To know a place: Oak Point Nature Preserve: great blue heron

Showing posts with label great blue heron. Show all posts

11/02/2020

Boat-backed Ground Beetle and Other Nature Therapy

Fueled up for a stressful week with fall colors, flowers, and feathers. And met a new beetle. The Boat-backed Ground Beetle, Scaphimotus spp. is described as 5/8-7/8", black with violet or coppery highlights. It eats slugs and snails. It was coppery going one direction, and purple headed a different way.

Limit media consumption, go outside, and drink plenty of fluids!

1/01/2017

Quiet

12/25/2016

Pa and Ma Kestrel wish you a very merry Christmas

The holiday hawk walk was a grand success this noon. Hawks soared over the horse farm and power wires, watched by this one at the picnic pavilion.

Hawk headed off to meet friends or family.

Winds from the south at 23 mph, sixty-eight percent humidity, and temp of 74 make me uneasy in December. It's hard to forget the devastation of the December 26, 2015 tornadoes in Ellis, Dallas, and Collin County.

Mr. & Mrs. Kestrel near the dam

Bonus heron because you were very good this year!

10/31/2016

Fishing at Oak Point

Three great blue herons and about the same number of people were fishing this morning before the pond stocking. I like the new mowed access points to the pond that replace the fishing pier. They let walkers, photographers, and other visitors get closer to the water. This is from Parks & Rec's facebook page:

For all you fishing enthusiasts, get your gear ready. We will be stocking the pond at Oak Point Park & Nature Preserve on Monday afternoon, Oct. 31 with 6”-8” large mouth bass. Just a reminder, fishing regulations at Oak Point fall under the jurisdiction of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which means anyone 17 yrs and up (with certain exceptions) has to have a valid fishing license to fish in ALL public waters in Texas. Additionally, you can keep the fish you catch from the pond according to the TPWD fishing regulations. However, it will be next year before these ones will be big enough to catch and keep. For those of you who are new to the sport of fishing, free pole rentals are available at the Oak Point Park Nature & Retreat Center but you need to bring your own bait. To learn more about fishing regulations, please visit this link:
http://tpwd.texas.gov/…/general…/general-fishing-regulations.

In other Halloween news, all the spiders were working on decorations.

Long-jawed orb weaver

Funnel web spider

High overhead spider!

8/21/2014

Heron today, goon tomorrow

Thanks to the Mower Lady, I feel safe saying I've seen green herons at Oak Point. The neck is just confusing. Sometimes it is short, and other times long. It's like that Fantastic Four guy in the Sixties cartoon show that stretched his arm sooooooo far. Or, maybe, like Inspector Go-Go-Gadget. Or... NBA amazing dunk shots. Library ladies shelving books on top shelves compare and contrast these superheroes. I would look better in Gadget's trench coat than Fantastic Four Spandex, for sure.

The cartoon show had a guy with an optional elastic arm feature, a girl who could be invisible, and an immature kid who responded to the shout, "Flame on, Johnny!" Being extremely mature myself, I fist pump and shout, "Flame on, Johnny!" whenever I light a grill or fireplace.