Escape to the Mountains: Little Hummers

Those of you that have been following along with my blog for awhile know that I like to travel!  And I also like to post full-blown trip logs of my adventures.  Well, the fact is, now that the kids are a bit bigger and we have so many commitments, it is really hard to sit down and knock out a full trip log chronicling an entire week in one sitting.  SO... I have decided to break things down in smaller more do-able increments!  I hope you still enjoy reading them!

Our family doesn't have the cash flow to travel to wonderful, exotic locations.  It's hard to save up for big trips on a single income!  But we are so lucky to have our little cabin in the mountains of New Mexico!  It's strange, we've been going there for years (and by that I mean close to 20 years!) and we have done everything there is to do in and around Ruidoso, but you know what?  I have NEVER grown tired of this place.  I mean really, how could you?  Fresh, pine-scented air, cool mountain temps (20* less than the hell we call home in Central Texas) and abundant wildlife.  Not to mention a deck that just cannot be rivaled!  We spend most of our time sitting on the deck waiting and watching and RELAXING.

Some of our favorite cabin visitors are the hummingbirds!  As soon as we arrive, we make up fresh nectar and hang out the feeders and within an hour we have hummingbirds out the wazoo!  Big Daddy took it upon himself to try to get some great pics of the little beasties, and I can say from experience, it is WAY harder than it looks!  But I think he did a great job, check it out!

 

If you ever wondered what a hummingbird tongue looks like, click on this pic!

 

Can you get any sweeter?

And then came the fattest little hummer we've ever seen!  This little thing was beyond plump!  Not sure if it was just well fed or maybe a female with eggs?  Either way, too cute!

Coming in for a landing!

 

Our second morning we had the fortune/misfortune of finding a hummingbird on the ground.  My mom found the little thing flopping around in the driveway.  We picked her up and my mom tried to warm her while I mixed up some fresh nectar.

She ate well and started trying to flap her little wings.  She just couldn't seem to take off though.  We think her wing may have been broken.  We allowed the kids to hold her gently, I mean after all, how often does a kid get to hold something that small and delicate.  It was like holding a cotton puff in your hand.

After a bit, we fed her some more and I settled her in the lower branches of a tree.

We're not sure what became of her.  I went back to the spot and walked around the area about an hour later and there was no sign of her.  Not sure if she died or if something got her, or if by some chance her wing wasn't broken and whatever the problem was, she was able to work it out and fly off.  We are all hoping it was the latter, and honestly, as far as my kids are concerned it was.  The Piggy was in tears over our little guest and I was in tears seeing my sweet girl broken hearted.  All she wanted was for this sweet little bird to fly away "to be with her Mama and Daddy and her friends".  Both of the kids were terribly concerned about her and although I know death is a part of life, I figured optimism was the best choice in this case.  So we are hoping "Little Hummer" is flying around Ruidoso visiting every flower and feeder in the upper canyon! 

But on a happy note, the rest of our time at the cabin was spent observing and enjoying probably a hundred of these little beauties!  They swooped around, buzzed our heads when we got too close to the feeders and spent endless hours chasing each other around and away from the feeders!  Those little Rufous Hummingbirds are quite the territorial little farts!  Stay tuned for more adventures!

Padre Island or Bust!

Last week was the Piggy's 5th birthday!  I can hardly believe it!  A couple of weeks ago I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, and she told me she wanted to build a sand castle!  And so began the planning!  At first we were thinking of South Padre, but it is SUCH a long drive and the hotel we wanted was booked.  So we settled on a place on Padre Island up by Corpus Christi.  A win/win really as Corpus had several nice activities to add to our itinerary.

The drive out was nice, it actually RAINED the night before we left, so everything was overcast and a bit cooler and you can't beat that for traveling weather!  When we arrived, everything was still pretty cloudy.  We were too early for check-in, so we drove around the island a bit, trying to get a feel for things.  We stopped by a pier, since the kiddos have never seen a pier, much less been on one.  We were shocked to find out that this particular pier wasn't FREE!  You had to pay $2 a head to get out on it!  We paid it, just so the kids could experience it, but what a crock!  The kids were impressed by all the fishermen and the seagulls, not to mention the churning ocean water.  Since a storm had recently passed through, everything was wild out there.  It definitely gives you a healthy respect for the ocean when you see it like that.  After getting our fill of the pier, we cruised around on the beach, letting the kids get their toes in the sand.  They LOVED it!  The Piggy was all about the soft sand and the Monkey Man was all about the cool water!  It started to rain again, so we packed everyone up, headed to the hotel and got settled.  We were all hungry, so we perused the Island guides to see how the restaurants rated and decided to go to Doc's.  It was a nice looking restaurant on the bay with a great view and it was supposed to be affordable.  Well let's just say, this restaurant was the worst mistake of our trip!  The margaritas were mediocre at best, the crab cake appetizer was cold inside and our main dishes were LAME!  And if that wasn't bad enough, we were out something like $85 for this crappy meal and we only ordered 3 entrees!  The one thing that was good was the sourdough bread, but unless you want to have a great view and only eat a basket of sourdough bread, I would steer clear of this place!  Serious two thumbs down!  We would have been much better served spending $15 at Sonic and calling it a night.  On the bright side, by the time we got back to the hotel, the sunset was gorgeous!

The next morning we got up early to head to the beach.  Sadly, the Piggy had a rough morning and stayed back at the hotel with Big Daddy while the Monkey and I went to explore the Padre Island National Seashore.  

The Visitor's Center was REALLY nice here.  The rangers were very informative and more than happy to talk birds with the boy for a half an hour!  There was a little store, nice restroom facilities complete with showers and changing rooms, and the beach itself was so much nicer than the other beaches we saw on the island.  Since this is a National Park, you have to pay a fee to get in ($10 for a 7 day pass), but it was well worth it for the facilities and the cleanliness of the beach.  It was still early and still overcast when we made it down to the water, and it was pristine and there was hardly a soul in sight, other than the seagulls.

The boy decided to test out the water.

We found tons of little clams under the surface of the sand.  They were so pretty and we both just loved watching them burrow back under the sand when a wave would uncover them!

After about an hour of exploring, I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to head back into town and get the rest of my family!  It just didn't feel right without them!  By the time we returned, the sun was starting to peek through the clouds.

We munched our picnic and then it was time to explore and have fun!  By then the sun was out in full force and life was good!

Here are some of the things we found...  This is a crab hole.

 I felt the need to tell everyone to shut their crab holes quite a lot that day!

This is a Portuguese Man O' War that was washed up on the beach.

Luckily no one touched it's tentacles and therefore no one had to get peed on!  And just as an FYI, supposedly vinegar and/or meat tenderizer helps with jellyfish stings as well, which may be less messy than trying to pee on your foot!

There were sandpipers galore.

And a beautiful Great Blue Heron that seemed to just be hanging out watching what everyone was doing.  And can I just say those are some BIG damn birds!

We found ourselves a sweet, little piece of real estate, not too close to other folks and not too far from the Visitor's Center with all the facilities.

The umbrella was one of the best purchases I made before the trip ($19.99 @ Costco), along with the boogie boards.  Now if you remember from earlier, the Piggy wanted to build sand castles for her birthday.  Well as it turns out, the Piggy likes the "idea" of sand castles, but not so much the actual work!  Here she is contemplating her game plan as she goes over the blueprints in her head!

You've got to have the appropriate tools!

But reality set in fast and she lost interest in her sand castles and decided to go explore the water!  So Mama decided to build a sand turtle instead!

And just as a side note, the Visitor's Center at Malachite Beach has Kemp's Sea Turtle hatchling releases throughout the summer.  If you are lucky enough to be in town during a release date, you can call a hotline the night before to find out if the release is happening and then show up the next morning at 6:30am to witness the release!  We had hoped to see one of these, but none of the clutches were ready for release during our stay.  But for anyone interested in sea turtles, what a great opportunity!

The Monkey Man was all about learning how to boogie board, so he and his father decided to head out and try their luck in the waves.

At first he needed a little help, but before long he was goin' solo and that is pretty much where he stayed ALL DAY, which is amazing because I tried it and after about 20 minutes of getting the crap beat out of me by the waves, I was EXHAUSTED!

I made a new friend, well, maybe not a friend exactly, he laughed too much and I'm pretty sure it was at my expense!

I was in love with the pelicans, so cool and so graceful, at least in flight.

And yes, I admit it, I caught crabs at the beach!  I didn't mean to, but I just couldn't help myself!

Isn't it pretty with its bright blue legs?  It was a very nice crab, and it didn't even try to pinch me once!  I caught a sand flea too, but for some reason didn't take a picture of it, go figure?

Late afternoon we called it quits, we were all a bit burnt and crispy and completely worn out!  So we showered and packed up to head into town.  The girl at the Visitor's Center had told us that if we wanted to see dolphins we should head over to Port Aransas where the ferry is.  So we took that little drive up Mustang Island, found a little pier off the beaten path and sure enough... dolphins!

I was so happy because it wasn't just adult dolphins, there were BABIES!  They were no more than 2 or 3 ft. long and they were flipping around and splashing and just being kids!  Sadly, none of the photos turned out that well, they were just TOO fast and TOO crazy!  We did, however, get to see a pelican up close and personal!

Have I mentioned how much I adore pelicans?

We ended up having dinner at The Parrot, The Peg and The Patch in Port Aransas.  It was a cute little burger joint with outdoor seating and good service.  The teriyaki burger with pineapple was by far the best!  Poor Monkey Man had to endure me stealing bites throughout the meal!  A much better deal than stinky, ol' Doc's!

The next day was all about Corpus Christi.  We got up early and headed to the Texas State Aquarium.  The kids LOVED the dolphin exhibit!

And Merlin the otter!

But the highlight of the day was the escaped Harris Hawk!  This bird was NOT about to come down and cooperate and the staff were running around like crazy trying to nab her.  Because of her antics, the Bird of Prey show had to be canceled, but in all actuality, we got a bit of a show anyway watching her interact with Grace the Bald Eagle who was NOT happy about this hawk who kept landing on her enclosure!

And for those that haven't been to the aquarium in awhile, they have a very nice little splash pad that the kids enjoyed immensely!  On our way out of the aquarium, I stopped for a quick pic of the Lexington.

I wish we could have gone on board to see it, but alas, the fiasco at Doc's didn't leave us with the budget to see it.  Maybe next time.

We headed back to Padre Island for some souvenir shopping.  I mean really, who can resist shopping in a place with a ginormous plaster shark for a doorway?

Later that night we headed to a Corpus Christi Hooks baseball game at Whataburger Field where we managed to get front row seats right next to the home team dugout and it was Friday Night Fireworks!  Did you know that Corpus Christi was the birthplace of Whataburger?  I didn't, but I do now!

The next morning we planned to get up and head to the beach for one last hoorah, but Mother Nature had other plans.  It was pouring!  So we packed up early to head for home.  I was bummed we didn't get to make one last sand castle and I didn't get to shoot one particular photo, but hey, Corpus has been in this drought too, so badly in fact,  that many of the local birds have left due to the lack of fresh water.  So we were happy that they were getting some much needed rain.  Now if we could have managed to get it to follow us home!

We had a great time and we really did it up for my baby's birthday.  I hope she will remember all the fun we had.  I learned that my girl is a total beach bunny (she takes after her Mama!) and my son has more stamina and energy than should be humanly possible!  I also have a new found love of the Texas Coast.  Years ago, we visited Port Aransas and I was stunned to see a bunch of rednecks with their trucks backed up on the beach swilling beer and tossing trash everywhere and being that I was fresh from Oregon where the beaches are amazing and people actually pack out their trash, I was SO turned off.  I mean obviously, it has been 7 years since I set foot on a Texas beach!  But Padre Island was great, the National Seashore was beautiful and clean and I will be looking forward to going back soon!

Little Stinkers

My aunt has interesting neighbors.  They have serious attitude, they are terrible troublemakers and worst of all... they STINK!  But you can't hold a grudge because they are just cute to boot!

The culprits...

Minding their manners and trying very hard to look sweet...

Realizing the jig is up and making a dash for it!

Yes, I was outside with them and no, I didn't get sprayed!  ;)

Very Tweet Little Birdhouses!

This year we have had oodles of birds around our property.  The Monkey Man spends many of his mornings out front with his field guide and trying to identify them all.  He is especially fond of the blue jays that seem to be considering making the nest in the ligustrum bush their home!  As it turns out, last weekend the folks gave both kids little birdhouses to hang in the maple tree.  These things are so cute!  They are obviously meant for smaller birds, so maybe we'll get some finches or sparrows that like them.  Whether they get occupied or not, they are just super sweet hanging in the tree!  They are made from all recycled materials and are 100% recyclable themselves, which is always a good thing.  If you think they're cute, they are by a company called "Tweet Tweet Home"!

Our First Cecropia!

Last year I was good and remembered that my bug dealer has a much better selection in the fall, so I called him up and got all sorts of new critters for this year.  As you saw earlier, the two polyphemus moths emerged the same evening and they were stunning, big moths, but today, the Granddaddy (or in this case Grandmama) of all moths emerged!  Meet Hyalaphora cecropia, the largest North American moth...

Had I managed to get the ruler straight, this moth would have almost a 6-inch wingspan!  Impressive girl!  This one has shown a very mild temperament, she didn't seem to be scared or mind being handled.  The Monkey Man is completely in awe over her!  And honestly, so am I!  Here she is in all of her grandeur hanging out on the boy's knee.

The wing pattern is really striking.  But it's her body that I am amazed by.  She is fuzzy beyond belief and her abdomen has such amazing color.  The next photo isn't optimal, but it's REALLY hard to get a photo in focus when the moth is "shivering" (making rapid wing movements when agitated).

 

The striped pattern is so cool.  And was I kidding about the fuzziness?!?!  The underneath portion of the wings are beautiful, but again, the body has such incredible color and patterns!  She's all polka-dotty!

And what about the face?  Is it the face only a mother could love?  Nope, this moth is just about the sweetest looking creature I have ever seen!  Just look at those big, black eyes and the feathery antennae!  And the fuzzy orange legs!!  Beyond cute!  Click on photo to see EXTREME close-up!

We are holding on to this little lovely until well after dark.  We need to release her when the birds are asleep and the bats are less active.  And as always, I am humbled by the beauty of this little animal.  I wish her the best of luck and I hope her pheromones attract a big handsome boy and they make lots of baby cecropias!  We need all the beauty we can get in this world!

Night of the Polyphemus

As many of you know, we purchased cocoons from my bug dealer in Canada last fall.  They have been overwintering in my veggie crisper since October.  A couple of weeks ago, when the threat of freezing was over, I removed them from the crisper and have been patiently waiting for them to emerge.  Last week we were graced by the tiger swallowtail.  It was SO pretty and delicate and was off like a flash when we released it!  I had been told that the moths would probably take 5-8 weeks to emerge.  Looks like that was a bit of an over-estimate!  Last night while putzing around in the front room I noticed one polyphemus moth at the top of the enclosure drying its wings.  When I took a closer look, I saw the second one!  It had obviously just emerged and crawled up the enclosure as it hadn't pumped its wings up yet.  So we observed it for about a 1/2 hour until its wings were fully expanded, then we took them both upstairs to check them out!  These are seriously some of the prettiest moths on the planet!  Photo was taken on a black t-shirt!

 

To get an idea of its size, here it is in my 4 year-old's hand.

I was only able to get decent photos of one moth.  They were both females, which usually means they're pretty mellow, but one of them was just antsy beyond belief and I put her back in the enclosure as not to stress her out or wear her out.  I wanted to get a good shot of the underside.  You can tell it's a female due to the large abdomen and the skinny antennae.  

The last photo is my favorite, it really shows how incredibly beautiful this creature is!  She had a wing span of about 4-ish inches and she was magnificently colored!  I mean really, look at how black the black is and how vibrant the pinks are!

As always, I feel so lucky to have spent some time with these amazing moths.  After we took some photos and each of the kids got to check them out, we took them out front to the maple tree to release them.  Usually the females don't fly too much as they are so heavy with eggs, but in the time I came back inside to grab the flashlight and the camera, they had both flown off.  I guess our accommodations weren't up to their standards!  So I wished them good luck in finding handsome boys and laying healthy eggs!

Now we wait for the last 3 moths.  We're really looking forward to the cecropia as it will have at least a 6" wingspan!  We can't wait!