Down to the creek woods I went, not needing boots at all, and though it was hot and humid and nearly still, it was also beautiful. Clear water in the south swamp overflow; clear water flowing the length of the east woods. A very annoyed white-eyed vireo scolded me for coming too near a nest (never saw the nest) and flitted about in an almost warbler-like way, making catching a shot of it difficult. However:
This was not a happy song...this was a series of insistent harsh scolding notes designed to tell the intruder to go away. This intruder did, but not until after getting a couple of half-decent shots. The combination of a whitish eye and black and yellow eyebrow gives the bird an expression to match its scolding voice.Also seen: fish, from tiny half-inch minnows to ~5-6 inches, crayfish (tiny to small), a very small Gulf Coast Toad, spiders (including the truly odd Micrathena gracilis, one of the spiny orb-weaver spiders), butterflies (Question Marks, Texan Crescents, Giant Swallowtail, Fiery Skipper, etc.) dragonflies, and damselflies...Kiowa Dancers (lots), unidentified spreadwings (but I suspect Plateau Spreadwings), American Rubyspots, and Widow Skimmers. (Back at the pond, I'd had a Swift Setwing, Neon Skimmer, and Widow Skimmer all perching on the same perching stick...) Also heard: Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Cardinals, Mockingbirds, White-winged Doves, Mourning Doves, Inca Doves. In bloom: Turk's Cap, Ironweed, Pink Evening Primrose, a few last Gaillardia and Lemon Horsemint, Mealy Blue Sage, the yellow coneflower (can't think of its name), the little pink Centaury, Blue Vervain, Mirabilis (which we now have in three or four locations), innumberable grasses and sedges, Frogfruit...and that's just on the way to and from the south end of the woods.
On my way back down the trail, the vireo scolded me again. And back in the house, I made bread and worked on revisions.
