elanya

Spring is here!

I used to live Up North and spring was simple. When you saw a Robin - that was spring!

The a moved to North Carolina. That is where the robins all go in the winter, and this was very confusing!

Now I am living in Texas. Do you know what we have in Texas? We have colonies of cardinals, and I see them all the time! They are super pretty. They used to be a rare winter treat bird. I hope I don't start taking them for granted though. So pretty birds!

So now what does spring mean? Spring is when the grackles get horny. And, let me tell you, horny grackles make some damned weird sounds.



....that's only the half of it!

This video (below) gives you a taste of juuuuust how creepy they can be. I can't decide if I think they're annoying, creepy, gross, fascinating, or some combination :V For the money shot, skip ahead to about the 4 min mark.

I think there is a Scissor-Tailed Fly Catcher nesting in the tree outside my study! I've seen at least one of them around there a lot. Last night it was sitting on the powerlines right outside my window :D

I also saw one of the hawks again this morning - I think the male. he likes to scord the baseball field where I sometimes take Jola for grubs, presumably when he can't catch squirrels or pigeons. I am still not sure what kind of hawks they are. not red-tailed though - the tails are very clearly striped white and black. The 'male' isn't very dark either, though I think the female is darker (and bigger.... ergo the female). Not 100% sure! ...Okay I looked at some more hawk pics and now I am fairly confidently calling them Red-Shouldered Hawks. Pretty!

I also saw another egret or crane the other day at the creek! Possibly a Reddish Egret in the white phase?

In other news, I heard from Dr. H that I passed yesterday's prelim, and I finally have my list of questions from Dr. Dickson. So, wheee!