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Travels With Maggie: Garner State Park to San Angelo, Texas

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on April 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Pipevine swallowtail butterfly ... Photo by Pat Bean

 “Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly,may alight upon you.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne

Day Four

Pipevine larvae

My camp site at Garner held one of nature’s surprises. Chomping down on tiny ground plants hidden among the short grass were a dozen or so pipevine swallowtail butterfly larvae. This morning as I took Maggie on her first walk of the day before getting back on the road, I saw the end result: an awesome pinevine swallowtail.

How do you become a butterfly? You have to give up being a caterpillar. It’s one of those lessons Mother Nature teaches us about ourselves. And with that thought on my mind, I left the Edward Plateau country behind and headed north on Highway 83.

Just as I exited the park, about a half dozen deer crossed the road ahead of me. The spots on their bodies, since they were adults and not fawns, identified them as axis deer, a species imported to Texas from India as game for hunters. While I’m not anti-hunting, and gladly eat the venison my youngest daughter shoots for her freezer every year, I could never put a bullet in one of these beauties – a contradiction many of us face in a country where food comes wrapped and sealed from a supermarket. I’m old enough, however, to still remember my grandmother wringing the neck of a chicken that would be our Sunday dinner.

I don’t long for those “good old days.” I’m quite happy living in a world that lets me, a lone female, travel cross-country in safety, with plenty of books to read and a microwave oven to cook my store-bought dinner. Maggie, I suspect, prefers these days, too. In my grandmother’s time, dogs were not allowed in the house.

My mind was all awash with such thoughts when I passed through Leaky, a town of about 400 residents and an antique store with a sign that read: “Sophisticated Junk for the Elite.” I laughed out loud, but didn’t stop to investigate. Sophisticated or not, there was no room in my RV for old, or even new, doodads.

South Illano River State Park headquarters, where purple verbena brightened the landscape and a vermillion flycatcher kept watch. ... Photo by Pat Bean

My sight-seeing stop for the day was at South Llano River State Park, where a vermillion flycatcher served as guard dog for the rustic headquarters. I was amazed to see this bird fly right up to the fence next to me. It was almost as if I was being scolded. When I mentioned this delightful, but unusual occurrence to the staff, they laughed and said he greeted all visitors that way.

Vermillion flycatcher ... Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

“He considers our office his personal territory, and wants everybody to know that,” a park worker said as she looked at my pass.

I spent a delightful hour birdwatching on the Illano River before saying good-bye to this small Texas park, giving myself a promise I would be back one day for a longer visit.

My traveling day ended at Spring Creek Marina and RV Park in San Angelo, a commercial park where I knew I could use my cell phone and get on the internet. My Verizon services hadn’t worked anywhere within a 50-mile radius of Garner State Park. That’s one of those traveling surprises that are not nearly as much fun as being able to photograph a pipevine swallowtail butterfly.

Sitting beside Lake Nasworthy, the park caters to fishermen. San Angelo is a convenient stopping place for me on my way between Texas (where family mostly lives) and Utah (where I worked for 25 years) so this was not my first visit to the marina. It’s a quiet quaint place, where a sign on the small combination office/grocery store tells everyone they can get snow cones and pickles, and where scissor-tailed flycatchers played this afternoon in the campground trees. 

After a walk around the lake with Maggie, I spent the rest of the evening catching up on three days of e-mail.  

Birds seen this day: red-winged blackbird, eastern bluebird, northern cardinal, American crow, Eurasian collared dove, mourning dove, white-winged dove, bald eagle, scissor-tailed flycatcher, vermillion flycatcher, blue-gray gnatcatcher, great-tailed grackle, ruby-throated hummingbird, kestrel, killdeer, northern kingbird, northern mockingbird, eastern phoebe, common raven, house sparrow, lark sparrow, vesper sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, European starling, bank swallow, barn swallow, cliff swallow, tree swallow, summer tanager, black vulture, turkey vulture, Bewick’s wren.

Photos and prose copyrighted by Pat Bean. Do not use without permission.

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Travels With Maggie: Lazing Around at Garner State Park

Posted in Nature, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged , on April 22, 2010| 3 Comments »

A good spot to sit and watch nature flow past on the Frio River in Garner State Park in Garner State Park ... Photo by Pat Bean

“Rest is not idleness and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. — John Lubbock

Day Three

Staying put a day or so while traveling has multiple advantages. More time to enjoy an area, a time to rest from driving and sight-seeing, and a means to balance the budget. My goal when traveling is to live on $50 a day. Ideally that means spending $20 on gas, $20 on campground fees and $10 on food.

It never works out exactly like that. State parks and other public campgrounds usually meet the nightly lodging fee criteria, but commercial parks can run up to $35 a night. Some cost even more, but those I avoid. A longer day’s drive means more spent on gas, but a multiple day stop averages that back to my budget restriction. Ramen noodles and free parking in my kids or a friend’s driveway help cover overages and things like museum fees, trolly tours, books and an occasional restaurant splurge. Volunteering for a month or two at a state park, where I get a free camp site and don’t drive, covers emergencies like an unexpected dentist bill or new tires for my RV. It’s a balancing act I’ve worked out in the six years I’ve lived in my RV. It mostly works, although red is not an uncommon color on my accounting sheet.

Maggie took the rest day seriously ... Photo by Pat Bean

Today was one of those rest and budget-catch-up days, my only expense being the $15 camping fee. Exploring the park with Maggie and Mother Nature’s wildflower landscape were free.

Garner sits by the cool, clear Frio River, mentioned by George Strait in his “All My Exes Live in Texas,” recording. The park itself is named for former Vice President John Nance Garner, also known as Cactus Jack in his hometown of Uvalde.

A popular get-away for Houstonians, many a youngster has taken his first dance steps to a jukebox tune on the concrete slab at the park’s lodge. It’s where campers hang out in summer after a day of fishing, tubing, birdwatching or kayaking. Me, I took short walks with Maggie down by the river, watched the birds from my RV, and read a China Bayles mystery.

Photos and prose copyrighted by Pat Bean … Do not use without permission

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Travels With Maggie: Lost Maples and Four Life Birds

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , on April 21, 2010| 1 Comment »

 

Golden-cheeked warbler ... Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 

Day Two

“I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.” — Emily Dickinson

I was picked up at my camp site in Garner State Park by Lee Haile before the sun had cleared the horizon. Lee, a local nature guide, musician and storyteller, was going to help me look for two endangered birds, the golden-cheeked warbler and the black-capped vireo.

For those of you who don’t already know, I’m a passionate birder – and these two rare species were not yet on my life list. I had chosen this activity as my birthday present to myself this year. While a bit more sedate than jumping out of an airplane, which I did last year to celebrate turning a year older, it was just as adrenaline pumping to this birder’s heart.

Black-capped vireo

The bird search took us 30 miles away to Lost Maples State Nature Area, a Texas park renown for its fall foilage and as one of the few places the golden-cheeked and black-capped can be found.

The day started out slow, with the golden-cheeked staying out of sight in its usual haunt, a small canyon about a mile hike from the day use parking area. It didn’t help that the maples, black cherry and mesquite trees in the park were all springtime lush and green. It only takes one leaf, I well knew, to hide a bird from view.

“Let’s go up the hill and look for the vireo,” Lee said.

The hill was one of the limestone ridges in the Edwards Plateau, and the climb, although only a half mile, was rough and the going – well my going – was slow. That was OK. Lee kept up a constant chatter about nature’s wonders as we climbed. He pointed out evidence that the area had once been a sea bed and talked constantly about the plants along the way.

I learned, among many other things, that the blossom of the mountain laurel smelled like grape Cool-Aid and that yellow wood sorrel had a tangy lemon taste. Yes, I tasted it.

Evidence of the Edwards Plateau's past life as an ocean bed.

On the top, where a cooling breeze evaporated the sweat accumulated on my neck during the climb, we heard the black-capped vireo singing almost immediately. It took another hour before I finally got a glimpse of it very low to the ground in thick foilage beneath some juniper trees. Although my viewing was short, it was adequate for me to catch the necessary field marks that would allow me to definitely make an identification.

I was elated. So was Lee. While there are no guarantees in birding, no guide wants to disappoint their client.

On the way back down, we met two couples, one from Washington and one from New York, who were also after the black-capped vireo. Lee told them where to find it, and we later learned that both had seen a pair of the males singing out in the open.

I, admittedly, was a bit envious, but singing in the open was how I viewed my first golden-cheeked warbler. It took us off only about 10 minutes to spot it once we were down from the ridge. It stayed in place after spotted and I got to watch its not-a-plain-Jane magnificence for as long as I wanted.

Lee said it was only his second time to catch both birds on the same day.

By the time we got back to our vehicle, both our stomachs were rumbling. Lee suggested the Lost Maples Cafe in Utopia, a small town of just over 200. It was home town cooking, plain but good. The exception was the Lemon Meringue Pie, which was my idea of ambrosia, not too sweet and not too tart. Unfortunately I ordered the Chocolate Meringue, which was on the runny side. Lee took pity on me and shared his lemon delight.

Me and the Big Tree ... photo by Lee Haile

If the day had ended right here, I would have been a happy camper. Instead, we explored the area for another two hours. Lee showed me the Big Tree, a live oak that once actually held the title, and we turned up two more lifers for me, the hooded oriole and the Bell’s vireos. Both are fairly common birds but ones that had up until this day eluded me.

I walked Maggie around the park on getting to my camp site – and gave her extra treats. She was happy and so was I. It had been a most perfect birthday.

Birds for the day: Eastern bluebird, indigo bunting, crested caracara, northern cardinal, Carolina chickadee, brown-headed cowbird, mourning dove, white-winged dove, ash-throated flycatcher, scissor-tailed flycatcher, vermilion flycatcher, blue-gray gnatcatcher, great-tailed grackle, greater white-fronted goose, northern Harrier, Cooper’s hawk, red-shouldered hawk, red-tailed hawk, ruby-throated hummingbird, blue jay (picking on a barred owl), eastern kingbird, western kingbird, ruby-crowned kinglet, purple martin, northern mockingbird, hooded oriole, osprey, barred owl, black phoebe, eastern phoebe, common raven, chipping sparrow, field sparrow, lark sparrow, Lincoln’s sparrow, vesper sparrow, European starling, barn swallow, cliff swallow, summer tanager, black-crested titmouse, tufted titmouse, wild turkey, Bell’s vireo, black-capped vireo, white-eyed vireo, yellow-throated vireo, black vulture, turkey vulture, golden-cheeked warbler, Nashville warbler, golden-fronted woodpecker, ladder-backed woodpecker, Bewick’s wren.

Photos and prose copyrighted by Pat Bean. Do not use without permission.

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Travels With Maggie: Lake Jackson to Garner State Park

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , on April 21, 2010| 3 Comments »

  Day One

“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and its good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” — Jack Kerouac

The Bridge to Nowhere, circa 1939 ... Photo by Pat Bean

The future Bridge to Nowhere ... Photo by Pat Bean

Come take a jaunt with me from Texas’s Gulf Coast to the Panhandle of Idaho. I plan to make the not-as-the-crow-flies 3,000 mile trip in about six weeks. My traveling companion is Maggie,

Maggie in her favorite spot in the RV ... Photo by Pat Bean

a 12-year-old cocker spaniel I rescued from an animal shelter. She’s a great traveler, excellent company and a comfortable foot warmer on cold nights. And she doesn’t complain when this directionally handicapped driver takes a wrong turn.

My journey today began with a crossing of the old Bridge to Nowhere that spans the Brazos River into Brazoria. Bridge to Nowhere? Yup, that’s its official name, according to a Texas Historical Marker at the site. It got the nickname in 1939 when it was built to replace a 1912 bridge that fell into the river.

Having once lived in Brazoria County, I have a fondness for the concrete and rusting steel hulk that I’ve crossed many times. The bridge, however, may soon be no more. A huge new bridge – in my opinion way too large for the traffic that now passes this way – is being constructed nearby.

Maggie has her own opinion. She woke up to bark at the rusting girders of the old bridge as my RV rumbled across it.

A landscape quilt of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush ... Photo by Pat Bean

Roadside wildflowers brightened the drive on this overcast day that now and then dropped its load. My windshield wipers were working furiously when I passed through Bay City, canceling my plans for a brief visit to the Nature and Birding Sanctuary located on the western edge of this city where one my grandsons is employed at Texas’ first nuclear power plant.

The rain had let up, at least for a little bit, by the time I crossed Lake Texana. I briefly stopped at the state park here to bird. It’s Site No. 20 on the Texas Coastal Birding Trail. The rain may have chased the birds into hiding, however. I found only a moorhen and a great egret to add to the other birds I had seen along the way.

Back on the road, the rain picked up again and was coming down like water pouring from a pitcher when I skirted San Antonio on Loop 410. It continued until I turned off Highway 90 at Sabinal and dropped into the heart of the Edwards Plateau and the Texas Hill Country. It was as if I left one country and traveled to another.

Scissor-tailed flycatcher

 Suddenly the sun was out and scissor-tailed flycatchers sat on the utility wires, their graceful tails twitching beneath their white and salmon colored bellies, as they watched me drive past. Everything was green and lush. Many who had not been here might have thought the landscape as fanciful as the Tolkin’s imaginary Shire. Near the small town of Concan, I passed tube carrying Frio River floaters, waiting for their shuttle ride, I guessed. They looked sunburned and happy. If it had rained on them, who would care. I know. I’ve tubed.

Another few miles down the road and I pulled into Garner State Park. What a great day it had been. .

Birds seen this day: Brewer’s blackbird, red-winged blackbird, double-crested cormorant, crow, mourning dove, white-winged dove, cattle egret, great egret, snowy egret, scissor-tailed flycatcher, snow geese (a big flock flying overhead), common grackle, great-tailed grackle, kestrel,  killdeer,  eastern kingbird,  meadowlark, mockingbird, common moorhen, eastern phoebe, rock pigeon, starling, barn swallow,  black vulture  turkey vulture

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It’s Bluebonnet Time in Texas

Posted in Nature, Uncategorized, tagged , on April 15, 2010| 3 Comments »

A field of bluebonnets at Goose Island State Park in Texas. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”  — John Burrough 

A drive past a field of bluebonnets, or even just a roadside ditch colored by their blue intensity, calms my soul. It’s my alternative to a psychiatrist’s couch. And when I get to walk through a field of them, as I did this past week at Goose Island State Park outside of Rockport, Texas, the chaos of today’s world briefly disappears.

Bluebonnets represent Mother Nature at her finest. And Texas has adopted them, all five species, as its state flower. Yes, I said. five. It’s as if the goddess of beauty couldn’t just create one.

There’s Lupinius subcarnosus (the original state flower title holder that prefers sandy soil), Lupinus texensis (the favorite of artists because of its fanciful white-tip), Lupinius Havardii (the Big Bend variety whose flowering spikes grow up to three feet tall), Lupinus concinnus (a smaller plant whose blooms are more rosy and lavender than blue), and finally Lupinus plattensis (which favors the Texas Panhandle as habitat).

While I find these botanical facts fascinating, and thank Texas Cooperative Extension experts for educating me about bluebonnets, the true joy comes from being able to stand beside a patch of these blooms and breath in their beauty. They make me proud to say I’m a Texan.

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Some Things Actually Are Impossible

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , on April 3, 2010| 1 Comment »

 

An anhinga trying to swallow a fish too large for its throat. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting things that can not be.” — Author unknown

I’m not a quitter. That’s mostly a good thing. But sometimes you have to admit you can’t reach the top of a mountain, fix a bad marriage or write a perfect piece of prose. So you come back down the mountain before you die; you move on with your life while you still have a bit of sanity left; and you send your imperfect article off to a publisher and begin a new piece of writing.

I watched an anhinga, while hiking the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park with my granddaughter, Keri, that might have taken this advice to heart. When we came upon the bird it was perched on a limb above a shallow pool of water trying to swallow a fish too large for its thin neck. We stood there and watched it for a full 30 minutes as it attempted this task.

Several times the fish fell back into the water. The anhinga would dive after it, spear it with beak, come back up to its perch and once again maneuver the fish head down into the opening of its throat. When Keri and I finally gave up watching and moved on, the anhinga was still at what just might have been one of those impossible tasks.

A cormorant and turtles keep a watch beside the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades. -- Photo by Pat Bean

A cormorant and turtles keep watch beside the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades. Photo by Pat Bean

There’s much to see along this popular trail that winds for nearly a mile through a sawgrass marsh full of wildlife. From the trail’s elevated boardwalk, one can almost reach out and touch cormorants, great blue herons, turtles and even alligators that call the area home.

The anhingas, which give the trail its name, are particularly populous. It is sometimes called the snake bird because its low profile in water often leaves only its long-necked head visible.

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A Beautiful Day at Epcott

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , on March 27, 2010| 3 Comments »

              “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson 

        I had the recent opportunity to spend a day at Epcott with my oldest son

One of the many landscaped scenes at Epcott in Orlando, Florida ... Photo by Pat Bean

and his two grown children. Simply being with them was the most pleasurable part of the day. It would be the last time I would see my son until he returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan with his Army unit; and my grandchildren are the rewards I get after overspending on my credit card – always a treat.

        It was a crowded spring break day at the theme park. Lines were long and the pavement was hard on the feet. But I don’t think a smile ever left our four faces. We took the Mission to Mars and traveled to the future in Spaceship Earth. After that, we mostly walked through the beauty around us.

       Epcott has done a fantastic job of landscaping, and its varied architect lets you briefly believe you could be in the better parts of Morocco, Africa, France, Mexico, Norway or Japan. The bratwurst, sauerkraut, schnitzel and beer at the Biergarten Restaurant, along with an Octoberfest in full swing, truly transported us to Germany for a late, feet-resting lunch.

        As we continued on, all the carefully coiffed flowers, fresh paint and enchanting structural details strangely got me thinking about the time I pulled into a crowded, non-landscaped El Paso, Texas, campground where RVs were parked on cement a mere six feet apart row on row. The setting shrank my nature-loving soul. But when I looked out the window early the next morning, I saw a line of Gambel’s quail trotting in a line across the pavement mere inches away from my motor home. It was an awesome sight to this avid birdwatcher.

        Thank you Disney for my beautiful, expensive, landscaped day at Epcott – and thank you Mother Nature for your fantastic wonders that I can enjoy daily for only the cost of awareness.

Japan at Epcott ... Photo by Pat Bean

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Alligator Detour

Posted in Nature, tagged , on March 11, 2010| 1 Comment »

The big baby guarding the road. I estimated his length at about 12 feet, the smaller ones I passed at about six feet. ... Photo by Pat Bean

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” Abraham Lincoln

Yesterday was a first for me. While rain, sleet and snow have occasionally cut a hike short, I have never before been turned back by an alligator. This day I was.

I had  passed three smaller snoozing reptiles on the narrow dike trail around 40-Acre Lake at Texas’ Brazos Bend State Park before coming across the big guy. He had stationed himself facing the trail. I would have to pass within 10 feet of him to continue on. This was far less than the 30 feet distance a sign at the start of the trailed warned hikers to maintain when spotting alligators.

I was actually considering sneaking past him until he opened his eyes. One look at those dark orbs, which sit atop its head and act like a periscope when his body is submerged in the water, stopped me in mid-step. I backtracked past the smaller reptiles, one of which didn’t look so small at a second look, and detoured to do the Hoots Hollow trail.

I saw fewer birds here than I would have on the lake, but the peacefulness of hiking without having to fear losing a leg to the big guy soothed away any regrets. As Scarlett O’Hara said when not getting her way, “ … tomorrow’s another day.”

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Living Backwards: The Japanese Magnolia Tree

Posted in Birds, Nature, tagged on March 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

 

“No yesterdays are ever wasted for those who give themselves to today.” ~Brendan Francis

        I went away for a few days and came back to a tree full of pink and white blossoms. The small Japanese magnolia

Japanese Magnolia: A tree that blooms before it leafs ... Photo by Pat Bean

 tree in my son’s Texas Gulf Coast front yard has exploded into spring. This is a tree that blooms before it leafs, like a human who chooses to eat their chocolate torte before their liver and onions.

       I like it’s attitude. Always saving the best for last is not a good idea in my book of life.

       The Japanese magnolia, or tulip tree as it is sometimes called, is among the first harbingers of spring. Other trees here in Lake Jackson, well except for the evergreen live oak, are still lifeless, their naked branches serving as inviting perches for the chickadees, warblers, sparrows, waxwings, blue jays, robins, starlings, grackles, pileated woodpeckers, shrikes, cardinals and red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks that frequent my son’s neighborhood.  I enjoy their easily viewable presence these winter-morphing-into-spring days, knowing that soon they will be able to hide from my sight among leafy shadows.

         Each season, each day his its own specialness. A dandelion brightens a patch of clover in the park across the street. A cloudless blue sky beckons me to get out and take a walk. I leave the window above my head open at night and snuggle beneath the soft covers.  

       And today I smashed one of the fallen Japanese magnolia blossoms in my hand to get the full effect of its strong scent. It’s a woodsy aroma, sort of like moss growing alongside a small stream.

      It smells like spring is coming.

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Live Oak Trees: Ever Green Guardians of Winter

Posted in Nature, tagged on February 17, 2010| 2 Comments »

 “All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden, tree of life springs ever green.”  —  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe                                                                         

Gnarly live oaks chase away winter bleakness ... Photo by Pat Bean

Winters spent in Lake Jackson, Texas, a small town 30 miles south of Galveston, are always green. I attributed this oddity to its Gulf Coast semi-tropical location. A drought this past summer, disabused me of this notion. Lawns, at least those not watered illegally in the middle of the night during mandated water rationing, were brown. A greenness, however, still abundantly sprinkled the landscape.

 Above the brown grass, mixed in with the winter barreness of pecan, ash and maple trees andguarding the landscape stand an abundance of southern live oaks, many dripping with moss.  This is the same species of tree that gave the USS Constitution, America’s oldest commissioned ship, it’s nickname “Old Ironsides.” Cannonballs bounced off this ship’s live oak hull.

In addition to their strength, live oaks join the pines in being ever green. A huge one of these trees dominates the backyard at my son’s house, and several keep the park across the street inviting during the cold days.  I find these trees a comforting sight, as I suspect do the birds that nestle in its branches.

 Live oaks live about 200 years, although a few 400-year-old specimens have been documented. They’re not neat, up and down straight trees. They come in twisted shapes, surviving whatever catastrophy nature throws their ways. Their trunks are often twisted, as are the winding branches that race to outstrip in width the height of the tree. Often they win.

 It’s not an easy tree to hug. I know. I’ve tried it.

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