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| Hole in the Prairie |
Once in a great while I get to shake off the shackles of cubicle confinement and get out into the field. A week ago I joined some team members on the western edge of our region, to help uninstall some monitoring equipment along the San Bernard River. It was dirty, exhausting, physical work. I loved every minute of it. As much as I enjoy what I do, I think I would be a good deal happier if more of it took place outdoors.
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| Muddy boots, good day. |
Our monitoring sites were deep into rural areas west of Houston. The sort of places where you can feel the tight mental personal space of the city expand to fill a broader horizon. Also the sort of places with pretty great wildlife and photographic opportunities. We spent all day deep in farm fields, and rural streams, and in the medians of country highways. While most of me was focused on the task at hand, there is always lurking within that 10 year old explorer with wandering eyes. As we rooted out concrete emplacements, I noted bird calls in the morning woods. As we dug up buried cable, my labored breath enjoyed the clean air. While taking pictures of the site for reference, I snuck in a few of the local sights as well.
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| Old tractor |
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| Rust/paint |
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| Lone tree road |
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| Vesper Sparrows |
At the end of the day, there was just enough time to stop by Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge on my way home. Attwater is a big sweep of land with big Texas skies and the gentle roll between prairie and river bottom. The big attraction to many is the endangered bird who lends its name and purpose to the Refuge, but for me the vast, expansive feeling of the refuge gives a sense of what the land might once have been. Complete with creaking Aermotor windmills, blowing prairie grasses, and circling hawks, it's far closer to the stereotype of Texas most have than the busy urban swamp of Houston. While it doesn't have the dense natural beauty of the mountains and lakes of my homeland in upstate NY, it does have an austere beauty of its own.
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| Northern Harrier over prairie grasses |
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| Road, meet sky |
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| Hawk sees you |
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| Raptor exclusion |
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| Sunset tree |
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| Bird on a wire (Savannah Sparrow) |
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| Prairie depression(al wetland) |
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| Last light on prairie grasses |
