Life and Death

Along side Highway 87 in Sabine Pass, TX (as you may have noticed I spend quite a bit of time in this area) I came upon the sun-bleached, scattered bones of an alligator. The skeleton was not whole only consisting of the lower jaw and a few leg bones. It appeared to have been a large one also, because one of the jaw bones measured near 22". Most of the teeth were missing except a few which I collected. Not far from this site I was fortunate to run into a live four foot juvenile alligator in a shallow ditch.It would slowly rise to the surface and suddenly sink into the muck as I would approach. Its mottled brown coloration allowed it to blend in well with the murky bottom of the ditch allowing it to literally disappear each time it would submerge. Minutes later its beady eyes would break the surface and look intently in my direction. There was plenty of food to sustain it in the form of frogs which were hopping everywhere along the fringes of the waterway.

Bluebirds

Bluebirds have begun nest building in the house I put up back in February (see Feb. 26, 2007 entry). I opened it up as soon as I arrived and found a full blown nest which consisted of pine straw and hay.

Later that evening I watched as they made trip after trip bringing more nesting material to the box. The other bluebird house I put up on my neighbors property had a nest in it, but not a bird nest. Instead I found a "loaded" paper wasp nest. By loaded I mean it was covered with wasps and I came very close to introducing my hand to them. I should've seen this coming. I knew when I put up these houses that paper wasps would try to nest in them. Normally you would rub a bar of soap on all the areas of the house that a wasp could use as a nest area.

The soap prevents the nest from sticking. So that's what I did- I removed the nest and soaped it up good. I returned the next day to find that bluebirds had begun to build in it also. As the season progresses I will report on any and all activity.