Listing Through Life

There's really no way I can post this without sounding like I'm bragging, so I'm not even going to try.

It started like this. Several years ago, when I was about 30, I was having a good day at work and feeling fine. I was walking across an open area where a row of tables had been set up for stuffing envelopes or something. On a whim, I took a couple steps and jumped over one of them. As I landed, I took a look off to the side and discovered the president and one of the vice-presidents of Awana sitting in an office looking at me.

I figured I was toast, but they were laughing. The president came up to me later in the day and said the look on my face when I saw him was priceless. I can imagine. Anyway, he didn't yell at me a bit. In fact, he complimented me on my joyful attitude.

I started jumping over tables whenever I had an opportunity — I even cleared a few picnic tables and did a couple double-jumps. I decided I'd do it at least once a year until I turned 50. Then after my 50th birthday, I'd do it one more time with a witness or two and then retire.

It took me a while to get around to it. The historic occasion took place a few days ago. I decided that instead of witnesses, I'd just tape it for posterity. That way, if I cleared the table I'd always have proof and if I didn't, I could probably make some money on America's Funniest Videos. Or — worst case scenario — you'd all have something to watch at my funeral.

So here it is — Age 50 years, 6 months and 30 days … The Final Jump

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1. Rock Dove — San Antonio — San Antonio Airport
2. Black Vulture — San Antonio — Route 281 in town
3. House Sparrow — San Antonio — Alamo Plaza
4. White-winged Dove — Universal City — First Baptist Church
5. Great-tailed Grackle — "
6. Northern Mockingbird — Johnson City — Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park
7. Blue Jay — "
8. Chihuahuan Raven — "
9. House Wren — "
10. Carolina Chickadee — "
11. Mourning Dove — "
12. Bewick's Wren — "
13. Northern Cardinal — "
14. Eastern Phoebe — "
15. Turkey Vulture — "
16. Red-tailed Hawk — "
17. Eastern Meadowlark — "
18. Osprey — "
19. Mallard — San Antonio — Riverwalk
20. Yellow-crowned Night Heron — "
21. Loggerhead Shrike — Converse — 1604 loop highway
22. Crested Caracara — Kenedy — Route 181
23. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher — Goliad
24. White-tailed Hawk — Goliad — Route 77A south of town
25. American Kestrel — "
26. Vermilion Flycatcher — Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
27. Tricolored Heron — "
28. White Ibis — "
29. Snowy Egret — "
30. Great Blue Heron — "
31. Pied-billed Grebe — "
32. Mottled Duck — "
33. Brown Pelican — "
34. Little Blue Heron — "
35. Anhinga — "
36. Sharp-shinned Hawk — "
37. Roseate Spoonbill — "
38. Least Sandpiper — "
39. Green-winged Teal — "
40. Belted Kingfisher — "
41. Ladder-backed Woodpecker — "
42. Common Moorhen — "
43. American Coot — "
44. American Bittern — "
45. Wild Turkey — "
46. American White Pelican — Fulton — Route 35
47. Laughing Gull — "
48. Greater Yellowlegs — Rockport — Rockport Beach Park
49. Dowitcher (sp) — "
50. Willet — "
51. Semipalmated Sandpiper — "
52. Killdeer — "
53. Ruddy Turnstone — "
54. Neotropic Cormorant — "
55. Long-billed Curlew — "
56. European Starling — "
57. Sanderling — "
58. Marbled Godwit — "
59. Orange-crowned Warbler — San Antonio — San Antonio Botanical Garden
60. Carolina Wren — "
61. Ruby-crowned Kinglet — "
62. Long-billed Thrasher — "
63. Golden-fronted Woodpecker — "
64. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher — "

We left the botanical gardens and went searching for a gas station. We drove over half of San Antonio before we finally stumbled upon one a mile from the airport ($2.39/gallon). We arrived in plenty of time for me to buy a sandwich in the terminal from a woman who tried to short me .50 change. She was not at all pleased that I caught her at it.

There were about six empty seats on the plane, but one of them was next to me. I had a window in front of the wing and had a great view of Texas as we flew north. We passed over a very large city, which I assume is Dallas. (Feel free to correct me if you know otherwise.)

Soon after I took this photograph, clouds obscured the ground, which was fine because I was falling asleep. I woke up just as we were flying over the Mississippi. The sky was cloudless. We must have been ahead of schedule because the pilot descended, slowed down and zig-zagged his way across Illniois.

It was a stunning day. I could see Chicago and Lake Michigan when we were still way, way out. I spotted two corn mazes, a wind farm (I lost count of the windmills somewhere around 50) and a high-school football game in progress. The leaves were in full fall-color display. And my camera memory was filled. I wanted to take some pictures, but I couldn't bring myself to delete Texas photos to take pictures of Illinois. So I just sat back and enjoyed the fantastic view for 45 minutes or so.

We gathered our luggage and called the limo. This time we just got a town car — and a driver who was an absolute lunatic. It was 5:30 or so, peak rush hour in Chicago, but he had apparently never experienced traffic before. He took off in a rush and never settled down. In the 20 miles or so between the airport and Awana headquarters, he must have changed lanes 42 times. And I'm not exaggerating. An opening would develop in the next lane and he'd cut over, only to be stopped short within seconds. He'd slam on the breaks and throw his hands up and mutter, then watch for another opening. Linda and I chatted in the back seat and called Mom on the phone to tell her we were safe — even though at that point it was still an open question. We tried not to notice, and were very happy when we finally arrived — in pretty close to the same amount of time it would have taken us if the idiot had just picked a lane and stuck with it.

But all's swell that ends swell.

pyrgus communis

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 — 11:28 am

San Antonio, Texas — San Antonio Botanical Garden

It was almost time to leave for the airport. I was standing in the formal gardens listening to some older women who were tending the flowers and complaining that the government was taking over the garden and everything was about to go downhill (amen!). I spotted this distinctive skipper resting on a leaf.

And that's it. It just rested there. I took this picture and moved on to other things. It may still be there, for all I know.

hylephila phyleus

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 — 10:23 am

San Antonio, Texas — San Antonio Botanical Garden

I really didn't get to know this butterfly very well. I was standing in front of the Auld House in the botanical garden. There was a bed of flowers there that was attracting a swarm of butterflies. I was watching the show when this tiny skipper landed right in front of me, and it only took a second for me to switch my camera to super-micro and take a couple shots. It took off and I lost it in the crowd.

libytheana carienenta

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 10:21 am

San Antonio, Texas — San Antonio Botanical Garden

Sometimes with birds, I am amazed at the lack of creativity used in giving them their English names. Not so with butterflies. There's the Mormon Metalmark, the Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak, the California Sister and the Question Mark. And the one I saw this day, the American Snout. That name cracks me up.

But take a look at the thing. What would you name it? I spotted one flitting about in the shade of a small strip of trees near the Auld House in the botanical gardens. It landed on the leaf of a tree and I was able to get a picture. About half an hour later, on the other side of the house, I spotted it or another one hovering over some flowers and got another picture. It's a tiny thing, about the size of a nickel.

melanerpes aurifrons

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 — 10:02 am

San Antonio, Texas — San Antonio Botanical Garden

The one lifer I was almost sure of seeing in Texas was a Golden-fronted Woodpecker. But here it was, mid-morning on Tuesday, and I was heading for the airport in an hour or so. And no woodpecker. I showed my sister its picture in my field guide so she could watch for it as she wandered in other parts of the garden. She had instructions to call me on my cell phone if she saw a woodpecker that looked at all unusual to her.

I was down in the sunken portion of the Conservatory and had just started up the stairs when I spotted a woodpecker fly down and land in a small tree along the wall. I stopped and grabbed my binoculars. It was in the shade, and it only stayed for about three seconds, but that was long enough for me to see that it was a melanerpes woodpecker with a yellow forehead and a yellow nape. I had my bird.

I figured I'd get another, better look at it, but I never did. I might have spotted it about 20 minutes later flying overhead out of the garden, but I'm not sure. But I saw what I needed to see.

If you're familiar with the Red-bellied Woodpecker that's common in Illinois, then you'd recognize this bird — they look very similar except that the Golden-fronted is yellow where the Red-bellied is red.

I didn't get a picture of it, but here's where I saw it, taken from where I was standing at the time. It was in one of those small trees on the left at the top of the steps.

toxostoma longirostre

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 — 9:03 am

San Antonio, Texas — San Antonio Botanical Garden

Like I said, the guy in the visitor center made me copy down the bird list and sent me toward the woods. I was just approaching the area when I heard making a repeated "chat" noise in a small tree. It was a Long-billed Thrasher, another south Texas specialty. It looks a lot like the Brown Thrasher, but is darken brown with grayer cheeks and blacker streaks on its chest. I walked around the tree trying to find a good angle for a photograph while it stared at me with its bold orange eyeball.

It was finally chased out of the tree into the woods by two Northern Mockingbirds that took exception to its presence. I didn't see it again for a couple hours, but then Linda and I happened upon it just inside the woods very close to where I first saw it. The thrasher was under a bush demonstrating how it got its name (the "thrasher" part, not necessarily the "long-billed" part, although it was using its bill to … oh, nevermind). It was still doing this when I left, just further back in the bush where I could hear but not see it.

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Problem: Our flight to Chicago was at 2:15 pm. We didn't need to be at the San Antonio airport until 12:30 or so. We had a morning to kill. We contemplated going to the top of the Tower of the Americas, but that would mean fighting morning rush-hour traffic to downtown San Antonio, spending another $7.00 for parking and $10.95 for admission, then driving all the way back to the airport. We thought about going to see the old missions south of town, but that would have meant the whole rush-hour thing again and besides, they didn't look all that fascinating to us. What could we do that both of us would be interested in, that wouldn't cost too much, and that was close to the airport?

Solution: The San Antonio Botanial Gardens. Linda enjoys taking photographs of flowers. I was hoping for one last shot at finding a Golden-fronted Woodpecker and botanical gardens are usually good places to see butterflies. It was about eight miles from our motel and five miles from the airport, and admission was cheap.

We arrived at 8:45, 15 minutes before it opened. The doors of the visitor center were open, so we wandered in. The guy behind the counter was aggressively friendly. When he found out I was interested in birds, he gave me an assignment. He handed me a list of birds found around San Antonio, a pen and a piece of paper and ordered me to write down the names of the common ones. I obeyed. He pulled out a map of the gardens and instructed me where to go to find the most birds — the East Texas Pineywoods section.

He wasn't far wrong. I hadn't even gotten into the woods when I spotted a lifer. But more on that later.

The gardens were very impressive. The whole place is only 33 acres, but they've packed a lot into it.

• Watersaver Lane —  a row of tiny cottages, each with its own landscaping concept, all suitable for south Texas
• Four authentic, old Texas cottages that have been moved to the gardens and restored to their original appearance
• A conservatory complete with two cone-shaped greenhouses with spiraling walkways, a sunken atrium and pond
• A special exhibit of treehouses (I still think it looks like treewouses on the brochure)
• A hill in the center with a tower that gives a view of all San Antonio

OK, descriptions of gardens don't sound that exciting, I know. Here are some photos that give you some idea.

This picture looks like it was taken in fall, which I guess, technically it was, but the color comes from trees that were half-dead.

All through the woods around this lake there were these strange statues that I referred to as "lurkers." There was no explanation of what they were there for, but there were a couple dozen of them and I kept coming up on them unexpectedly. It was a bit disconcerting. When I took my first stroll around the pond, one of them was even lying in the water, but when I returned an hour or so later, it had been "rescued" and set somewhere to resume its lurking.

Here's one of the restored cabins. I liked this one because the square-footage of the porch was about twice that of the house itself. If I lived in a hot climate, this is the kind of porch I'd want.

Two views of the Conservatory and another one of the pond, because it's my blog and I can do what I want.

And here's the view from the overlook. The Conservatory is on the far left. Behind and to the right of it, you can see downtown San Antonio with the Tower of the Americas. On the far right, there's a martin house halfway down its pole. Just behind it is a small tree. That's where I saw the lifer I mentioned earlier. (I knew you'd want to know.) The bizarre-looking structures on the lawn in the foreground are the backsides of Halloween decorations.

Linda and I had split up for the first couple hours to pursue our own interests, but we met by the pond. She pointed out a bird she'd just spotted along the shore — a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. It was walking slowly along the water's edge among the cypress knees. It must not of thought much of us because, as we watched, it turned its back on us and fluffed.

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On the way out toward the gate, we discovered a baby Eastern Fox Squirrel that couldn't have been more than a day or two out of the nest. He found us as fascinating as we found him, and I was able to get within a foot or two to take this picture.

numenius americanus

Monday, October 20, 2008 — 4:56 pm

Rockport Beach Park — Rockport, Texas

Mustang Island was out of the question, and we'd seen what there was to see at Rockport Beach Park. My sister (who had been off on her own photographic adventures) and I headed back for the car for the long drive back to San Antonio. We were about 30 yards away from the car when I spotted a large shorebird foraging on the lawn between the parking lot and the hiking path near the inner bay. I thought it might be a Long-billed Curlew, but its bill was shorter than I'd expected. I took a quick look at my field guide to rule out Whimbrel (which has a striped head and is gray rather than buffy). It confirmed my guess and also informed me that immature Long-billed Curlews have shorter bills. So I had my first lifer of the day.

It wasn't paying us a lot of attention, but whenever we got too close, it moved away. I took a quick snippet of video, but I was running out of memory, remember …

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It moved closer to the shell-shaped Rockport sign seen in my last post. There were some short palms along the edge of the area, so I crept slowly around behind them and got within ten feet of the bird. It acted nervous at first, but then went back to picking at the grass.

Long-billed Curlews are the largest North-American shorebird, and full-grown adults can have bills as long as their bodies. I would very much like to see one of those some day, but I still thought this was a very cool bird. It made the whole day worthwhile to me.

As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I was suprised to see a flock of eight or ten Marbled Godwits, which look very much like this curlew, but with the bills curved up! I've seen them once or twice before and I was out of memory on my camera again, so I didn't get any pictures.

We drove back up to San Antonio on the interstate and enjoyed a sunset that was spectacular not so much for the color (which was very nice) but for the massive amount of sky there was for it to be colorful in.