Wes Ferguson

Dawn on the Blanco

I tagged along on a bird survey May 15 near the banks of the Blanco River. I like birds as much as the next guy, but I don’t know a whole lot about them. For me, songbirds always provided the background music for whatever more important thing I was focusing on. Their songs mingle with urban noises like passing cars and barking dogs—stuff to tune out rather than contemplate.

But this was different. The cool morning air was filled with the melodies of chirps, trills, hoots and caws, each corresponding to a different species. My “bird nerd” companions helpfully identified each song, pointing out yellow-billed cuckoos, canyon wrens and several others, including canyon towhees (they sound like gatling guns) and the sweet, high music of the painted bunting.

We stood quietly in mature juniper forests or on limestone ledges and grassy fields, and we relied almost solely on our sense of hearing to identify one species from the other. Sound was far more important than sight. Other senses — smell, taste and touch — fell by the wayside. As I narrowed and clarified my focus, the sounds of the forest began to fill up my consciousness. It felt surprisingly like meditation, and I could see myself becoming a bird nerd.

Here are a few iPhone photos from our morning.

Surveying the ranch

Overlooking the river

Halifax Falls

image

Limestone gravel

Limestone gravel

Horse crippler cactus

Horse Crippler

Halifax Canyon

Canyon

Wes Ferguson

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