In the past few weeks, I've been watching a robin couple, feeding and hanging out in our Wildscape. A few evenings ago, I thought I'd spotted their nest high in one of our live oaks. But no, no such luck. Then, the next evening, I saw what had to be a juvenile robin (cinammonish, speckled breast), perched on James' wooden fence in the Meadow. It sat there for a long time. I finally walked slowly toward it, and then it safely flew away.
A bit ago, I was in the garage, pulling cloth napkins from the dryer, when I heard a familiar bird call. I stepped outside to see, and, sure enough, I spotted the juvenile robin along with the parents. "Good job on the baby!" I told them. The juvenile flew away, but the older robins stayed and kept foraging on the ground. I even sat down and folded the napkins while I watched them. They didn't mind me one bit! I felt awed, humbled, by the beauty of nature.
Yesterday, I made a trip to San Antonio. I am NOT a shopper (I'd rather not), but I did have some errands to run. So at a Stone Oak center, I parked my car and walked from one end of the strip to the other (and back again). Decided the exercise would be good for me. Toward the end, as I strolled along, I happened upon a rather large walkingstick! It lay on the cement sidewalk, not far from an empty storefront. "Poor thing," I said. I stood there a moment, debating. Then I scooped the insect up––it was the length of my hand!––and carried it across the parking lot to a small greenbelt. I leaned down and released it on a branch. Thank goodness that "wild" area was there! And I realized, too, that it was a good thing I came along because surely the walkingstick would have died. Or someone, thinking it was "poisonous" (not!) or hideous, would have killed it for sure.
The thought made me sad. A beautiful insect, lost on a sea of cement, with no hope of a rescue, because so few people these days have no connection or feelings for nature. I wish that wasn't true.
P.S. I also carried a small beetle across the parking lot to a bed of gold lantanas.
5 comments:
I feel exactly the same way. I love and appreciate nature. It is such a gift that we are given to watch a flower bloom or a butterfly dancing around in the garden. I often wonder if people ever stop and take the time to appreciate this precious gift.
PS I found a turtle in a local shopping center. He had been misplaced from his environment from some road construction and was hiding under my car. I thought how sad, the poor guy needs to find his way home. I found some children that were thrilled to place him back by the creek where he belonged.
Ah, how kind YOU are!! Thank you for saving that turtle! Do you know what species it was? Perhaps a red-eared slider? I just finished writing about the Texas tortoise for TPW magazine.
Thank you for your response. I'm not sure what kind of turtle he was. I found him by the 281/Basse Rd. area at the Quarry shopping center. There is a little creek over there next to the train track.
After reading your post, "Death visits the nursery" about your caterpillar fatalities, I remembered that I had something similar happen to my FBA's (Future butterflies of America) aka Gulf Fritillaries cats. The culprit was a predatory stink bug. I had never heard of them before until I recognized the guilty suspect on "Great Stems" blog. Maybe this is the cause of your FBA's demise.
Thanks for the heads up on the stink bug. I'll check it out! I also want to post some responses I got from the Garden Web butterfly forum when I posted the problem there as well. Thank you for sharing!
Nice post! I love watching nesting birds. Sometimes I'm sure a nest is right outside, but I don't see it until winter when the leaves are gone. But a just-fledged youngun is a good clue! We had a baby Green Jay come to the feeder with its parents today. You described the young robin so well I could "see" it!
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