular.”

 Thinking about that landscape almost has me urging March to get here sooner. But I don’t. I know it’s better to continue putting my own color to the magical grayness outside – and to continue listening to the wondrous composition of pinging rain and Maggie’s contented snores as she slumbers on the couch.

Life is too precious to miss one present moment of it.

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A Small Arkansas Town

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 15, 2011| 8 Comments »

A Camden, Arkansas, sunrise -- Photo by Pat Bean

“To read the papers and to listen to the news … one would think the country is in terrible trouble. You do not get that impression when you travel the back roads and the small towns …” — Charles Kuralt

 Travels With Maggie

I flushed a northern cardinal and a brown thrasher and startled a flock of Brewer’s blackbirds this morning when I first opened my RV door. This trio, along with mockingbirds, sparrows and crows, are regular visitors to my youngest daughter’s five-acre home in Camden, Arkansas.

 This small friendly town, where strangers you meet act as if you had been a dear friend for years, has no traffic jams (which I love) but also no Starbucks (which I occasionally miss). It’s greatest claims to fame are Grapette and Camark.

Gypsy Lee snug in her Arkansas temporary winter home -- Photo by Pat Bean

The first is the dark purple soda introduced in Camden in 1940. Although not ranking up there on the popularity meter with Coke or Pepsi, one can still buy and drink Grapette today. Remembering how I used to love its sweet grape flavor, I drink half of one every few years or so before overdosing on the sugary taste. These days I don’t even put sugar in my coffee or tea.

Camark was the name of a pottery plant that opened its doors in Camden in 1926. It was a thriving industry in the town for many years, but sold its last piece of pottery here in 1982. The pottery is considered quite collectible today, at least according to those who supposedly know such things.

 What I know is that Camden is a nice place to recharge my batteries for a few weeks in winter in anticipation of getting back on the road in the spring. Bonus features include a perfect sunrise view out my RV window, a visiting armadillo, an occasional ride on one of my daughter’s horses, being lulled to sleep by coyotes howling in the adjacent woods, and sightings of a pileated woodpecker that likes to sit in a tall tree at the end the long driveway.

 Oh yes! Let’s not forget the bonus of visiting with my daughter and her husband, and three young grandsons.

 Life is good in Camden, Arkansas.

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Angel’s Landing Tops My Special Places List

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on January 13, 2011| 2 Comments »

The best view of Angel's Landing comes at the end of the hike where you look back up and say to yourself: I did it. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places … where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” — John Muir

 Travels With Maggie

It’s 6 a.m. in Dallas right now, and 27 degrees outside. I’m just waiting for it to warm up a bit before my dog, Maggie, and I get on the road to my youngest daughter’s home in Arkansas.

 The week here at my oldest daughter’s has been one of recharging batteries. Except for a dinner at On The Border one night and a trip to the vet because Maggie had an eye problem (better now), I haven’t left the house.

 My daily blogs while here have been recaps of earlier adventures in the area. So what, I worried when I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning is this travel writer going to post today. Well, my brain whispered to me, what about telling them about your special place? Perhaps readers will even return the favorite and tell you about their special place.

 While I don’t always listen to my chatty brain, I was delighted with this suggestion. My favorite spot in the whole universe is the top of Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park. I made the five-mile round-trip hike to stand up there for the first time in the 1960s – and have repeated it over 30 times since.

 Two of those miles zigzag up the mountain, while the last half mile is an actual scramble over rocks. While coming down is easier on the lungs, it’s harder on the legs. The climb used to be as easy as a walk in the park. These days, it’s a slow uphill/downhill battle.

Walter's Wiggles is a series of 21 hairpin turns up to Scout's Landing, where the half mile rock scramble to the top of Angel's Landing begins. I'm catching my breath halfway up the wiggles. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

That’s OK. It gives me plenty of time to take pictures of the Indian paintbrush growing out of rock cracks, to look for the peregrine falcons that nest near the top, and to listen to the cheery chickadees that flit along the rough trail.

My favorite trip to the top was made the year when friends who were going with me had to cancel. I went alone, but instead of camping, I stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge in nearby Mount Carmel Junction. The day I made the climb was windy, really windy.

Perhaps that’s why, for the one and only time, I had the mountain top to myself for a whole hour. I wrote in my journal while I listened to my all-knowing brain tell me what it always tells me when I stand on Top of Angel’s Landing:  You made it to the top. Now you can handle anything the coming year throws at you.

 And I always do.

So what’s your special place? I’d really like to know.

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Fascination Overrides Fear in Longhorn Caverns

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on January 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

  “I don’t know anyone who actually likes the dark .. I don’t care how much they say it doesn’t bother them. That’s why we used to huddle in caves and light fires when the sun went down.” — Paul Kane

The entrance to Longhorn Caverns and a journey down dimly lit tunnels. -- Photo by Larry Moore

Travels With Maggie

Just 70 miles away from Harker Heights, where my RV has been parked at my son’s house for almost a month, is Longhorn Caverns State Park. It’s perfect for a getaway day trip. I visited it during an earlier visit with my son, and was glad to have the company.

While I’m quite comfortable doing most things alone, I’m never comfortable in a cave. I have claustrophobia. I can’t even stand to be in a bird blind for more than a few moments before I make a dash for a sky ceiling. I need windows to the outdoor world, preferably with sunlight shinning through them.

And yet caves intrigue me. I seldom pass up an opportunity to go deep into the bowels of the earth where the air smells musky and feels primal. I attribute my ability to overcome my claustrophobia to my stubborn unwillingness to give into fear, a trait that serves me well in my solo travels.

But I’ve also discovered that as long as I keep moving through the dimly lit tunnels with my eyes seeking out the alien underworld formations created by water and time, I can put my claustrophobia temporarily on hold.

Comanches, Confederates and Texas legendary outlaw Sam Bass are said to have used Longhorn Caverns as their hideouts. I guess they weren’t afraid of the dark. As for me, I realized early on that I had to be law-abiding because I would go crazy if someone locked me up.

When my son and I exited the cavern, I drank in the hot Texas air with a feeling of relief.

“Come on,” I told my son. “Let’s go hike the nature trail.” And we did.

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Winter Bares Ink Lake State Park’s Soul

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on January 5, 2011| 1 Comment »

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man (or woman) contemplates it, bearing with him (her) the image of a cathedral.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Devil's Waterhole at Inks Lake State Park. -- Photo by Benjamin Bruce

 

Travels With Maggie

When I sit for awhile, I check out nearby scenic landscapes and interesting places to visit. One of these within easy driving distance of Harker Heights, Texas, where my RV is now resting up, is Inks Lake State Park. It’s just 69 miles away, perfect for a day’s get-away when wanderlust gets the best of Maggie and me.

It’s a special place to me because I camped there with my children in the 1960s. The park was very undeveloped at that time, as were we as campers. Instead of the high-tech tents and camping equipment that eventually found their way among my possessions, we used blankets as sleeping bags and tin foil as cooking equipment.

The park today is quite amenable to campers, with electrical hookups for RV-ers like me and a few cabins for those who are not into tents and sleeping on the ground. It also has nearly eight miles of developed trails which I love to explore.

In spring, this Texas recreation spot park is filled with wildflowers, including Texas’ famous bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush, and twittering birds. In winter, I found it a peaceful place where the landscape’s pink, granite rock formations bared their soul.

It’s reasonable to say that both the park and I have come a long way in the passing years.

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