Bits of Phenology: Spring 2024 (Don't Blink!)

Weeds, Birds, Wind, and a Happy Hound

Outside my office door this morning

This weekend I was pedaling down an alley and spotted my first robin of 2024. I remembered years ago sitting in a summer Spanish class and learning that robins are called primaveras in Spanish. Primavera is also the Spanish word for spring. I've been watching the signs of spring becoming more evident for a few weeks, but the robin cemented the deal in my mind. Spring is here, people!

Patches of green here and there

I've seen several bird changes lately. Lots of cormorants have arrived. They've become much more numerous in our local parks as the Canadian geese have flown away. There were white-crowned sparrows and some unfamiliar larks in the mesquites at Mae Simmons Park on Saturday. Great blue herons are much more numerous this week. The egrets haven't started showing up, but I'm watching for them. Northern shovelers are still hanging out in most of the playa lakes. I'm seeing (and hearing) more mockingbirds, and the starlings are starting to display their breeding plumage. This time of year makes me want bigger lenses and more patience for photography.

The little brown dots on the elms will soon be leaves.

I am spending more time outside, more time riding, and more time picking up trash. Yesterday the jeans got to skip the dryer. The little black Ford never left the house. I am so very thankful for time outside.

Click the pic to see a little Lubbock, Texas breeze.

This morning I did not need a coat or anything to keep my ears warm as I rode to work. It was almost sixty when I left the house this morning. It'll be a little tougher on the ride home - a forecast of 87 and 25 mile per hour winds. (And I'll be smiling the whole way!)

All those little yellow flowers at Mae Simmons

This pic has nothing to do with spring, but Phoebe loves free publicity.

May you be enthralled with the beauty around you, may you be delighted with all the seasonal changes, and may you nap like a hound!

I pray you are joyful and well, and I sincerely thank you for checking in.

A few old friends and a new bird digs - Clapp Park, 16 March 2021

 I hopped on the Huffy for a short ride to the park this week. I'm thankful to see spring returning.

I rode around for a bit and stopped in the rose garden to do a little writing, but birds kept distracting me.

I've been seeing more cardinals over the last few years. This one was a nice surprise. He kept watching me closely. He had a mate, but she was much more camera shy.

I never tire of watching mockingbirds. This one was quite the character.

This one was a shock -  a bird I had to look up - spotted towhee. (Click the pic to see a short clip of it digging.)

Pic taken on Mar 12 - nothing but mud in the big pond.

It rained on the 13th.

May you find wonders no matter where you are.

Be well, friends, and leave each place better than you found it.

A few Recent Pics - Birds, Reptiles, a Mammal, a few Bikes

Sunrise at work

22 birds

The Joy of Squirreldom 1

The Joy of Squirreldom 2

Sharp-shinned (?) hawk on the work building

This week's biggest surprise -  a road runner in my central Lubbock 'hood

Saturday morning

Gecko gathering (Saturday night)

In case you haven't checked out 2WMB lately (Klunker and Folder)

A man of too few words lately

May you be well and see the beauty that surrounds you!

Lubbock Local Wildlife: A rare sighting

I know it'll shock you, but I was a bit of a nature nerd as a kid. [Aren't you impressed with how well I've outgrown that?] I did a lot of reading. I had a subscription to Ranger Rick magazine. I watched Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I dragged a lot of poor creatures home. And I read a lot of books. I really liked field guides to help me identify what I ran across. (This was the PG era - pre-Google.) I had a well-worn copy of Birds of North America (which told me over and over again that we had English sparrows in our yard).

 

Find it here

 

Yesterday, JG and I went for a walk during our morning break. we walked around admiring the post-thunderstorm morning and appreciating what rain can do for a dry, dry place. Just as we reached our four-story office building JG gasped. She had looked down and noticed a small, colorful, dead bird on the ground. It was a bird I had never seen in person, but I remembered it from the cover of my old Birds of North America book: a male painted bunting. (I did have to look up the name.) Even in death, the poor little guy was stunning.

 

 

I don't know if he was taken out by the thunderstorm, by the windows in the office building, or a combination of both, but it was a bittersweet thing to finally see one in person. Jennifer commented that he looked like he had been spray painted, and it was true.

 

May nature offer you some beauty today - and may it be a little more lively!