Passenger Pigeon "Article" by Jack Freeman c1932

• Commentary by a 12 (?) year old Jack Freeman c1932 ( though I really think around 1938 given the signature) in an unknown Oklahoma newspaper of the time.  He had published or was mentioned in numerous FFA articles especially in the 1930's  regarding his interest in birds especially hawks, owls, nighthawks and shrikes.  An artist all his life , he lived long enough to see his works soar in value at various non-profit auctions...The Freeman's are blessed with artistic genes, even with no schooling.

Jack Dempsey Freeman Jan. 4, 1921-June 21, 2010

  Photo of dad taken during World War II... Lived 89 yrs, 6 months and 17 days.  Died just moments after summer solstice 2010.  Never liked hot weather anyway. He was proud of his service as a pilot and instructor..  The props here are spinning as one can see the wind blown trousers and his grip on the wing,  He is ready to go.  Those must have been the days.

Easy Flea Control for outbreaks

I have been away from my cabin for much of this year and recently returned to find I had a pretty good flea infestation, likely from a hen flea that jumped off the cat months ago.
  I don't wish to use poisons in the house as I have jumping spiders and geckos as renters/owners.  I just want to be rid of fleas.There are plenty of other critters that want to eat me (mosquitoes, scorpions, kissing bugs etc.) and need to save some chow for them.

Here is a flea killer that will suck every flea from your floors and carpets.  Works like a charm and completely without pesticides and works real fast.   

I picked this up years ago from somewhere and it is even better than these poisons.....Just take a desk lamp and shine it over a 10-14" in pie plate.  Fill the plate half full with water and add a bit of dish washing soap.  Turn the light on and it is a done deal.

  When I found I had an infestation I sat up 3 lamps through the house and within 1 day and two nights, I have not found a single living flea.  I seem to be completely free of them in two days.  I do not know if they are attracted to the lights or the heat they put off by the lights or both nor I do not know how many eggs a hen flea can lay but over the years have learned a flea outbreak is a flea outbreak and is short lived if dealt with.  Its like all the pupae hatch at about the same time when the temperature and humidity is just right....Then it is over, done, finished and the next out break may not occur for a year to several years...My last out break was 5-6 years ago.


 

Horse Guard

The "Horse Guard"


A Purple Martin dropped this male wasp on Ladd Hockey as it was delivering it to young in Port O'Connor on June 17. Fortunately for me it was a stingless male. A female likely would have stung the tar out of me. These large wasps fit into a group called Horse Guards by the layman as they are often found around livestock where they search out and paralyze Horse and other flies. These the wasps then take the flies to a pre-constructed tunnel that has an egg laid by the female. The wasp then stuffs the tunnel with those flies before sealing it, providing food for the next generation.

They look similar to, but are not the larger Cicada Killers we often see flying about in the summer months hunting cicadas. Both burrow into sandy soils.

I have been very busy with family matters and work and have had little time to keep the blog updated. Hopefully that will change soon.

Ladder nest and Black-eyed Susans.

   I returned to my Utley place after almost 6 weeks of being mostly absent, spending only the night of May 14 here. Much has changed in that time. Completely different than last year, this spring has been one of regular rains . Lots of wildflowers especially Black-eyed Susans that cover the property. It has been more than a decade since I have seen it like this on the place and find it awesome that the seeds of that flower could remain viable for that long. The Bluebonnets, I have the very localized subspecies called Sandy Lands Bluebonnet, must have gone crazy as the now dead plants are all over the place up by the road....Also a bloom I have not seen in several years.

  The night I was here on the 14th of May to stay overnight from a business trip to N. Texas,  I had little time to look around as I had to be back in S. Texas the next morning. Now back, I am discovering quite a few interesting things around the place. One is pictured to the right. It looks like just two ladders leaning against the wall of the house but the next photo shows that a Cardinal chose this place to build a nest. I have no idea if they were successful in raising a brood or not, however there are several juv. birds about. I am trying hard to remember if I have ever seen a Northern Cardinal use an artificial structure of any kind to construct a nest on but come up empty headed...I just don't think I have.

Also when I returned yesterday evening I heard a constant frog like call right behind the house, maybe less than 25 ft. from the back door. I knew exactly what it was so I did little except open the back door for some breeze. The cat however ran out the back, and when I went to retrieve her I saw a
Chuck-will's-widow fluttering thru the dense brush in distraction mode.. A quick glance revealed she had left two half grown chicks in the leaf litter. I grabbed the cat and kept her in thereafter. Today I went out to photograph the chicks in better morning light and they were gone, however a short walk back into the woods found me disturbing the adult again so I made no further attempts to locate the young. It is pretty potent to have a Chuck calling from 30 behind your house all the while neighboring birds on territory are also calling. I guess my question is, can an adult Chuck incite/provoke it's young to move elsewhere when they are not yet fledged?

Since I was not here virtually the entire migration period/spring , I now find the property to be a jungle. I do not mow, I don't even own a mower and would not mow if I had one... Have no use for such wicked things so the place gets really over grown which I like. The Trumpet Vines high up in the oaks are in gorgeous full bloom this year finally, which is distracting the hummingbirds for now. However at least one Buff-bellied continues to come in to the feeders which I replaced with fresh stuff instead of the "whiskey water and carpenter ant" cocktail that was in them before my return

Here is a shot of the front "yard". I hate to call it a yard as I don't like the term but you know how it is. That bird box amid the Black-eyed Susans has at least it's second brood of intergrade (Dixon's) Titmice. There are 5 young in there now that will fledge out within the week. The pole is well greased with automotive grease to keep any rat snake from climbing up it. And while I was more interested in getting Bluebirds to nest here, I am perfectly happy to have the titmice use it. Today I have often seen curious chickadees come and visit the box and check out the youngsters inside . The adult titmice do not seem to mind at all.

There is a Yellow-billed Cuckoo nest in a Cedar Elm down the lane but it is too high to peer into. The Blue-gray Gnatcatchers have finished nesting and now there is a family group of 5-6 roaming the property.

Rotten bananas I put out upon my return are covered with butterflies, including a rare (for here) Eastern Comma and a somewhat worn Mourning cloak.

There are baby toads the size of my thumb nail everywhere ...Anoles and skinks keep a roadrunner handy.

Finally within a mere 15-20 minute after my return, the crow people came in and milled awaiting chow waiting  treats they knew would be forthcoming.   The two tames ones were chatting away. I had nothing to give them except dried cat food, the expensive stuff too, and as soon as I got it on the feeder and walked 20 feet away Jim was already there wolfing it down. 9-12 pc.s then to the bird bath to soak up some water to go with it before going back for more. They had left another little stone as a prize on the feeder while I was gone. My collection of crow "prizes" is getting larger.

Gecko Proof Moth

  At the Cabin with the Gecko People.

    Once the sun sets in warm weather and when I keep the lights down, my friends the Gecko people emerge from behind picture frames and bookcases  looking for nice tasty insects to eat.  I have no shortage of geckos with maybe more than 10-12 that share the cabin with me.  Some are quite large pushing 4" or so,while others are tiny sprites likely just hatched.
   I was raised in the days of screen doors and any time I held door open for more than a couple of seconds back then , someone would surely screech out for me to shut it "so the bugs don't get in".  Those days have long since vanished around here.  I don't have screens on the doors, but don't always leave them open either, especially during June Bug season.  But still after dark I leave the front porch light on and the front door open so as to supply my gecko people with a nightly buffet for maybe 30-40 minutes.  This "in-flight" usually consists of moths, craneflies and other small insects, including beetles.   Soon there are numbers of insects on the ceilings and walls and the door is shut.


  I turn off the lights as I go to sleep. Sometimes after I turn off the lights after resting a bit, maybe an hour, I then suddenly turn the lights back on seeing 4-7 Geckos on the ceilings and walls scarfing up on the goods.  They know the drill. I awaken the morning to find every single moth, beetle, cranefly etc. has vanished, consumed by my herd of geckos,...Yes sir there is not a bug to be found on the wall ceilings or anywhere.....With one BIG exception.  This moth on the right ( Hypoprepia miniata - Scarlet-winged Lichen Moth). Abundant at this time of year, these moths are often found in the dozens at my lights, but the gecko people want nothing to do with them at all.  Won't touch them for nothing so these moths are the sole remaining insects I find in the house the following morning.  They must be very non-tasty, toxic or the colors ward off the geckos.  It is a curious thing.
  The only other invert I find in the house in the mornings is the occasional bark scorpion.  In fact I figure a scorpion would eat a tiny gecko if it could.  Oh well, just how it goes around here.  Family matters can be boring for those not involved.

  I like geckos, and reckon it would be a sadder place to live without them. Sometimes I find their little black and white turds on a counter top or in the bath tub, by day they are ghosts behind walls and in crevices.

Brush

Some recent Migration stuff from the Texas coast.

  Over the past few days I have birded Port O'Connor intermittently as well other private properties in nearby counties.   There was a lot more than I can cover within this single blog as I am running behind.  Things are for sure winding down and the south winds are sure helping the migrants by pass the immediate coast....A good thing.
   This morning I passed a rice field being flooded for the 2nd time on 1289 just south of 238 in Calhoun Co what already has sprouted tiny rice.  It will be a fantastic place to bird tomorrow (May 8) and the day after.  I had little time to bird it as most of the water was way back in the field, but already there were hordes of Franklin's Gulls, Gull-billed Terns,m Hudsonian Godwits and White-rumped Sandpipers moving in.  I heard bird I have never heard before coming in, but will keep that thought to my self as I can not be sure to ID.  Saw 3 Black Terns over the field as well. The first of 1000's to come I hope.   Made no effort to count species/individuals but this field as well as the Indianola and Magnolia Beach fields should be hopping now as there is no forecast for rain and the farmers appear to be forced to buy water from the GBRA.  The rice is flooded late this year so the farmers will for sure have to contend with blackbirds after post season breeding by those birds, just as the grain is milky and soft..  A Purple Gallinule in an irrigation ditch was nice.
  Yesterday when we were with Tom and Kay Flores they had asked me about Yellow-headed Blackbirds.  Kay Flores still wants one.  I had a single SY male with Red-wingeds on the newly flooded 1289 field.
  Folks reading this....If you want anything to do with rice fields this for year, this weekend may be your last shot before the rice gets too high or deep to see the smaller sandpipers.  Our count over the past 3 days is up to 23 Shorebird species with the Whimbrel at least, and maybe 24 if someone had a Long-billed Curlew I do not remember.  Also 3 Ibis species along with many other "wet spring" birds, including Grasshopper Sparrows, Dickcissels etc. etc..
   The only recent birds I have added to my Port O'Connor Square Mile project was a Mississippi Kite and "Brewster's " Warbler, although I am pretty sure I got on a female Oporonis yesterday evening though I could not be sure of the ID and it was wary given the number of folks present, I suspect it was Mourning, a bird I still need for POC this spring....  I just do not understand how certain areas on Galveston Is. can churn this genus out in numbers in the spring while I bust butt to find 1 or 2 every year.   Oh well they will be no problem in the fall.  The only other Wood Warbler I can hope to reasonably get is Black-throated Blue, but I may have missed that window now.
   I have my BBS stuff in hand now and once the swallow/Black Tern migration is complete I will do those vast corn fields again :-)

  Other counties just north and well east of Calhoun Co. seem very lackluster to me this spring while the brush lands of S. Texas  rock!  Spectacular.... Anyway just a quick unedited update for now.

Brush