The Live Oak Grove

 

This is a view of the shaded grove of live oak trees as we drive in the west gate of Little Bluestem.  You will notice the many large branches that hang over the open space below.  One of the things we love about driving in early in the mornings is there is a pretty good chance we will see perched on the branches two great horned owls.  We have to come in slowly and be very observant or we'll miss them because they do not want to be around us and quickly take wing.  The vary large and old live oak trees in this grove are to the left of this view.  We can only guess that these trees are probably over 150 years old. 

You may see the storage building where we keep our chairs, grill, tent, etc.  No matter what time of summer, there is always a cool breeze through this shady spot.  We've eaten many a lunch and had a few overnight camping experiences under the protection of these gorgeous trees.

Besides the owls, we see and hear all sorts of other birds in these trees.  The chickadees and titmice are probably the most active.  The cardinals are very vocal and visible as they call to each other and the fledged babies.  On the branches which are at the edges of the grove, we see scissor-tailed flycatchers and other flycatchers which are as yet unidentified.  They swoop out into the open, grab a bug, and swoop back to the protection of the branches/trees.  At the vary tops of the trees, I hear finches and warblers.  These little guys are very difficult to make a positive ID on because of the bright sky behind them.  I plan to install several bluebird boxes in the future as I've seen them on various wires.  I was feeling pretty good about the songbird population in general until I saw a small flock of cow birds.  This bird lays its eggs in the nests of song birds and pushes the song birds' eggs out.  The poor song birds end up raising a "no-good-welfare-destined" mooch. 

Flying over the pastures are a variety of hawks, falcons, and buteos.  Again, if the lighting isn't perfect for me to ID them, they get called a hawk, falcon, or buteo.  Have seen and heard a red-tailed hawk along the drive.  Scavenging are the vultures and the caracara.  The caracara historically is found further south, but as the weather has heated up, they've extended their range north. 

 

 It is always pretty sad when I have to include pictures from books.  If the bird or animal is not front and center when I'm in the mood to take its picture (mostly I just love to watch what they are doing) then it just doesn't happen.  Maybe my attitude will change now that I have some place to post them.  On the other hand, it may not...