Essays

Wild On The Prairie: Temporal Observations

May walk
May 27, 1999

It is a joy to go walking. A walk is a meditation, an adventure, and mighty fine relaxation. Morning walks, as the sun is just peeking into the night shadows, are fresh and cool. Let’s go on a hypothetical walk, filled with observations by our staff and volunteers and by the kids that visit Sibley.

Bleary-eyed, and coffee in hand, stand in the cool air, and inhale. Close your eyes, and listen. Yep, there is that Mockingbird. When does he sleep? He was singing at midnight and at 4 a.m. Where is he? There he is, on the electric line. What a silly little hop and flutter: he is so full of song he bounces! Who else is singing? Oh, the House Finches are burbling, full of expectations of oil seed sunflower kernels. Over there is the red-mantled male; the sparrow-streaked female must be on her nest, the second one of the year.

Mourning Doves are calling like owls. One comes whiffling by, its wings noisily ruffling the air. And, yes, there is the “Who cooks for you? Que lastima” call of the Whitewinged Doves. Whitewings have become quite common since moving to Midland in the late 1980’s. And, there, another bird song… a rising trill followed by a descending melody… Cassin’s Sparrows are singing. The Cassin’s Sparrow is a symbol of the southern Llano Estacado. Its haunting melody sends shivers down the spine of long-time Llaneros. Oh yes! It is a beautiful day!

The day will be hot. By afternoon, everything wild will be hiding in whatever shade it can find. The wildflowers of spring have gone to seed, and the dried stalks crunch underfoot as we head into the pasture. Ah-ha: a box turtle. This one is an old friend. It knows us. It cranes its neck to peer up – have we got a tidbit for it? Red eyes – male or female? (Everyone should know!) At what age do the males get their red eyes and bright spots on their legs? If you know, tell us! For the first two hours of the morning the turtle will roam about its home range of about five acres, searching for caterpillars inching along the ground or a chilled grasshopper clinging to a seedstalk.

The loose grains of sand along the trail have tracks. Who visited last night? Hmmm… the blundering old possum came along not long before daybreak – its track is crisp-edged. Possums moved onto the Llano Estacado as the mesquite brushland spread and thickened with age. In the early 1990’s their numbers seemed to quadruple (or so it seems since so many people starting reporting meeting them).

Here, the possum tracks cross over the Bobwhite Quail tracks. The quail must have walked along near sundown, finding one last seed before hiding under a lotebush. Two sets of quail tracks indicate the quail have paired up. Maybe they have found enough sprouting weeds to provide the calcium needed for egg production. A hundred tiny squiggly tracks indicate the amazing number of nocturnal invertebrates that scamper in the dark. Over by the rotten mesquite log, one track looks like a zipper. A six-inch centipede lives there. And look at the mouth of that hole – hey – a scorpion -- still waiting for supper to walk by!

Be still! Here comes the resident skunk. She likes to use the trail, too. And, my gosh! – look in her mouth! She is carrying a ground squirrel! Did she kill it? Or is it carrion she found? How strange! Skunks are omnivorous, so they must eat meat sometimes… but, to be carrying a whole ground squirrel? Wow! Hurry home, little mama.

What in the world? Hey jackrabbit! Why aren’t you scared? Are you crazy? The silly thing is walking right past us, ignoring us. Where is it going? To a sett (a shallow hole under a wolfberry bush) where it kneels down, wriggles around, and lowers its ears along its back. When we first walked up it must have bolted, but when we tipped our hat at the skunk, it probably figured we were harmless. Yeah, I know, anthropomorphistic thinking is not very scientific. Is that where it will give birth? It did not look pregnant! (But who has ever seen a fat jackrabbit?)

Another box turtle, or at least its track. There it is – headed to that old badger hole. And will have company – a big snake track. The six and a half foot bullsnake is seen most often near here. Hey – the snake track is coming out, not going in! Dirt is pushed up on the back side of each loopy curve as the snake pushes itself along. Bullsnakes are diurnal. He must be out cruising for quail eggs, or baby mice or packrats.

What? That beautiful song? It is the song of the Painted Bunting. Red, blue, yellow, and green make it the most colorful bird of the Llano Estacado. Five bucks sats we don’t see it though! It hides in the canopies of the mesquite, and keeps at least two mesquites between us and it. It will sing at least three times a minute, for hours, while its chartreuse mate raises the young.

Another turtle! This time, a small one – but not a baby. The very little ones are almost never seen. Do they come out in the earliest crepuscular hours? (or latest?)To find the age of a box turtle, count the rings on one scute. The rings are ridges running counter to the black and yellow lines.

Whoa! There goes the first lizard of the morning! It was brown, so it was the Southern Prairie Lizard. It lives on trees, walls, and fences. Watch him. He is doing pushups, flashing his blue throat and blue sides. Is he directing his efforts at us? Look for another male somewhere near. Hmmm… maybe he is doing it to us, telling us we are in his territory!

Oh, my oh my! Kingsnake! Eating a hognose snake! The hognose is almost as long as the kingsnake – good grief! How long will it take him to choke it down? (Four hours, we found out, after catching both snakes. The kingsnake never let go of the hognose.)

Alright! Tarantula hole! Let’s take this long grass stem and put it down the hole, then thump it like this, and wait. Aaah, the grass is moving! We’ll grab it gently and pull slowly. Come on… come on… gently… gently… aaah, there it is! It is almost out… see, it is holding on… it is out! Quick, plug the hole with a tissue! Okay… put your hand in front of her. See, its eyes are on top of its head, it can’t see what it walks on. If it bites, it will feel like a thorn prick. You won’t get sick. They aren’t dangerous! They are cute and fuzzy, just like a little kitten. Oh, too many legs to be cute? It tickles, doesn’t it? It isn’t scary at all, is it?

It is getting hot. Let’s go back.