Helicopters Continue To Survey My Neighborhood

A lots of things in life are elusive. Some, more than others. As the helicopters continue to hover and circle, fly low, fly higher, and all the maneuvers that make the egg beaters an excellent machine for many things in today's world the surveying goes on.

 It has been a rough week. It all started Sunday night when the strong cold front moved in ---kind of like where refrig meets oven and cold air meets hot air. Well, hot air with a lot of humidity from the  Gulf of Mexico streaming into the stew pot mixer of North Texas. Where I live is kind of like the Hamilton Beach of mixers where the cold and the hot and rain and wind and the humidity and all the other things needed to cook up a good Tornado or two---or three come together. Well, even a few more than that. The helicopters have sorted it out and the National Weather Service had confirmed 9 separate tornadoes that came out of that mixing bowl. Even that was updated again today to include one more tornado, though small and short lived did develop out of our storm, as it moved Northeast. In southern Collin county, number 10 sprang to life. Collin, Denton, Tarrant and Dallas make up our Metroplex district we know as Dallas/Ft.Worth.

The damage in my old neighborhood was extensive and that was bad enough, but that damage extended over the six miles to include blocks immediately to my west and blocks immediately to my north. One gated community with private lakes was laid to waste and forever changing the look of how I  have seen it the past 15-years. It will take years to put it back landscape-wise.

Tonight, heavy rains have moved in just as the last of the power was restored, but not everyone was able to cover their roofs with blue tarps and even more damage will make losses even more. This storm is dropping snow in the panhandle a month early.

This is where gears are changed, but the theme remains on target with the opening sentence of this post. Because the rain would likely keep me home bound for two days, I got the heck out of the house early this morning while the sunshine and windy conditions made sweater weather in the car the most encouragement I have had in months.

At the lake, first check was on the Monarch butterflies, which have been in a thin migration this year. Normally, I would see 15-25 in a quarter hour.

There are three parakeets  near the green wire.

The Cooper wants that grasshopper bad.

As my Dad would say:" There's always one to spoil the fun" speaking of cars that come up and tailgate just as you are trying to find something. The car zipped around me but the bobcat could have cared less. Then, I was able to move at his pace and watch where he was going. It will be a place to start watching now for more than just birds.

While the pelican numbers have come up a bit, weather has been a major factor for them as well as the butterflies. Normally the Great White Egrets are elusive to shoot unless you shoot with a mini Hubble Telescope, they have been all over Sunset Bay where again, the weather has played a factor in moving sandbars close in off the Dixon Branch leaving the water shallow and not so pretty of a setting as it has been in times past.

The monk parakeets have rebuilt their nest in the cell towers and  Oncor substation.

On the second trip around the lake, the final stop at the Cultural Center Bath House was a bonus  sweep of elusive critters. Starting up the hill the Cooper Hawk was in an aerial display as he was  chasing a large grass hopper. Getting a shot of that was like an extra piece of chocolate cake with no calories. Then, the shock of all shocks. One of the most elusive creatures at White Rock---the bob cat--came out of the thicket with a rabbit and leisurely walked the hedgerow. After seven backyards, he went into a wood pile. I did not see him come out.But, the last of the White Rock wonders has now been documented. American Eagles; Osprey; coyote, great horned owl, barred owl, and the  bob cat.