There’s always something new.\u00a0 Sometimes pretty, sometimes not.\u00a0 Sometimes a known thing I’m glad (or sorry, like an invasive alien plant) to see.\u00a0\u00a0 And sometimes a total mystery–not just a UID (unidentified)\u00a0 bird or plant, but a mystery that’s startling and stops me in my tracks.<\/p>\n
This morning I went out as usual, to do a complete walkaround of the west grass, up and across the “hump” on the north fenceline, and back along the east side of the dry woods, and time it.\u00a0 Warm and humid (lots of dew on the grass), but an easy walk west along the south fenceline of the near meadow and then west to Cloud Pavilion and that patch of big bluestem.\u00a0 No breeze at all yet.\u00a0 The sun had gilded the creek woods, and didn’t touch me until I was maybe halfway down the south fenceline.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a nice morning–some birds calling but not as many as a month ago.\u00a0 Those birds have left.\u00a0 The white-eyed vireos were calling, though.\u00a0 I didn’t spook a deer from the brush near the south fenceline–no “sneezes” and no crackle of leaves or twigs.\u00a0\u00a0 I could hear people with shotguns trying to hunt doves in the distance.\u00a0\u00a0 I got into the tallgrasses near the creek, where the mowed path is narrow and the big Argiope orb weavers like to build across it, but didn’t find any this morning.\u00a0 Admiring the bright golden spear tips of the Indiangrass as they were poking out of their sheaths.\u00a0 Spotted a dull-colored female damselfly perched on an Indiangrass leaf.\u00a0\u00a0 Usually I hear at least one deer “snuff” or crackled the undergrowth as I walk from the south end up to Center Walk, but today the woods were stiller than usual.<\/p>\n
I was in sight of Center Walk, which runs from the Entrance Meadow of the Creek Woods up across the West Grass to the SW corner of the Dry Woods when I heard a loud call I’d never heard before.\u00a0\u00a0 At first I thought it was a big bird of some kind so I looked at the treeline to the north, along the fence, and couldn’t spot anything it might be.\u00a0\u00a0 Whatever it was called again…and then again…and that made it clear it was in the West Grass north of Center Walk, moving downslope to where my planned path ran.\u00a0\u00a0 I compared it mentally to other critter sounds I’ve heard: loose dogs, coyotes, feral cats, various birds, sheep, goats, cattle, horses.\u00a0 Nothing fit.\u00a0 I stopped at Center Walk.\u00a0 North of there, the tallgrasses disappear except for Little Bluestem (which right now ranges from waist to shoulder high; some of its tallest seed stalks were about eye level.\u00a0\u00a0 The sound came again, this time in sharp, staccato phrases, all on one pitch, and now (as whatever it was got closer) clearly not a doggish sound, but the sharp 2-to-4 short sounds in a row reminded me of the warning cries of some critters to their young or group, from “Come NOW!” to “Stay DOWN” or “SNAKE! SNAKE! SNAKE!”\u00a0 It sounded like a large whatever, *intending* to be heard at a distance..\u00a0 I had the sense that the volume filled the entire West Grass with a warning of some kind.\u00a0 I was the obvious object of the warning.\u00a0 “Human!”<\/p>\n
Did coyotes have a separate call for that?\u00a0\u00a0 R- had come across a coyote family in the gully system, and they made no sound at all, but did a quiet, quick, trot into cover.\u00a0\u00a0 I had started a gray fox vixen once, who “knew” me and had gone to sleep under a bush while I was watching the birds at the water and photographing them.\u00a0 Then I got up, without any warning, and she exploded out from under her bush with a yelp, then stopped and gave me a dirty look…”You scared me, you stupid human!\u00a0 You’re supposed to make a little noise without moving to let me know you’re getting up.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then she faded into the brush.\u00a0 So foxes have a very small-canid yelp.\u00a0 Coyotes yelp. This was not a yelp–more like a very loud chirp-squawk.\u00a0 I couldn’t make that sound (didn’t try, then.)<\/p>\n
Even though it didn’t sound like a dog, I’m very wary of stray and feral dogs and just stood there watching the trail north.\u00a0 Suddenly there was movement beyond where I was looking and a longish, dark shape moved quickly across and into the Creek Woods.\u00a0 Because of the tall grass between us, I know it had to be higher than knee high.\u00a0 I had the impression is was perhaps 2 1\/2 times longer than tall, but I was guessing on how high because of the grass.\u00a0\u00a0 It wasn’t trotting like a dog.\u00a0\u00a0 It wasn’t running like either canid or felid.\u00a0 The movement struck me as surreptitious, trying not to be seen, but more interested in getting into cover.\u00a0 The calls had ceased.\u00a0 I heard no more.\u00a0 But I had a serious concern about following the trail north to the north fenceline.\u00a0 The whatever it was had impressed me as being big enough to give me trouble if it wanted to, and the thick growth along that trail would make ambush easy.\u00a0 If whatever it was had young (could’ve been following it without my seeing them)\u00a0 that would be … not exactly safe.<\/p>\n
So I called R- (back home, eating breakfast) , told him what I’d seen, that I didn’t want to take the trails I’d planned and would instead take Center Walk straight away from the Creek woods, and check behind at intervals.\u00a0 I did that, then circumnavigated the Dry Woods, with a side visit to Fox Pavilion to refill the wildlife waterer there.\u00a0\u00a0 No further calls were given by the whatever.\u00a0 No deer stirred in the Dry Woods, either.\u00a0 I usually spook at least a couple-three deer there.\u00a0 Plenty of deer tracks on the trails.\u00a0 I heard small birds–Carolina Chickadee, Black Crested Titmice, one mockingbird.\u00a0 Black Vultures were out and about but not much else.\u00a0 Back up to the north fenceline and east, silence in the woods, but for the flup-flup-flup of Black Vulture wings as they finally decided they could get up in the air.<\/p>\n
So my mystery is still a mystery. \u00a0 Not a bear, not an elephant, too big for a fox and also I think for a coyote. \u00a0 We don’t have wolves here now, and all the wild dog types have pointy noses: this was blunt in front.\u00a0 Bobcats look “square” because of their short tails, not long and flowing. \u00a0 All the cats in the area are tannish (with or without spots) although there’s a dark gray-phase jaguarundi down in extreme S. Texas …and it’s not large–2-2.5 feet long, including tail, 15-18 pounds, says my mammal field guide. \u00a0 They’re not known this far north. \u00a0 I’m reasonably sure (even discounting my size guess as much as possible)\u00a0 the whatever was bigger than that.\u00a0 Jaguar…not known in Central Texas, though it has a black phase much farther south.\u00a0 Mountain lion–we know we’ve had one around now and then, but they’re tan, not dark. \u00a0 It’s tempting (but it’s HOT) to go back out as the day heats up and try to see if there’s anything in the midst of the West Grass or the Dry Woods to indicate a kill site.\u00a0 A bunch of vultures, disturbed grass, etc.\u00a0 We’ll see how dedicated I am….R- is busy sawing up a large branch that came off the pecan tree in the other house’s front yard.<\/p>\n
Here’s an article on the wild cats of Texas.\u00a0 https:\/\/texasnativecats.org\/cats-of-texas\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There’s always something new.\u00a0 Sometimes pretty, sometimes not.\u00a0 Sometimes a known thing I’m glad (or sorry, like an invasive alien plant) to see.\u00a0\u00a0 And sometimes a total mystery–not just a UID (unidentified)\u00a0 bird or plant, but a mystery that’s startling and stops me in my tracks. This morning I went out as usual, to do Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,16],"tags":[17,51],"class_list":["post-853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-80-acres","category-life-beyond-writing","tag-life-beyond-writing","tag-nature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions\/855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}