Geocaching – Page 5 – State of Wilderness

George Bush Park Hikes: Series #2

On a crisp winter morning, I met up with a friend from geocaching to head out to George Bush Park. We were specifically after a series of caches off the Noble Road, an old farm road from the turn of the century that was later converted to a three mile stretch of trail. This trail runs from Highway 6 to the hike and bike road leading to the Equestrian parking lot at the end of South Barker Cypress. It was the latter parking area that we parked at around seven thirty this morning.

I carried a lightweight pack and binoculars, but I realized pretty quickly that I was going to have to choose between hiking and caching, and watching birds. Last weekend J and I did a little of both, but we were only after two caches; today, my friend and I were trying to get 15-20 and we had a limited time frame, because I was headed to the Wildlife Center midday for a volunteer training.

The Wildlife Center’s motto is “A place to grow, a place to heal, a place to be wild”, and this is what I thought about this morning during our hike: not about the Center, but about this park. This 7,800 park is reported to be home to about 10,000-15,000 feral hogs, signs of which were apparent to us this morning. We saw several piles of what I believe to be scat from these guys, some quite fresh. We had some discussion on whether it was actually their scat, because there was hair in some of the piles. I was aware that pigs are omnivorous, but not sure if they actually consumed small mammals (I learned later that they will, on occasion). There was also the tell tale evidence of the rooting for food that these creatures do.

There were also other sets of tracks along the path, telling the oldest story of all: the relationship between predator and prey. I didn’t get a picture unfortunately, in the interest of expediency and regret it now. I am fairly certain what I was seeing were the tracks of a raccoon, who was being tailed by a coyote. I am not sure if both made it out alive.

Later, as we got past the curves and headed into the part of the trail that heads straight to Highway 6, we had our first and only encounter with actual wildlife. A doe was grazing as we came around the curve, then lifted her head and watched us for a minute before darting off into the thicket to the right. A few minutes later, an adolescent deer, most likely her fawn, came trotting out of the woods on the left. It was confused for a bit, and I think even mistook us for its mom, because it began running towards us. Then it stopped, and ran back, then towards us, back again, then from side to side along the path until it finally figured out how to also dart off into the right side of the thicket. We hoped he got reunited with his mom.

We also saw a lot of birds out here, but I was unable to identify all of them. We saw and heard crows, robins, cardinals, and sparrows. I was able to identify the Savannah and Chipping Sparrows. With that Chipping and some House Sparrows I was able to identify at J’s family’s house, that brings the bird species total to 39 now (maybe more, need to check my notes).

A place to grow and a place to be wild, that is what this park is; a sanctuary for wildlife in the middle of urban sprawl. We heard the gunshots from the range all morning and wondered if the animals who live here just get desensitized to the sound. Perhaps they never know what guns mean, seeing as that one recreational activity not allowed here is hunting; good news for the feral hogs, not so good news for the homeowners around the park that have yards torn up by these wild things.

Despite the lack of hunting, the deer still have a healthy fear of people. I was a little concerned by the young one running up so close to us before he found his way out into the forest, but the mom was quick to bolt, reminding me of this line from an Indigo Girls song, “they’re coming for us/cameras or guns/we don’t know which/but we got to run”….we just wanted to take her picture, poor thing.

Even though George Bush Park sometimes gets cursed under our breaths for its thorns and rough forest patches, it is still a wonderful thing to have so much land available here where the wild things can live without restraint, and where we can go looking for them by hoof, foot or bike.

Things with Wings

This past week, we’ve been getting out and stretching our tendons, strengthening muscles weary from winter rests. It’s been a beautiful week, with mild temperatures and sunny skies. Birds have been tweeting sweet temptations from the trees, and we desired to go see the things they spoke of – branches, berries, bits of brittle wheat grass and little insects hopping on a forest floor.

And so we ended up at Addick’s Reservoir.

We were in search of the Elements – not just wind, water, earth and fire, although we did find the first three (and signs of a past fourth). No, this time we were seeking Copper and Zinc, as in two of the natural earth elements that are featured on the cache pages of these two in the Elements series by Z Malloc. These were two in a line that I could have gotten in a cache run on President’s Day some years ago, but couldn’t because they were past the water line.

Today we took a path that led down the side of the reservoir and towards the edge of the water line. Then we turned east and walked towards a stand of bare, gnarled trees, one of which held the cache. Yellow rumped warblers were too numerous to count, twittering in and out and all around the fields and trees. A few American Robins were spotted here and there. A hawk flew above us, either a red-tailed or a red-shouldered. The vultures were ever present to the east, just above the water that grew from a trickle where we stood to a little gully several feet across in the distance. If I was an artist, I would draw for you the sight I saw from my binoculars as I looked that way – the sight of three incongruous birds perched in a vertical line in the bare branches of the tallest tree; the lowest a blue heron with delicate neck in a s-shaped curve, the middle a white ibis with long curved bill, and the top unidentified, with the bill of an ibis but dark brown feathers. I wished I could see that mystery bird better, but we were also in a mission to keep going, find what we were looking for, not fall down, and get home in a reasonable time frame.

As we made our way east, we heard one, then another crack of a rifle to the north. We aren’t sure what was being hunted. We did see signs that, at night probably, the wild things were doing hunting of their own. I am fairly certain that in these collection of tracks below, besides the obvious raccoon, that a large cat was spending some time out here, perhaps bobcat. Also, a few piles of coyote scat were seen, as well as damage to the side of the reservoir from feral hogs

On the way home, we stopped to take a picture of a red-shouldered hawk perched all dejected-looking in a tree. I will have to post those shots once J gets them off his camera (all shots in here are from my phone). Also, I had him get a shot of a striking Northern Cardinal singing to the day at the top of a bare tree.

Later, we ended up in Cullinan Park on the south side of town. We were with kids and parents, armed with sets of binoculars and a birding book to see what was going on at Pumpkin Lake. We saw American Coots and Common Moorhen, with Great Egrets congregating at the back of the lake. More yellow rumped warblers flitting in the bushes, along with what appeared to be Song and Savannah Sparrows. There were probably a great many others, but identification is still difficult for me. We walked along the trails and found a cache, and talked about others that used to be here (that I never found, only J) and what the trails used to be like. Apparently this bridge used to go all the way across, but now stems the tide of trash down in the large creek:

Also this week, I have been spending quite a bit of time along the Willow Fork Trail Bayou Extension (?) that runs under 99 and to the west along the bayou just south of Westheimer Parkway near my house. I’ve been strengthening these muscles there, too, combining dog walking with geocaching and looking for birds.

One day, in the golden hour of light just before dusk begins, I had a rare moment where the multi-users of this trail had disappeared, and the birds felt comfortable enough to peek out and peep down the trail. A Downy Woodpecker flew past the Song Sparrows that were cheeping along looking for insects. Several Blue Jays were seen, one carrying what appeared to be a big muffin in his beak. Several birds were heard fluttering around on the forest floor, none of which I was able to get a good lock on.

With these birds, plus the Great Horned Owl sighting of earlier this week, it brings the yearly total of seen species to 37.

Hawks 0, Pelicans 1

For a couple of days, I have been trying to figure out what species of hawk it is that we keep seeing on the power poles along the highway lately. We have been seeing dozens of them, and we think it probably is the red-tailed hawk based on which species are migrating in this time of year, although it could be a Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned. The ones we are seeing have red-brown feathers with a white breast. I’ve been reading about winter hawks online, and although I have come across some interesting information, it seemed that in order to truly identify what we are seeing, we were going to have to get out there with the binoculars and the camera.

I thought we might do that today, in a planned morning trip to Brazos Bend, but the weather turned cold and nasty, so we didn’t go to that park. We did, however, have to leave the house for an extended errand across town, and I thought we might see the hawks there. We didn’t see a single one though! It is just as well, because we forgot to bring those two critical tools mentioned beforehand.

We did do a little bit of exploring, though, on our way to and from our errand. We stopped in Kitty Hollow Park on the southwest side of town to see the improvements that have been made there. I actually had never been to this park, and J hadn’t been in ten years, during which time they have added the dog park and many other embellishments. We walked through a grassy field to find a cache near the forest line, and I spied some killdeer and a flock of small black or brown birds. I am not sure what they were, because J walked right through them and they scattered before I could make out anything distinctive about them. Probably they were nothing more than the common grackle, which we spied later in their more typical parking lot surroundings.

On the way home from our errand, we stopped at the retention ponds on the west side of Fiorenza Park, in between Highway 6 and Eldridge. We headed for the dead end of Schiller Road from Highway 6, because we had seen huge white birds in the ponds. We wanted to see if our guess was right about those being American White Pelicans. Even without the binoculars, it is clear that is what we were looking at. There were so many of them! This species is a winter migrant, and by summer, will be out north and west in places like the Great Salt Lake. If we stick to our vacation saving plan, maybe we will see them there on our next road trip ;-).

The pelicans surrounded a larger flock of smaller birds that were white and brown ringed with black accents. We thought at first those were their babies, but I am learning some facts about pelicans that might change our minds. They breed in March-April, and the young seem to resemble them or be gray with dark brown. The family groups separate by the fall. It might have been a species that has a symbiotic relationship with the pelicans. The pelicans have a peculiar feeding technique that involves gathering in a circle and beating their wings to “herd” fish, making them easier to grab. Smaller species, such as cormorants, tend to feed with them to grab the fish from the outside of the circle and as the fish rise to the top. Interesting facts about the American White Pelican include their status as the longest of the North American birds, at 50-70 inches, and their wingspan of 95-120 inches, which is the second largest (only surpassed by the California Condor). They are huge birds.

We discussed our desire to get kayaks, and get out there and explore this water more fully someday. There is a new asphalt trail that goes around the series of connected ponds out here, and several new geocaches (hidden by our friend Jerry that we were hiking with last week at Brazos Bend), one of which we made the find on today. We will be spending more time out in this area for sure this next year – be it on foot, on the water, or with birding books in hand. We might have to go back out there this weekend to figure out what that other species of birds were. We really couldn’t see them well enough to identify.

On the water’s edge in front of us, we watched two ibises feed- one the typical white, but then one that was white and brown. Its bill identified it as an Ibis most certainly, but it was not the two other types of Ibises that are darker in color. After much flipping through books and pictures, we decided it was the juvenile stage of the White Ibis that we were seeing.

Although we were cursing ourselves for not having a way to view any of the birds out there closer, we did mark some observed species down on our Katy Prairie Bird Checklist: Black-Bellied Whistling Duck, American White Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, White Ibis, and the Common Grackle (on the way home). Some of these are repeats from last week, so that makes the total species count so far this year at 19.

Brazos Bend State Park: Tales of the Wilderness

It is our annual tradition to spend New Year’s Eve on a camping trip with a certain core group of geocachers, give or take a few. For me, this is only the third year I have been involved in this tradition, but for J, this goes back about ten years. (It would be the fourth for me, but last year we had to cancel it due to weather and my leg injury). I knew about it back in the day, but I had trouble convincing my family to go, until my family dynamic changed. This is the second time since I have been involved that we had it at Brazos Bend. The first year, there was a whole group of us there. This year, it was down to a handful.

When we got to the park, we had about an hour until the sun went down, and it was immediately apparent that J and I had different agendas. He was in a race to get the campsite set up, and I wanted to get those last two geocache finds to help me end the year by logging the event as my #3300 geocache find. He encouraged me to take the dogs and make the finds while he situated camp.

In retrospect, we realized that what he meant for me to do is to swing by the other campsite and pick up our friend Diane and maybe her friend, and have them come with me. I didn’t get that part, and plus they had their own thing going on, so I went off by myself at dusk to try to score some finds. I think if I had a friend or a flashlight, it would have been a little different experience for me.

The picture up above is a scene from the trail I took, the Hale Lake Loop. Also, below, a shot of the water from the bridge I crossed to get there. I was really brazosbend 1 enjoying the quiet serenity of having the park to myself – I saw a person when I first set out, but once I got on the trail, not a single soul.

However, the thing about being in the woods is – you are never really alone, even if you think you are. I realized this as I reached ground zero for the first cache I was after, which was about 250 ft off into the woods. I saw a big, black animal moving in the woods about 80 ft in front of me. I thought it was a bear for a moment before I remembered I was in Texas, so it was certainly not that – but in fact, a feral hog. They are a huge pest species in our state, and generally speaking will leave you alone – unless they are in a group, or feel threatened for some reason. I was worried this one would in fact be threatened if my silly dogs decided to start barking and lunging at it, and considered going back for a moment – but I really wanted that cache find, so I stood still, and that is when I realized that pig was not alone. One, two, three, FOUR pigs in a line passed within about 50-80 feet of us. I was amazed that when I told my dogs, “quiet,” they actually listened, and stood stock still, even stopped panting, to watch the pigs pass quietly. We made the cache find, and then got the heck out of dodge.

The sun was going down, but I wanted that next find, so I set off for the next one along a side trail that was the closest one to me. I started reading the cache description, and started getting a little spooked. The cache was called “Cat Tracks”, and it turns out the reason why that name was chosen is because the cache owner said they saw the biggest bobcat they had ever seen at the cache site when going for the hide. As I got closer, I began to get the paranoid feeling that I was being stalked. I had to go about 180 ft into the brush, which by now was kind of dark inside, and when the dogs and I were about halfway in the thicket, we heard a branch snap nearby. We all froze…and then beat a hasty retreat outta there.

About twenty feet back down the trail, I started second guessing myself, and started to go back in…only to see or sense something jump down off a nearby branch, which then bounced up and down from the relieved weight. Nevermind!

As I was headed out of the woods and towards the bridge that would lead me back to the campsite, I started hearing cracking and snapping of branches in the woods to my right. Several times the dogs and I stopped to listen, and I became convinced there was a whole herd of feral hogs in those woods, about to bust out and chase us down. As the sun was finally setting, I came to two realizations. One: those sounds, and the faint hissing sounds I was also hearing, where in fact only vultures settling in to roost, fighting over the best spots, and knocking down dead branches as they went. Two: that at dark, Brazos Bend State Park belongs to the creatures. That, although a frightening thing, is also how it should be, and I am glad the creatures have a place to call their own.

That night as we sat around the campfire sipping our adult beverages and telling life stories, I heard a sound. It increased in intensity, and J noticed it, too, and agreed with my consensus: coyotes howling. It sounded like a lot of them.

The next day, when we were hiking with Rod (from the caching team “uptrain”), he told us that earlier that day, he had come across the carcasses of four feral hogs that had been tore up. He had told the ranger about it, and the ranger explained that was the work of the coyotes. The coyotes lurk around the edges of the pig trails, working together to take down the weak and the young. I am not sure if it was the four pigs I had seen the day before – Jerry didn’t think so, because they were on the far end of Hale Lake, not the side I had been on – and I am not sure whose side I am on in this nature’s scheme, but I did find it interesting to think about what kind of dramas played out in those woods once the sun goes down.