Hot Day in Decorah

Windy Days

Fifty knots blowing across North Texas today. 

Turkey Vultures, Purple Martins, and Barn Swallows dashing through the winds.

Pelicans in Late May

          Seeing pelicans still in the area confirms our suspicion that they may have become year-round residents of Lake Wichita. A Purple Martin from Wild Bird Rescue shares the image above.

Cooper's Hawk

Through Dust and Hail Storms, I Serve

      I served as transporter for a Red-tailed Hawk and four nestling Barn Owls.  A large sign fell over in one of the recent storms, and it tore down a nest, sending its tenant, a young Red-tailed to the ground. Concerned citizens brought him to Wild Bird Rescue. The four Barns had hatched inside a hunter's deer blind. Since Wild Bird Rescue cannot raise large birds -- yet -- Gail Barnes at South Plains Rehabilitation Center receives them and raises them, eventually to release them back into the wild. (I enjoy alliteration and thought of titling this post "Barns to Barnes," but I could not bring myself so to do, ha-ha.)

      In Seymour I came upon the symbols for branding irons.

Windmills and quadruped power-lines: How pretty, no? 

I drove through a dust storm blowing at forty miles per hour across North Texas.

And encountered one of Ben's fave views . . .  a storm building rapidly . . . and waiting for me. Fortunately I came upon an underpass and tucked my car under it while the hail passed by. 

Mahatma and a Nestling Barn Owl

      Lila (my hero), the new executive director of Wild Bird Rescue, held a nestling Barn Owl in her hands. I caught sight of the quote on the t-shirt she wore and thought it made a wonderful background for her work saving wild birds.

The Schedule

         Hmm. Any room for my name on the schedule? The late Executive Director of Wild Bird Rescue, Bob Lindsay -- BirdManBob -- left us with devoted volunteers. Everyone has rallied to pitch in after his passing in order to, as he used to say, "continue in our life-saving mission."

Hunters and Deer Blinds

       Now, hunters, do close up your deer blinds after every season. While at Wild Bird Rescue we adore seeing nestling Barn Owls -- how cute they look in their Barn owlish way -- we would rather you not allow their parents to nest in your deer blinds. Hunters, please take a few minutes of your time to close your deer blinds. Penny lay the four nestling Barn Owls in a row to show that each owl hatches after a specific number of days (four weeks), the mother laying each egg on separate days. Penny estimates the nestling at left to have hatched four days ago, making the owl at right approximately eight days old. A volunteer will transport the owls to Lubbock where at South Plains they have the room to raise such large creatures.

Planes to Cars to Horses

      The Museum of North Texas History celebrated a new fundraiser on Saturday, 21st of May, at Call Field East, Kickapoo Airport. David Martin flew the Curtiss "Jenny" and several classic car owners exhibited their vehicles. In addition to flying the Jenny with speeds of forty miles per hour around the grass air strip, David Martin flew his aerobatic airplane (Extra with a top speed is 400 miles per hour) over the airport. Mac flew next to him in his own Extra, both delivering trailing clouds of smoke along the sky that framed two parachutists, one of whom carried the US flag.

David Martin often assists the MONTH in its fundraising efforts. (Hey, any reason to fly!)

Mac flies his Extra at 200 miles per hour behind the sky diver.

Peyton drove his Packard to the fundraiser.

         While MyMrMallory took the two latter photos above, my friend Bobby accompanied me as we drove in the parade in the 1973 E-type.

         As the morning progressed, an Air Tractor outfitted to fight wild fires flew over the east taxiway and released several gallons of water that reached the croud downwind, providing a cooling mist. The grand event, though, consisted of the horse races along the grass runway.

Photo by Kristen Duwe published in the local paper.

Storm Over Sock

We . . .  finally . . .  saw rain in North Texas. 

Curious Fledgling

One of the fledgling Bald Eagles peers into the web cam.

Mac Waving

Orchard Oriole and Friends

Orchard Oriole.

Eastern Phoebe.

Female Yellow Warbler?

Spotted Sandpiper.

American Turkeys.

The Perch

Great Egret and a passing Purple Martin.

Little Blue Heron.

          I know of a dead tree where several species of birds enjoy a look-out into the countryside and Lake Kickapoo. Great Horned Owls, Red-tailed Hawks, Scissortail Flycatchers, Purple Martins, Great-tailed Grackles, Cardinals, Mockingbirds, among others. 

Green Heron.

Beaks with Food

Cricket. Yum. 

A Blue Grosbeak eats grass seeds.

Resident Geese

        Increasingly, a population of Canada Geese remains in the area.

Heritage Round These Parts

       My friend Ellen wrote, "If we are the sum of our parts, as history defines, in Wichita Falls remarkable people embody that perception." She added that, "It [heritage] is more than a house. It is our clothing, our manners, customs, buildings, memories, origins, businesses, leisure, animals, jobs, all encompassing countless integrated daily lives [ . . . ]" It would not occur to Ellen, modest and altruistic, that she belongs to that group of remarkable people who embody the conception of which she speaks! The organization to which she devotes some of her time, the Wichita County Heritage Society, and its other remarkable volunteers, occasionally host a visit to some of the homes, businesses, and buildings which Ellen mentions in her piece. Find Ellen's full note here: WCHS Site
      Today we travelled to Henrietta, Texas, a hot spot of history. My photographs do not show the buildings or the homes, but only the objects that make part of their owners' memories.

             We heard that this jar of over one hundred fifty years in age contained a small iron kept safely since the 1920s with a note from its owner's mother, "[ . . . ] this small iron that [name] gave to me [ . . . ] I give to you now as a love gift [a wedding gift]." And such is part of the heritage of which Ellen writes.

              Loving iconography and animals, I focussed my camera on every piece or dog I saw.

Peace to you, Mark, my evangelist!

D's dogs would rather join us than remain inside her cottage.

          Remington sculpture stands before an historic sign announcing the Pioneer Days, still celebrated today in Henrietta. The objects people own show part of what makes them happy, and part of their heritage.

Cotton Sack.

Revisiting Lake Arrowhead

Snow and Cattle Egrets.

Great White Egrets

Little Blue Heron

           I found in an old, dusty, file in an old computer photographs that I took on June 24th, 2008, of birds on a little island on Lake Arrowhead. Other species I saw there: Great-tailed Grackle, Turkey Vulture, and Canada Geese.

Great Blue Herons nesting. A Snowy Egret watches.

Neotropic Cormorant