Come in and take a break. Have a look at these reflections of yesterday's sunset: A golden surprise-The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
The elusive Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
As the King and I were driving down to sunset road, I was thinking this sunset is not going to be too exciting as there was not one cloud in the sky! Granted I am still in splendid euphoria over the 4 rainbows in a row with the full harvest moon and rainclouds of last week. (see archive).
So we came to the gates and I saw the bird above just sitting on the wire. This isn't just any bird, it is one of my favorites of all. They are very elusive and choose not to be around people or cities. They live in Texas for the summer months on into fall. They are migrating through the area now, heading as far south as Panama. They are very graceful in flight. The scissor tail feathers grow as the bird ages. The bird above has the longest scissor I have seen in life. And he was singing! Of course, I find this to be Spectacular!
As the King and I arrived at the gates on Sunset Strip, the sun was just beginning the set mode! No clouds anywhere. (This is the view from this country road down 3miles to the horizon at Hwy 6. No zoom.) There is hay growing in these big pastures. Some days there are cows in the pastures and some days, the cows have been moved to other pastures. (They move them around to keep the hay from being overgrazed. They may make more money on selling hay bales than selling beef, I am not sure).
To the left of the gates on the Black Angus Cow side, is this great bird-The scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
A zoom into the sun reveals it is still too high in the sky to photograph, but here is the bird in orange glow (natural) and soft focus (edited to focus on bird).
Just by me turning a little toward the left, the background sky is yellow. The orange background is to the right of this shot. I did not know I would be so lucky to behold this bird when I started over here.
The little King jumps out of the car as if he saw something. He runs over to the hay to have a look. (You can see in this longer shot that the yellow sky is above the little King's back, while the orange is closer to the sun.
The King checks out the grounds as if he were a highly paid guard dog. The sunlight is just falling out of the sky all over the ground.
Now he is looking this way. There must be something there. Dogs can smell and see better than humans. What a fine guard dog to protect me! Not!
Now he is watching whatever it is he has found. I see nothing. I know the dog well enough to know he sees something!
How about the way the sunlight hits the little King giving him a golden glow! He went down to the culvert and sure enough, something flew out.
This is what the little King found. A bob white quail. They make their nests on the ground (like in a culvert). I guess we have to give credit to the little King that he is officially a "bird dog" like a golden retriever! Glad to know the guard dog has protected me from this bob white quail.
Look at this: The scissor-tailed flycatcher has a friend with him. How great to see 2 of these birds! The Top one has a bug in his mouth that he plucked out of the sky! The bottom one is watching me!
I am a lucky Lady today to see 2 birds. This editing really puts focus on the birds. (The editing effect is in Picasa).
You can tell which one is long tail. These birds appear to be happy watching the sunset and getting some snacks out of the air! They do not seem to be frightened of me (or they would have flown off). They are not bothered by the little King who is walking up and down the road looking to stir up more quail. This is unusual behavior for this type of bird. It feels good to know I have been accepted by them as just part of the country road.
To the left of the gates three more birds join the fence gang. This is unbelievable!
WOW- what great birds and WOW- what long tail feathers. These birds are at least over one year old.
OMG- what is happening?? Look-more flycatchers have joined us for sunset. I can not believe my eyes. What good fortune to closely observe a group of these birds at close range. Usually, if I see them, they are flying away. These are making a choice to come in close to me. I am standing in the middle of a country road with a brightly flowered Hawaiian shirt on. I am not in a blind.
Of course the cows do not notice these birds! (What do you expect, they do not even see the sunsets!) Look at all of these birds. One is lucky to view one of these birds as they are not seen in large groups.
My Daddy used to say a cow was just 4 legs and 4 stomachs!
But I always loved the cows. I will say after watching alot of cows in my life, they sure can eat that hay. They eat all day long. They walk and eat. It is called grazing. Sometimes (when there is no hay from cold), they will eat oats and other feed the farmers give them.
They are vegetarians.
Now if you ever get out to the country, do not cross the farmers fences to go pet a cow. These guys are very big. If frightened of you, they will charge. If one cow gives the others a certain signal, they will all run. This is called a stampede.
And me? I am just a Texas Cowgirl. (I have a pink hat!) And I wear boots in the winter and barefoot in the summer. Okay back to the birds-
Look at that beauty in the glow of the sunset. This is called Joy. I hope you will train yourself to love and understand Birds. They are special. I hope you All will never shoot or torture another bird. We must learn respect for all life. Life is to be treasured.
The scissortails have yellow color on their belly. Under their wings is a peach color visible in flight. It is a dramatic look against the black and white wings. High Fashion on the High Wires!
A perfect, peaceful moment!
This concludes our photostudy today of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. I hope in your life, you get to see one of these birds flying around snagging bugs out of the sky. What a rodeo!
For those of you who do not live where these birds are, it is a great joy to share my photos with you.
Here is the sunset the birds and I are watching! I having been photographing the sunsets just about everyday this summer. Everyday the sun has always been a round ball in appearance.
Today,it is different. There looks to be something coming out of the right of the sun.
Now I do not know if this is some sort of optical illusion. The sun is very far away and my little toy camera is no match against the Hubble (the finest camera out of this world in my opinion).
I certainly do not have the trained eyes of someone who studies the Sun. Yet when you watch something everyday, you get to know its habits. So today, in my Grandma Cowgirl Mind, something is different about the sun as if some sort of solar event has occurred.
If anyone can confirm this, please let me know. Or if you know why the sun would look weird for a few moments, then resume its round ball shape, let me know.
As this was odd (to me), I photographed it in great detail (within my limited camera range). I will share this photostudy with you later if I can find out more about it.
Thanks for coming in for a visit. And thanks to all the photographers who came out to Bluebonnet Herb Farms last night. I will work on some photos of the event last night. Fun was had by all. Will share more tonight.
...this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek.
Happy Trails to You 'til we meet again!
katescabin@gmail.com
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