There is a part of the ranch that I like to call "The Nancy." It was a gentle woman named Nancy who sold this parcel of land to us. This afternoon I explored the Nancy after we chained the Mesquite plants. In regard to chaining, two bulldozers attached with each end of a large chain. The chain is the same size employed by ships as large as cruise ships to hold their anchors. Together, the bulldozers pull the chain across the land, uprooting dense Mesquite plants. Soil conditions for this method of curbing the Mesquite occur only once every ten to fifteen years. In chaining, we regain the natural grasslands and cacti that the Mesquite overwhelmed by their prolific expansion from the southern part of Texas. A couple of months after the chaining, the grasslands have emerged healthy and dense, and so have the Prickly Pear cacti, able to grow with more sunlight.
Below, a Bullock's Oriole and its nest.
Other birds I sighted on the Nancy were Cardinals, Brown-headed Cowbird, Redwing Blackbird, Starling, Great-tailed Grackle, Bufflehead Duck, Scissortail, and perhaps the Great Crested Flycatcher.
Back at home, I finally found photographic proof of the Carolina Chickadees visiting my feeders!
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