Saturday, January 28, 2023

After Going through most of the month, finally back to back freezes

 The weather will basically shut me down for the next week as the highs will be only 40ish. The worse part is cold rain most of the next 5 days. I was able to get out today in near 70 degrees and spent the afternoon with a second return to the George Bush Presidential Center Nature Trails. 

Cardinals were once again the main aim of the trip and was successful in seeing about 6 pairs feeding on the berries that were still on the trees. The wild grasses were still dispersing seeds and the birds were happy with that. There are some blue jays that I would like to get close enough to get some shots. Found a pair of Robins, some wrens and a first time siting of a red shouldered hawk riding the thermals directly over the nature trails. I continue to be in awe of what they have done with a fantastic nature area in the heart of a busy, high-density urban setting so close. Didn't see my bunny or the roadrunner on the trails today. Thinking about it now, I didn't even see a squirrel. Might be that hawk had something to do with those voids.

So, it's going to be a bit slow until the weather shifts toward the first of March. February is always a month to be grounded out of the 12. Today, I did notice some green shoots beginning to pop out and even found a patch of new grass about 12-inches tall along one of the drainage canals that do a fantastic job of removing water runoffs. Even that has been well planned and works very well. 

The weather service is calling for an Arctic Front to move in overnight and tomorrow and the word 'ice'  appeared in part of the forecast at the 10 o'clock hour broadcast. Gloomy,cold,wet also came over the airways with that report. Cloudy days never bothered me before but we have had some serious gloom in the cloud cover of late. 

Note the image has two cardinals. One traditional mature red and in the upper left branch, a yearling.

This is the cover image and is even larger than if you click on these to enlarge.








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