[dropcap]R[/dropcap]oland Garza was startled when he noticed rustling on a wall décor cross made of sticks. “Rat?” Then, he heard, “cheep. cheep.”
A few days earlier they’d opened the doors for fresh air.
“Was it tiny with a long tail?” I asked. “Yes, and brown.” Ahhhh, a curious wren.
Roland turned out lights, closed curtains, and opened the door to light.
The wren stayed close by, outside their door, for quite a while after the entire Garza Family coaxed her outside. Chloe wondered if she had eggs inside their house.
Eggs? This is not the season for egg-laying.
“Maybe a mate?” I laughed.
This brought back memories of an encounter with a mated wren pair.
Several years back, a wren trapped in our house tried to exit through our breakfast window as BoD barked incessantly. I tried to grab BoD. It didn’t work. With BoD’s leap and a snap, when the bird dipped low, the little Bewick’s Wren was no more. For the longest time, a look-alike wren flitted outside that window.
My sister, Marsha Moon, on Toledo Bend had a wren banging itself silly against a garage window. Now, this can be normal bird behavior when a bird sees its reflection. There was no reflection. There was a mate trapped inside the garage. My sister had lowered the garage door the day before. Her story ended well.
Mating season with our white-tailed deer can look quite ugly. My FaceBook post of a doe, out past the gazebo, with a hole under her spine near her tail and a banged up side captured interest. Elaine Kiernan commented, “My gracious...that poor deer. The bucks are driving the females crazy. I see them stalking and chasing them relentlessly.”
Kevin Garraway explained, “I have seen many deer in the field that looked like this. They had terrible skin condition. Bucks will mangle them when they are in rut and their hoofs and horns do a lot of damage.”
Polly Summers said, “Saw this for years when I lived in Kerrville. Witnessed the rutting every day during the season and those buck can be relentless and the does survived. It is sad but it’s nature.”
RonTom got a great nature shot of a Red-striped ribbon snake in fallen leaves in our backyard. Elegant is the word that comes to mind when I see the long slender profile with a stunning red stripe from head to tail.
Red-striped ribbon snakes are found in Central Texas and surrounding areas, usually near water. Our backyard has something they like.
Amy Hilton would like updated residential information for the 2018 City Directory that will be compiled and printed by Loving Mountain City. The Google form has a URL far too long to publish. But, the form can be accessed through a Nov. 3 post on the FaceBook Page of Loving MountainCity. Click on the image of the directory info form.
And, I’d like some tidbits, please. Email [email protected] (Subject: Tidbit) or leave a message at (512) 268-5678. Thanks!
Love to you,
Pauline
