Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
Author: Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall
The person behind The Hermits' Rest blog and many others. I'm a certified Texas Master Naturalist and love the nature of Milam County. I manage technical writers in Austin, help with Hearts Homes and Hands, a personal assistance service, in Cameron, and serve on three nonprofit boards. You may know me from La Leche League, knitting, iNaturalist, or Facebook. I'm interested in ALL of you!
As I have mentioned and you certainly know, this year has been a hard year for every living thing. Water and food are not as plentiful for our wild friends.
So, while I have lots of extra water stations, I also have put out extra bird food.
Black oil sunflower seeds are my favorite for most of the feeder birds, along with dried mealworms for the bluebirds and phoebes. Live mealworms are the best, but even more expensive than the dried ones.
I have spent way over my budget this year, so I need to win the lottery soon. Like me, the birds will have to be careful with our funds.
I took these photos this morning of first-year bluebirds sitting on one of my platform feeders eating mealworms I had just set out. They must fight the cardinals for them. The eastern phoebes also like the mealworms.
The bluebirds were born this spring, so they look a bit rough. They will look better in their second year.
It’s nice to do something for the birds. It’s nice to do something nice for anyone.
This morning I looked out our front window to check on one of my hummingbird feeders. I went oh, what is that big orange thing! It was a male Baltimore Oriole!!
It was trying to drink the sugar water from the hummer’s stash. I rushed to see if I could take a photo through the window. I got a few that were good enough to clearly identify the bird. He was not there long because a couple of attacks to his head by one of my male ruby-throated hummers ran him off.
I had the bottom of an old feeder, so I got it out. I placed some grape jelly, pineapple chunks, and some Mandarin oranges in it and mixed a little sugar water in it also. An orange cut in half would have been better, but I had to use what I had on hand.
I took the feeder out to my garden and hung it on a shepherd’s hook.
In about an hour the Oriole found it. But so did the other hummers. Not so fast they cried.
Those little rascals simply think they own the garden. I have seen them run the butterflies off too. I love them all, so they will have to work it out amongst themselves.
I have noticed that for the past three years, I have had just one of these beautiful birds show up here at our place.
So why is it alone? No one will ever know, he’s not talking.
The world is full of beautiful little nature events like this; you just have to pay attention.
Here we are at the close of summer and we still have 100-degree temperatures. I maintain my hummingbird feeders year-round. In this heat, I change out the sugar water every third day.
This morning I had a nice surprise! I looked outside on our front porch and saw about 8 Ruby-throats trying to run each other off the feeder. Hummingbirds do not share very easily. They must have to talk to each other first and come to an agreement before they all land and take a meal together. Always competitive.
Out in the yard there are not many plants with nectar that are still alive. This drought has been very hard on all our wild friends, not just on us.
We have air conditioning and grocery stores; they have whatever didn’t die or dry up. Somehow, they manage each year to survive another season in Texas. I hope they always will. Need will find a way.
Remember to clean the feeders, change the water often and put the feeder under shade if possible. If the water is not changed and is left out under the sun, it will become more like a hot toddy than a cool refreshing drink. Just a little care by humans will go a long way to helping out our tiny little winged friends.
I was lucky enough to attend a hummingbird banding years ago.
I paid the fee to adopt one at the event. So, when a hummer was being released after it received the tiny lightweight band it was placed in my open hand. It stayed in my hand for a few seconds and flew up and away.
I have to say, it was so moving that I actually cried from the experience.
Its heartbeat and it felt like a bond was forged at that moment. I am sure it was scared, so I hope it got over that quickly. I would never harm an animal. Its band will help scientists follow their journey through Mexico.
Today I went out to my garden to fill all the bird baths and containers I have with fresh water for all the birds, bunnies, and assorted little creatures that call our place their home. After all, we are in their hood. I have to fill everything twice a day.
I have tried to get a photo of all the Cardinals. I must have 80 to 100 of them, by far more than I have ever had at one time. We have feeders out for them, so I am thinking that the weather was not kind to insects this year (or anyone else) and that the birds are hungry and thirsty. I can understand that. They cannot run over to the store and pick something up like we do. Asking them to sit still while I take a picture of them has not been easy. They fly up as soon as I approach them.
They are at Mother Natures and humans’ whim.
There are lots of first years in the garden. You can always tell the new babies because their feathers are not as beautiful, not as colorful, and pretty ruffled up. They look like they are having a bad hair day!
I was able to get one photo with several first-year Cardinals and two first-year Blue Birds. I bet they will remember sitting next to their bird pals during a drought year and sharing a cool drink. There are always good times if you look for them.
I left Texas for a couple of weeks and looked for birds in South Carolina. I was surprised at how few I saw, though looking up and seeing an osprey floating outside my window scanning for prey was a pretty cool highlight.
I have no bird photos, so I’ll share other summer survivors. This beauty is a checkered setwing (Dythemis fugax). I love its stance. We have lots of them now, but I’d never observed one before.
Back here in northern Milam County, Texas, I’ve had the same experience. Before I left, the drought was just getting started, and I still saw scissortail flycatchers, large flocks of starlings and grackles, paintd buntings (heard, not seen), a few dickcissels, and my buddies the bug-eating barn swallows. When I returned, those birds were long gone. In fact, because I slept in a bit the first few days that I was home, I didn’t see or hear many birds at all.
The ground cherries (Physalis cinerascens) are only blooming in the shady areas.
Since I’ve been getting up earlier to hang out with my horses before it gets stifling hot (108 at my house yesterday), I found that the birds make their forays early. For example, this morning I saw three of my pond bird friends, the blue heron, the green heron (it chided me for making it move), and the upland sandpiper. What? Yep, every year a few of them show up and run up and down the “beach” created by the ponds losing water. I often get a yellowlegs or two but have not seen one this year.
We usually have lots and lots of prairie broomweed (Amphiachyris dracunculoides) but this year there isn’t very much.
I turned on my trusty Merlin Bird ID app to see what was out there while I walked around this morning, as well. The red-shouldered hawk was declaring its presence loudly, while the American crows (which I can now distinguish from fish crows by their calls) were answering. I enjoyed that dialog, only to have them joined by my trusty friends who never leave, the Carolina wren (at full volume), the tufted titmouse, and the cardinals. I didn’t hear the woodpecker, but I hear them often, so I believe Merlin on that one. It sounded pretty good there for a while, and I was happy to learn that my woods still had some residents.
What Merlin heard from 8:30-8:40 am this morning.
Other birds that are still hanging around are the house sparrows (much fewer in number now than they were), vultures (black and turkey), and nighthawks who show up promptly at dusk every evening.
These camphorweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris) are pretty perky in areas that get some shade.
It’s nice to know there are still some birds of summer out there. We have lots of water sources, which help a lot, and plenty of seeds and bugs for them to eat. What birds are you seeing where you live?
Feverfew (Parthenium hysterophorus) is popping up near my house. It’s extra poisonous, so it’s going to get cut down.
PS: my photos aren’t of birds, because I haven’t been close enough to photograph any.
I have yet to identify the mysterious sea monster in the pond behind my innocent horse.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 