Owl Prowl and Cattle Drive - Fri. and Sat., Feb. 6-7, 2015

It sounded like a good idea at the time: a night-time Owl Prowl at Mitchell Lake Audubon Center (MLAC) in San Antonio. After work on Friday evening, I headed down to MLAC for their special event. Sure we would be making S'mores with marshmallows, graham cracker, candy sclera, candy corn, and chocolate chips, kids crafts would be available, Sea World would be there with live owl talks, and then we would go on a hike "in the full moon" to look and listen for owls.

The reality of the Owl Prowl event was that it was over-crowded. Luckily I got there early enough to snag a seat. Quite a few were left standing because they didn't expect so many people. I estimate 80 people were there. The kids were having a blast dissecting owl pellets and doing crafts. The S'mores were cute (as they were made to look like owl faces) but not cooked. It was also quite cold and we were outside in a covered (but not walled) pavilion.

The most interesting part of the two-hour event were the two live owls, an Eastern screech owl and a barred owl, that Sea World wildlife instructors brought. Each of the ladies talked about the owl they were holding. We learned what they do and don't eat, how they sound, and what their place is in the environment. Very cool. I forgot my camera and my phone, so no photos. Pout.

When it was time for the hike "in the full moon," there was no full moon. You see, the full moon showed up in the early morning hours, not at 7:30 p.m. We took flashlights and lanterns out into the preserve to look and listen for owls. Everyone was told not to shine their flashlights in the trees because it would traumatize the owls if they were nesting. Guess what? Adults and kids were shining their flashlights into the trees. In listening for the owls, all we heard was noise pollution: people's barking dogs, cars on the road, honking cars. Our tour leader, the "bird nerd" Jason, did some owl calls to try to get them to respond. All we could hear were dogs in far-off neighborhoods. Oh, well. He did give us good tips if we want to look for owls on our own. He said it helps to have some kind of light in the background so the trees are silhouetted. In our case tonight, we had the lights of San Antonio off in the distance. Still, we did not see any owls.

I headed home with info about owls in my head and was feeling might cold. Maybe next time we'll find owls.

On Saturday morning I worked until 10 am, then joined some other people in our RV park to see the Western Heritage Parade and Cattle Drive in downtown San Antonio. We rode the bus downtown, walked to Houston Street where the parade would be held, and waited. Again it was cold, and windy. We had on heavy winter coats and gloves.

For the seventh year in a row, the Western Heritage Parade and Cattle Drive kicks off the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Domesticated longhorn cattle walk down Houston Street, followed by the parade which includes horseback riders, a band, bagpipers, Shetland ponies, sheepherders and their dogs, cavalry riders, Buffalo Soldiers, and wagons. It was quite fun to see all the longhorn cattle and cowboys on horseback driving them down the street.

Check out those longhorns

Those are some long horns on the cattle!

People ride longhorns??

They sure do!

This longhorn was feisty.

Dogs herding the sheep down the street

U.S. Border Patrol

Alamo City Community Marching Band

Percheron putting on a show for the crowd

Bagpipers

Lovely ladies on horseback

Buffalo Soldiers

Shetland pony brigade

Adorable

Love the little wagons

Las Monas Performing Company

Cavalry from Foot Hood

From Blanco, TX, Buggy Museum

From Blanco, Texas, Buggy Museum

Whiskey Wagon

Beautiful mules

After the parade, we headed back to the resort and I returned to work. As soon as we got back, the sun came out and the day became beautiful.

Saturday evening we had movie night at Travelers World RV Resort and watched "Man of La Mancha," a classic musical with Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren. It had been years since I had seen the movie. Really a good one.

Tomorrow we're off to Port Aransas, Texas, to see Faye and Dave. We'll do a 5k Volksmarch and have lunch. Then we're driving over to Rockport to look for whooping cranes. It's supposed to be a warm day at the Gulf! Looking forward to it.

Travel Bug out.

Volksmarching Day and Evening - Tues., Dec.17

At the crack of 1:00 p.m., I started a 5K Volksmarch at Mitchell Lake Audubon Society. When I arrived in the visitor center, the volunteer told me that a long-eared owl had been spotted on the weekend. During the day it had been sitting in a tree on the Native Plant Trail by the Bird Pond.

Thinking I might get to spot this rare bird, I detoured off my route to look for the owl. I went to the exact spot where the owl had been seen on the weekend and looked and looked, but I could not find the owl. Bummer.

Today I did see a new bird (which is my goal every time I go). I saw a bird way across the Bird Pond that looked different from the rest. I zoomed in on it. When I got home, I found it was an American Wigeon. This is a new bird for me on my bird list. Click to enlarge and look at the pretty coloring on its head.

The day was beautiful and warm with swirled white clouds.

Trail along the Bird Pond.

Bird Pond.

Cool cloud formations. If you enlarge this, you can see
rainbow colors coming straight out the top of the center cloud.

There are two little popcorn-shaped clouds in the center.

Other birds were the usual suspects at Mitchell Lake...

Cinnamon teal (dabbling duck)

Double-crested cormorant

Can't tell what this bird is.

Killdeer and three male Northern Shovelers

????

Spotted sandpiper

Spotted sandpiper

Black-necked stilt.

So graceful (black-necked stilt)

The turtle was enjoying the sun.

A gorgeous bright-orange butterfly.

I spent 2-1/2 hours walking about 3-1/2 miles. It's relaxing and enjoyable to watch the birds.

This evening, the Randolph Roadrunners Volksmarch Club had their Christmas party at River City Seafood & Grille in the Stone Oak neighborhood of San Antonio. About 45 people were there for dinner and a gift exchange.

A room full of Volksmarchers

One of the unwrapped gifts.

The dinner and party were fun. We had plenty to eat and a gift exchange that wasn't too cutthroat, although the chocolate, alcohol and a warm, fuzzy blanket were the most stolen gifts. I ended up with a Mini Countertop Grill, just right for cooking two burger patties or two chicken breasts. Susan and Darren were at the dinner. It was nice to know some of the people in the room, plus I met new people.

Yesterday, Bob and his son Randall drove from San Antonio to Houston to pick up a bounce house that had been ordered from China. Random wanted to have their own bounce house rather than renting one all the time. They were gone all day and into the night. Houston is about 3 to 3-1/2 hours each way. They had a care package of Christmas cookies from the cookie exchange on Sunday. Those were popular!

That's the way our days are looking. We will be busy right up until New Year's!

Tomorrow, Snelling is sending me out on to a new job which will be once per week, two to six hours each time I work. I will be working in a doctor's office for traveling physicians, opening up in the morning, checking in patients, setting up paperwork, changing paper on the exam room table between patients, and cleaning up and closing when all patients for the day have been seen.

Travel Bug out.

Birds, Dragonflies and Spiders, Oh My - Sat., July 27

Rain? It rained sometime during the night or early morning hours. When we got up, Rigamarole was covered in water, the picnic table was wet and so were The Beast and the Escape pod.

My 10K Volksmarch today was at Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands in south San Antonio. I would have started much earlier than 8:25 a.m., but the wetlands don't open until 8 a.m. When I arrived at the Audubon Society, I had to go into the office to pay my $2 admission fee and sign in for the Volksmarch. The man working at the Audubon Society was very chatty and that took another 15 minutes or so.

A tour of two people was ready to head out for a bird survey. I guess they try to identify as many birds as they can on the survey.

Upon leaving the building and passing by beautiful, butterfly-attracting flowers, I had to photograph a butterfly or two.

Monarch butterfly (danaus plexippus)

Monarch butterfly backlit by sun.

 The first birds I encountered were a family of purple martins on a line.

Purple martins.

Today was enjoyable because I could take my time, listen to bird calls, and try to spot elusive birds (not too successful on the elusive birds). Bob plays basketball on Saturday morning, so I like to hike somewhere interesting and safe when he's not with me.

Here are interesting finds along my path...

Hairy-looking seed pods.

A couple of wild rabbits darted across my path, but they were too fast; no chance to get my camera in position for a photo.

Silver-leaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium)

Wild petunia (Ruellia sp.)

Carolina wren.

When the Bird Pond appeared on my right, I started looking for water birds, but didn't see any other than the great egrets. As I walked, a casual glance to my left almost made me wet my pants. I am petrified of spiders and what I saw was a HUGE orb spider sitting in the middle of a web that was, I'd guess, four feet across. The spider in the middle, including legs, was as big as my palm.

Golden orb spider in the middle of its web.

Golden orb spider.

Golden orb spider.

Northern rough-winged swallow.

House finch.

House finch.

While walking near the Bird Pond, I met a man and asked him what birds he had seen. His name is Jim and he writes a blog called Jim's Assorted, Usually Photographic, Ramblings. He said he wasn't looking for birds but was looking for dragonflies. That's his specialty. In fact, in front of us was an Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly, perched beautifully, waiting for its photo to be taken. You can find his photos on his blog. I was able to capture the Eastern Pondhawk as well. Jim explained to me that this particular dragonfly is very mean to other dragonflies and bugs. I would have missed it if it wasn't for Jim pointing it out to me.

Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly.

Once he pointed out that Mitchell Lakes is a good place to spot dragonflies and damselflies, I was on the lookout and you will find a couple more photos of dragonflies today.

Identification, anyone?

Four-spotted pennant.

Roseate skimmer.

As I rounded the corner from the Bird Pond headed for East Poulder, it was full sun ahead: 85-90 degrees with relatively high humidity. My best birding of the day took place in East and West Poulder ponds. The black-necked stilts are in residence and they are gorgeous. They also make quite a racket when a threat comes around.

Black-bellied whistling duck family.

Black-necked stilt

Least sandpiper and killdeer.

Four black-necked stilts in a row.

Black-bellied whistling duck.

Black-bellied whistling duck and willett.

Every once in a while you find something you don't see everyday, like a turtle or armadillo remains. The turtle below was trucking along the trail until I came along, then it got all shy.

Armadillo remains.

Snowy egret fishing.

Neotropic cormorants.

Orb spiders were everywhere today!

Self portrait. Don't you love the hat?

Cacti ready to bloom.

Orb spider in front of cacti.

Beautiful blooms outside the visitor center.

By the end of this walk (which lasted three hours), I was beat. Couldn't wait to get inside the visitor center. The desk person helped me identify the birds in the photos, although he wasn't sure about the sanderling because the photo was so small on my camera screen.

I really enjoy my alone time on walks like this when I can go at my own pace, look for birds and photograph to my hearts content. I would love to learn the songs of different birds to identify them as it isn't always possible to spot them.

Bob worked today. When he came home he could barely walk. He's pretty sure he has plantar fasciitis. He is going to take it easy on his exercising and do stetches to help alleviate the pain. I hope he gets better soon because I'll miss my best walking partner while he's convalescing.

I hope you're all having a good weekend.

Travel Bug out.