Road Trip

 

Travel day today.  San Antonio.  225 miles.

 

2017 January trip

 

This afternoon’s walk in San Antonio.  It looks like winter!

 

Yesterday afternoon’s walk a little farther south at Santa Ana NWR.

 

Football day tomorrow.  Go KC.  Go Boys.

 

If you've ever wondered

 

If you’ve ever wondered how a least grebe and pied-billed grebe would look side-by-side, you’re in luck.  I have exactly that photo!

 

 

 

Help!

 

I’m taking pictures of yellow-crowned night-herons and I can’t stop!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's an easier one

 

It’s an eastern screech-owl.  You won’t be able to see him in this picture, I’m just showing you the tree.

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If you know where to look, he’s just starting to get visible in this one.

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On the right side of the tree.

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In a hole where a branch used to be.

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Right in the middle of the shot.

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In plain sight!

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A little owl face.

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Once you see this one, it’s easy, right?

 

Common Pauraque

 

 

It’s (sleeping) eye is right in the center of the frame.

 

He is facing left.

 

Tail to the right.  The tail extends all the way to the edge of the frame in this one.

 

The light shifted a little (the bird didn’t) for this one.  They’re perfectly motionless and don’t make a sound.

 

Pauraques are easy to find in the spring and summer when they call and jump up and down at dusk, feeding on flying insects.  They’re pretty much impossible to locate as they sleep in the leaf litter in the winter.  They won’t flush until you almost step on them.

 

They like to sleep in the same spot every day though.  This bird was located years ago at Estero Llano Grande State Park.  Park staff put some dry brush around it so we’ll know where to look, yet won’t be able to step on it.  (Even knowing where it’s supposed to be, it’s still a challenge to locate.)  This bird disappears from here all summer, but is back every day during the winter

 

It's that time again

 

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You’ve had a lot of practice.

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Can you find it?

 

Humidity

 

I think about humidity because my skin gets itchy when it’s too dry outside.

 

We get up in the morning here, it’s warm outside, and the thermometer looks like this; 73 degrees and 99% humidity.

My skin is happy.

 

A cold front comes through, the wind picks up from the north, and the thermometer looks like this in the morning.

Not nearly so warm, and low humidity.  I notice the difference.

 

The cold weather passes, the air flow shifts back from the southeast, from the Gulf, and the thermometer reads like this again.  High humidity.

 

Even in the cooler weather, in the middle picture, the humidity is still at 32% though, so why do I feel so dry?  32%, that’s still a lot of moisture, right?  I think the problem is that my skin is probably reacting to absolute humidity, not relative humidity, which is what the thermometer reads.

 

Relative humidity is a measure of how saturated the air is at a given temperature.  (Not that it’s actually air holding moisture, it’s really a measure of how much moisture can occupy a given space.  It can be moist inside a container, even if there is no “air” in the container, i.e. a vacuum.)  The lower the temperature though, the less moisture the air can hold.  So if you look outside in the morning and the humidity is high, take a look at where you are as well.  If you’re in South Texas, and the air is warm, it will probably feel humid.  If you’re in Colorado in the winter, and it’s 10 degrees outside, you’re going to be dry even if the humidity is at 100%!