Marvelous Nature

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous." ...Aristotle

Morning Sunlight through the Pine Trees

Pileated Woodpecker in a Pine Tree

Crows

Photo by Gerald Cato
One of our resident crows

The G-man recorded one of the most intriguing documentaries about birds recently. The title of the documentary is The Murder of Crows produced and directed by Susan Fleming. He recorded it from the Nature program on PBS. This link to The Murder of Crows has several videos taken from the show and are very interesting.

I have long known that crows are extremely intelligent and have a language of their own, but this documentary revealed many things that I did not know. The following list are things I learned:

• Crows have an exceptional ability to remember and pick a single human face out of a crowd. (There is a video showing how crows react to and associate a particular face with a particular action.)
  
• Crows are far more likely to be found living close to cities and suburbs than out in the country.
• Each generation of crows is capable of building on an earlier generation's knowledge.
• Crows live with a mated pair, their kids, and offspring from previous years in an extended family.
• Crows are found on every continent except Antarctica.
• New Caledonian crows are one of only three species, besides human, in the world capable of making tools.

Two of the above that I found the most interesting are that crows (New Caledonian variety) have the ability to make and use tools. Not only did one make a tool to get food, but it made a tool to get to the tool to retrieve the food it wanted. The other point is a crow's ability to recognize a particular human, remember that person, & relate that information to other crows (even to the next generation). Just absolutely amazing!

The two things I did know from watching our neighborhood crows are:

• Crows have different warning calls - one for cats, and one for hawks, and another for humans - 250 in all. (Well, I didn't know they had 250 different calls!)
  
• Crows are omnivores and eat fruits, vegetables and meat. (Oh yes, they love the goodies we put out on a stump for them.)
  

We have resident crows who hang out and wait for us to take out our melon rinds and apple & pear cores. We put these things on a log and just yesterday two crows, one rabbit, and one squirrel were sharing in the feast. I would love to get a photo of that but alas they do not like to stick around when I come out to photograph them. I would rather not disturb their picnic so I am content to keep the image in my head, but it is quite something.

If you get a chance to see the above mentioned documentary please do; I think you will enjoy it. If you can't see the entire show visit the web site & watch the videos.

Deer & Peacock

Peacock

and Deer friends
sharing the corn

Bulverde, Texas

Tuesday is for Turkeys

Wild turkeys came strolling through our yard the other day.
(click on link to learn about turkeys)
They gathered under the bird feeders looking for some grain.

The three consisted of a hen & her two chicks of the season.
The "chicks" were almost as large as she.
Evidently the tom turkey has nothing to do in raising of the chicks.
The hens gather together to raise the chicks,
but in this case there may be few other wild turkeys nearby
so there is no gathering of hens & chicks.

Even though they did not run or fly, they headed for the woods.

The last one is escaping into the woods behind our house.

Morning Walk in the Neighborhood

The sun is just about to top the pine trees across from our house.

Gertie & my shadow are starting out on our little trek with my sun hat atop my head,
Gertie's leash in my left hand, and a small camera in my right.

Down the street & around the corner we begin our uphill climb.
You can see to the top of the first rise in this photo.

The road is cut into the hillside and you can see the trees growing at the edge of the cliff.

Just at the top of the hill someone has parked their old International Scout beside the road.
The little truck has Texas plates indicating it is an antique automobile.
I wonder if it in in working order?

Now we are on the second leg of our upward walk. The hard part is behind us.
Yesterday Gertie & I walked at 1 PM which put this road in bright sunshine.
It was too hot to walk then & we were both panting when we finished.
Later I found that the heat index was 106 for the day. Whew! I won't do that again!

The red clay is pretty to look at, but I wonder how the trees find any nourishment to grow.

I walked up the little hill & found a path down into the woods.
It is probably private property so we won't go down that road.

Here is a bit of Texas Blue Stem grass growing beside the road.
When we have rain it is very pretty.

Above and below are houses that I pass along the way.
They have pretty yards even in this dry weather.

Someone is watering and Gertie would like to run through the sprinkles.

Pretty little setting among the trees.

Here is a little area where the wild grasses are growing.
I suspect it caught a little shower last week otherwise it would be totally brown.

The last hill to climb and then downward to home.

This pine tree is growing out of the hillside.
Look at the way the trunk is curved at the bottom.
The roots can also be seen spreading outward.
It looks like a cross section of the hillside was done for an experiment.

Another pine tree struggling to support itself on the hillside.

Now we are on the way down the last hill.
We are about to pass the homes of some of our neighbors.

If you look closely our house can be seen through the trees.
We are almost home.
I hope we didn't tire you too much. It is good exercise.

Where the Birds Hang

The birds love to hang out at this water bowl in the afternoon.
They gather to drink and splash around as I watch them from the window in my little study.
I hear tapping noises and peek out to see them cracking sunflower seeds on the window ledge.
It is a daily afternoon event that I love to watch.

As I look out right now Miss Kitty is skulking about the area.
Who knows what is on her mind.
Perhaps she's looking for a cool place to rest or perhaps she's looking for a snack.
Hmm, will have to keep an eye on her.

Titmouse and chickadee at the watering hole.
I also have 3 little Carolina wrens that hang out with these other birds.
The wrens don't act very "wren-like" because they love to go to the feeders.
Mostly wrens look for worms on the ground or the patio, hmmm.

Another is waiting its turn... don't want to get too crowded here.

A male cardinal rests between bites at the feeder.
He is not as brilliant in color as when he was trying to attract a mate.

An immature red-belly woodpecker is about to pounce on the feeder.
Their parents taught them to go to our feeders.

A female cardinal is about to get into the water.

Gertie is sunning on the pine needles. She loves to lie in the sunshine.

Pine trees, clouds, and blue sky;
Oh my.

Bird feeders and natural area behind our house.

A few potted and a couple of bottlebrush plants are in the area, but mostly there are pines, berry bushes, a few oaks and yaupon growing naturally. We have many vines growing around the trees and it is a constant battle to keep them from taking over the trees. It's a pretty nice place to live, but we do need rain. The forest will not survive much more in the extreme heat and no rainfall. The meterologists are saying El Nino is due in the fall and on into winter & spring of 2010; that will mean rainfall. Oh yeah!