Personal Update
We are officially Oklahoma residents! Our new voter ID cards showed up yesterday.
We’ve almost got all our stuff moved; I think one more trip to Slidell will take care of the rest. Not sure when that will be; our next trip is up to Wisconsin to see some new birds and explore nature. Oh, and go to my baby sis-in-law’s wedding, I guess that’s important, too.
I’ll be glad when the Slidell trips are done. That 12 hour drive by myself is a killer.
We did take the time to go to the local county fair, where Julie discovered that goats can be cute.
Often, we go down to the catfish pond to feed the fish and watch the sunset.
Yesterday we took a walk down to the creek bottom and we took these photos of our house from that angle (you might need to click to see the full image). This is a great view from both directions.
More personal updates to come when we actually have time to do something interesting. We haven’t moved for over two decades, and we’ve forgotten how much work it is.
The Science and Nature Part
This is “Ranch Naturalists” after all
Disclaimer
Trigger warning, a little bit further down is a picture of a spider. I know not everyone likes to see that, and I’ll give you plenty of warning before it should scroll into view. But fair warning, it’s a pretty cute photo.
I used to be terrified of spiders — I was bitten once in a Philippine jungle while in the Navy, and I had a bad reaction. I still would rather not have one crawling on me, but after Dr. Aimée Thomas taught me how to appreciate them during my master naturalist classes, I began to lose my fear.
“To learn a thing is to know a thing; to know a thing is to understand a thing;
to understand a thing is to face it without fear.”
— Ashley Edward Miller
iNaturalist
If you’re an iNat geek, feel free to take a peek at our ranch project to catalog our local flora and fauna: Conway Ranch Project. We’re just beginning, but we’re at 562 observations of 258 species, and that’s not counting the birds we record in eBird.
Birds
I haven’t had a lot of time for birding, but I try to do at least one survey every day (current streak = 1,306 days and counting). We’ve got a lot of the same birds here as we did back in Louisiana (albeit with a slightly different vocal dialect, in some cases), but we are seeing and hearing some new ones. One is the Oklahoma state bird, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus). They’re common in western Louisiana, but rarely seen where we lived.
Other new birds here (to us) include the Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) and the Chuck Wills-Widow (Antrostomus carolinensis).
This morning, I watched a pair of American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) fly in and perch in a tree near the house.
Bats
A short and unexpected section here, since we haven’t done any night-time nature observations at all. Julie was exploring our grove and found an Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis) sleeping in a tree! It turns out this species doesn’t cluster in caves like the stereotypical bat — instead it sleeps in solitude while mimicking dead leaves.
And finally, Bugs
The spider picture is coming up, after this photo of Julie and her new friend. You have been warned.
While we were trying to do some yard work, this Gray Hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus) landed on Julie and refused to move on.
And now, the dreaded spider picture
When I first saw this, I thought it was a velvet ant. I had seen one earlier and I was trying to get a better photo. Turned out, this Cardinal Jumping Spider (Phidippus cardinalis) is known as a mimic of the velvet ant, so I was not the first to be fooled.
And finally, a close up look at this spider’s eyes gazing back at me.
I have to say, those eyes are not what I expected.
I hope I didn’t traumatize many people by posting spider photos, and those people who know me are probably shocked that I was able to do it.
I’ve leave this with another quote:
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.
Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
— Marie Curie
I sympathize on those 12 hour drives. Audio books have been a godsend. If you have a CD player in your vehicle, I’d be happy to send the ones I have finished. Mostly mysteries.
Wow! One, fabulous photos!!! Two, “JUMPING SPIDER”!!!?? 😵💫😱. You traded flying palmetto bugs (monster roaches) for this!!?? 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤣. So glad you are settling in. 💜. It’s a beautiful world we live in. Thanks so much for sharing yours. 💜