July 11, 2010

As I was driving into the parking lot in front of the Aquarena Center Gift Shop, I saw a brownish animal crossing the street in front of my car. I stopped and watched it walk towards a bush next to the old, closed-down Aquarena Restaurant. It then turned back around and looked at my car. I thought it was a raccoon, but its face did not have a blackish mask. The area around its eyes and mouth was light brown and the rest of its face was dark brown. I saw a couple light brown rings on its tail.

A Gadwall was hunting by itself on the left side of the boardwalk entrance, in the same area as I had seen it the other day. I tried to stand still, but the bird sensed my presence and flew toward the other side of the wetlands. I was glad to see the morning procession of the three American Coots, and was hoping the Gadwall could join them.

The older Red-Shouldered Hawk was perched on the electric line above the Sago Palm. I heard it make a couple calls, and a few seconds later the younger Red-Shouldered Hawk joined it, along with two small, angry birds. One of them perched next to the younger hawk, turned to face it, and started crying at it. The other kept flying above the younger Hawk, as if it was trying to attack it. I’ve noticed in the past that the Hawk is usually harassed by only one of these small birds, but this morning there were two that were intensely focused on the younger Hawk. They did not care about the older Hawk, who spent this time observing the other birds. The younger Hawk eventually flew towards Pecan Grove, and the two crying birds followed it. The older Hawk remained perched on the electric line for a while, but it eventually flew in that direction, too.

Only the top three layers of the Century Plant have flowers now. The pistils have grown a bit taller and had several bees swarming them. It seemed as if they were producing much sweeter honey than they had been.

On the side of the Texas Rivers Center, a juvenile Great Blue Heron was walking along the concrete sidewalk and looking into the water. Yesterday, the Texas Water Safari occurred directly in front of its nest. I thought that the large event must have surprised the young bird. I was glad to see it return to its usual, quiet, daily routine this morning.