July 5, 2010

I stayed in front of the Pecan Grove for a while, but saw no birds this morning.

I looked around after going through the covered entrance bridge to the boardwalk, but the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron was not there. The area was quiet. There was only one Nutria munching Algae and several Green Herons standing motionless in the shallow water.

At the middle of the boardwalk, I saw the timely punctuated morning procession of the American Coots. They were on the way to their regular feeding place. However, there were only two. Where is the other one?

On the right side of the boardwalk exit, two mischievous juvenile Nutria started wrestling after eating Cattail leaves for their breakfast. Fallen Cattail leaves made a nice mat for the wrestling. As usual, after their play, they put their noses together as if inseparable twins and walked together into the Cattail bushes.

I heard the voice of a Red-Shouldered Hawk. From the voice, I could tell that the bird was circling around the wetlands towards the Glass Bottom Boat dock.

I found the Red-Shouldered Hawk on the cable in front of the Swiss Sky Ride. The bird was calling as if it needed something. Then, I noticed that the bird made a call that was slightly different. The tone was all right at the beginning but sounded a little more hoarse than usual at the end. The tone reminded me of my voice when I get a vocal cord infection. I felt that the bird was hungry. I waited to hear a response from somewhere, but there was no response. The bird finally flew up, and eventually, the voice faded towards the hill.

I saw the younger one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron on the middle of the barrier between the Landing and the end of the diving facility. That part of the barrier is higher from the water surface, but the bird likes the spot. The older one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron preferred the corner of the diving facility, the end of the barrier that is closer to the water surface, but the younger one showed more flexibility hunting. Since the barrier is higher from the water, it is not easy to strike the crayfish on the bottom of the lake. I saw the bird bending its neck and body toward the water as if falling into the water but, amazingly, it gripped the corner of the barrier with its strong feet.

As I observed the younger one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron claim the area as its hunting territory, it seemed that it had no intention of claiming the best hunting area, the entrance of the boardwalk as the older bird had done. I went to the entrance of the boardwalk several times but I did not see any Yellow-Crowned-Night Herons there.

I assumed that after the defeat by the younger one-dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron yesterday morning that the older one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron had given up its hunting territories all together at this lake. It is a rise and fall, like Roman history, or the history of the world.

It was interesting that the mushrooms were gone except a couple of them that stood beside the Sago Palm and in front of the bush in front of the Swiss Sky Ride. What happened? Many of them were there yesterday and the day before yesterday. It was strange that the color of the mushroom changed in one day; and also, disappeared the next day. I walked to the two places, the Sago palm and the Swiss Sky Ride trying to understand the disappearance of the strange mushrooms.

I saw something black lying on the mulch underneath the Sago Palm and the bush in front of the Swiss Sky Ride where the mushrooms had sprouted. I had not seen the black things yesterday morning. I picked one up and it looked like a dried jelly fish on a stick. Surprisingly, the black things were the mushroom caps, and the blackened caps were attached tightly to the stems that were becoming flat strings, but remained a beige color. I was puzzled that the mushrooms had changed into this condition in only one day.

The lower layers of the Century Plant are done, most flower clusters have turned into clusters of flower stems.

I heard the angry voice of the Thrusher like small bird even before entering the covered bridge beside of the Aquarium. I thought that the bird was harassing the young hawk again. However, I found the bird was alone on the iron fence in front of headwaters, in front of the Texas Rivers Center, crying by itself. I could not see any hawks in the Pecan Grove. Poor little bird, I thought. Whatever the reason, I felt by the sound of the voice, the bird was mad at something. May be, the bird was angry because the bird could not find the young hawk in the grove.