Last night was another fabulous night observing one of our resident Great Horned Owls on the Johnson Funny Farm here in rural middle Georgia. Usually the pair arrives together, but last night it was one lone owl putting on a show. I have been slipping out to the front porch around 7:45 each evening, armed with my camera, binoculars, and eBird app on my phone. I sit on one of the loveseats on the porch, as still and quiet as I can be. The owls fly in from the west side of the farm and hang out right at the top of the driveway in the clearing. They swoop from ground to tree, then down from tree to ground, looking for prey.
This morning, I’m sharing these photos I took last night. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them. Be sure to zoom in on the one with the flag – the yellow eyes are mesmerizing!
Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon, TexasA Texas Longhorn
We were driving through Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon, Texas when I spotted him. We’d taken a last-minute cruise through one of the campground loops to see how big the campsites were and whether they had water and electricity hook-ups. I’d just remarked that the awnings over the picnic tables were a blessing of shade out in the brutal heat when I saw something out of the corner of my eye; it looked like a legless bird with a hooked bill, a crested head, and a long tail.
“Stop! Back up a foot or two!” I urged my husband.
There, resting under the picnic table of an occupied campsite, was a Lesser North American Road Runner. At first, I thought it was a Greater North American Road Runner, but now that I’ve compared the notes on the differences, I am convinced that it was the Lesser North American Road Runner. With names like these, I’m wondering whether these birds inspired Dr. Seuss to write The Sneetches.
Lesser North American Road Runner resting under a campsite picnic table
A Road Runner. Not the kind from the cartoon. This one didn’t say Meep! Meep! and take off running from a coyote that left its outline where it crashed into a rock wall. I asked Google what the Road Runner says, and a Big-Bird-sounding Meep! is not part of its call. It sounds more like an impatient robot strumming its metal fingers on the counter at a Dollar General waiting on a cashier.
Apparently, this bird eats almost anything – rodents, snakes, lizards, other birds’ eggs, berries, cactus fruit, rabbits, spiders, and crickets. It can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour and has an 18- inch wingspan.
I was conducting a bird observation in eBird when I saw this species I’d never seen in real time. I snapped a few photos to add to eBird’s media documentation and we carried on with our drive, but my heart stayed right there under the picnic table with that roadrunner – – until we saw the remains of a Mohave Rattlesnake in the road. My husband spotted it, and sure enough, it had the black and white tail bands, the greenish hue, and the eye stripe and body patterning that I could still make out to get a positive ID on the snake. I’ll leave its photo at the very end so that if you are squeamish of dead snakes, you’ll have had a heads-up.
Speaking of Heads-Up: My sister in law spotted the water snake with its head raised up in the center of the photo – it was checking us out! It’s coming out of the rock just above the waterfall.
We also saw Texas Longhorns, a water snake (observed by my sister-in-law, who despises snakes), a porch full of barn swallows, and several other species of birds, including a pair of Northern Cardinals.
The Bird Blind at Palo Duro Canyon SP – with identification photos and an observation log!
Palo Duro Canyon State Park is well worth the drive for its beauty and its wildlife viewing opportunities. Looking back through the bird observation logs, I noted that a day or so before we were there, someone had observed a wild male hog!
Baby Barn Swallows peeking their heads over the edge of their nest
If you love wildlife and enjoy the beauty of nature, don’t miss Palo Duro Canyon State Park! You really don’t know what you might see out there in the big Texas wilderness!
Common Threads 