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Come back to this page each day to read another entry from Frederick R. Gehlbach's almanac of suburban natural and unnatural history, "Messages from the Wild," which chronicles the world of a forested ravine in central Texas.
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A late-passing Nashville warbler bathes with an early wintering ruby-crowned kinglet as the seasons change. Earliest winter sojourners have returned, so I anticipate the next group of "snowbirds" -- white-throated sparrows and orange-crowned and yellow-rumped warblers. Dark-eyed juncos, followed by American goldfinches and cedar waxwings, bring up the rear, unless we have an invasion of pine siskins, purple finches, and red-breasted nuthatches. I hope to see old friends, banded in years gone by, because fidelity to a winter site is as usual as it is to a nesting place, if resources are supportive. Wild actors operate on the principle of "why change what works," although both nature and culture are full of surprises! |
Frederick R. Gehlbach is Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies at Baylor University. His ecological studies have taken him from New Zealand to Slovakia and, in the Americas, from Alaska and Newfoundland to Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. His research interests include the life-history strategies of small owls, small burrowing snakes and urban wildlife ecology.
From MESSAGES FROM THE WILD: AN ALMANAC OF SUBURBAN NATURAL AND UNNATURAL HISTORY by Frederick R. Gehlbach, Copyright © 2002. Courtesy of the University of Texas Press.
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