Saturday, May 20

Just Another Hot Humid Texas Coastal Morning Coffee Muses

The weather underground is telling me that with my reported temperature of 83° and with the humidity reading of 69% my feels like temp is 91°… And did I mention, it’s 8:00 am?

The past few mornings the clouds have been hauling their moisture laden selves north at a rapid rate, today not so much. They are more thunderstormy, but just drifting north… slowly. The rain itself is just north of Huntsville running all the way up to Fargo, North Dakota. That’s one heck of a rainstorm.

Ok, I gave up the porch and the humidity. Right now the heat index is at 98° and headed who knows where. Back at the desk where I am wondering what is going on today. I had to force a reboot on the kindle this morning, then I had to force a restart on the laptop.

Looking out the front window I see the resident Red-bellied Woodpecker tearing into the woodpecker seed block. A lot like this one from All About Birds website…

We must be having a Cardinal population explosion. Every year we have a few more calling this yard home. I have to wonder if it’s the generations coming back to their nestling home because while they appear territorial, they are not as aggressive at chasing each other as I would expect.

Seems the research shows they don’t travel far…

Fidelity To Breeding Site And Winter Home Range

Adults of both sexes usually occupy breeding territories with same or very similar boundaries from year to year, although individuals of both sexes may shift between nonoverlapping territories in successive years ( Laskey 1944b , Kinser 1973 , Merritt 1975 , SLH and SUL). In 1 s. Ontario study, yearlings were more likely to move after first breeding season than were older birds ( Smith 1969c ): Among 13 males found in the 2 summers after they had hatched, 8 kept same territory, 4 moved to adjacent territories, and 1 moved 1.6 km. Among 7 females, 4 kept same territory, 1 moved to adjacent territory, and 2 moved “over 400 m.”

Cardinals may remain on breeding territories year-round, or they may wander over larger area in winter, presumably if food or shelter in breeding territory is inadequate ( Laskey 1944b ). At winter feeding stations, both regular visitors and new individuals continue to appear throughout winter, and banded individuals may disappear and then return later during same or the following winter ( Laskey 1944b , Hundley 1953 ).