Familiarity breeds semi-discontent in re Friends of Hagerman NWR's Photo Club

NWR, for the non-environmental types, is a national wildlife refuge. All national wildlife refuges in the U.S., including Hagerman in north Texas, are parts of, and run by, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Hagerman, like some other larger, and generally more popular and visited, NWRs, has a "friends of" support group. It has a Facebook page, restricted to members.

The friends group, in turn, has a nature photography group Facebook page, NOT limited to official friends supporters, of which I am a member.

And, that brings us to the header.

For nearly a month straight in early summer (starts in May here in my climatological definitions) and into early June in full summer, most of Hagerman was underwater due to heavy rains.

To explain, Hagerman was created after the feds bought land on both sides of the Red River in the 1930s while Denison Dam, built to impound today's Lake Texoma, was being built, in anticipation of floods at times putting most this land underwater. This year, my area near and upstream of the dam got about 11-12 inches of rain, on average, in April, hugely above normal, and about 7-8 in May, a fair amount above normal. It's very flat land, largely surrounding Big Mineral Arm of the lake.

There's an additional twist, which ties indirectly with the header.

The feds bought ONLY the surface estate of all this land in the 1930s, primarily out of cheapness. Well, soon, the first exploratory drilling happened, and yes, found oil. There are still-active muleheads / nodding donkeys on pads within Big Mineral Arm, as well as in higher areas, in the latter case, having oil tank storage batteries with them.

Well, greenhouse gases and climate change, right?

A few of the members have talked at times about climate change, though none has talked about the climate crisis. And none of them batted an eye when a regional FWS admin this spring gave a presentation about how good the awl bidness was to FWS, as I wrote here, when I accused the friends group, since this was a regular event sponsored by IT, not Hagerman FWS, of whoring themselves out.

This:

Learn all about the oil rigs on the refuge, and the ways in which they benefit Hagerman NWR.

Along the lines of eXXXon saying "Carbon brings things to life," is whoring yourself out.

Few of the people there seem to have any idea how anti-environmental FWS is in general, specifically on things right here in Tex-ass like the dunes sagebrush lizard (with original help there from then-Texass Comptroller Susan Combs, then from O'bummer's Interior Secretary Kenny Boy Salazar), so bad it led to a new lawsuit, and the monarch butterfly, where even the Center for Biological Diversity fell for kind of a head fake — since Kenny Boy Salazar was involved. They just want to see purty birdz, probably mainly while driving in their cars.

Or now, FWS being a sellout again, this time on the lesser prairie chicken. (And, yes, that's in part Trump-related, but I'm sure not entirely) 

That's part 1 of the discontent.

==

Part 2? Non-locals, like people from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metromess, asking all during this time "Is it above water yet," and some even driving up here.

Admins have written occasional posts about how long it would still be before it aired out. But, they never "pinned" a post to the top of the Facebook page to cut off such dumb questions.

They never went beyond that and suggested to Metromessers alternatives to Hagerman, like I did in comments to two of the posts.

And there are!

From where I live, within 40 miles, there's national grasslands near Alvord, Texas, a city lake with 3-4 miles of trails at Muenster, Texas, and a city nature preserve at the northeast corner of Denton. In Fort Worth, Samson Park gives you up-and-down hiking and as for birds, I've seen a black-crowned night heron there. You can see all sorts of birds in the Trinity parks complex there, or White Rock Lake in Dallas, or one of the undeveloped Dallas County parks, all of which I've been to. 

During the "wet" time, I saw dickcissels, painted buntings and yellow kingbirds at Muenster, and further away, black-capped and white-eyed vireos at Wichita Mountains NWR.

Of course, at all these places, you have to actually get out of your vehicle and hike, per Cactus Ed Abbey.

==

Part 3?

Some of the newer members of the photo club.

There's one whose Hucksterman profile calls herself "digital creator," and whose home page says "Owner/Manager/CEO at Backroad Photography," with no website, in other words: 

"I'm a person who has a camera and shoots photos in the country."

To make it worse, her first profile photo looked like someone playing with Photoshop while indulging substances and who should have their Photoshop privileges revoked.

As it turns out, her "organization" actually a Hucksterman group created by said person. She's about the only person who posts there herself, and a bunch of it is cheesy 3-D Hucksterman photo effects that confirm what I just said above. Fortunately, she doesn't try this on the Hagerman site, or else they don't let her. 

That said, to sidebar? Hagerman photo group admins DID let one person, a very occasional poster, post a picture of a Brahminy kite from India claiming they'd seen one in or near Hagerman. Worse? It was the actual illustration photo on Wikipedia's article. He either hauled it down himself, or  admins did. I don't know if he got booted; he should have.

Back to the person at hand. I suppose I should salute their love of nature, but I don't, because of how it's expressed.

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Part 4?

I've often suspected the photo group of playing favorites. And, the most recent Facebook "header" photo? The shooter said it was in a small pond "near Hagerman." As in, not inside refuge boundaries.

Add that to "overposters," who have to dump photos from a month earlier?

Off-putting.

"Hagerman influencers" would be another way to describe them.

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Part 5? Friends of Hagerman itself.

I know more than most people about how "managed" many national wildlife refuges are, primarily to serve the "hook and bullet" constituency. So, "Adopt a Goose"? Uhh no. First, I'm not a total fan of the overseeding, any more than water diversions out west to places like Sonny Bono and Bosque del Apache. (Interestingly, a state part or wildlife refuge in the same area doesn't have the same problems right now.) Also, why not get the oil industry best buds to take up the slack? 

A secular spiritual experience while hiking and birding

Actually, it’s not the first such experience. Two years ago, high in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, I came across this rock, with a cascade splashing over it. It reminded me of a similar view at Middle Emerald Pool in Zion National Park, to which I had already, some time after I got back home, attached the Buddha’s likely most famous phrase in a photo poster.

This time, it was just the second half of that phrase.

But, I also invented a word: “humaste.” It’s a secular version of “namaste.” It means something along the lines of “I salute, recognize and accept the human in you because of the human in me.” It’s secular, non-metaphysical, and unlike Gandhi’s use of “namaste” (or “harijan”) it’s not patronizing.

And, I had a third such experience while hiking locally. No need to go to Zion or the San Juans. And, no inanimate rock involved this time.

After getting newspapers done for the week, and more unwinding with having worked over the weekend to finish a graduation special section, I went out to the local town's city lake again, as I had the previous two Saturdays.

Two Saturdays ago, I had hiked a fair chunk of the longest trail, coming from the south, the main access area. This time I hiked the north end. Getting near to where I had come up from the south two Saturdays ago, I saw the spot where I had turned around.

But, I didn't immediately see something else.

Imagine this beautiful lady of a red-tailed hawk (looks too big for a male) standing, STANDING, in the middle of a trail no more than 8 feet or so, 2.5 meters, away when you notice it. Imagine having to zoom OUT with your telephoto zoom because it overfills the frame. Imagine changing angles to get different sun, and work around the grass, and it NOT MOVING other than moving its head to track you. Imagine watching it for 15 minutes, between original photos, walking around side to side, more photos, then talking to it, then even shooting a bit of video, with a clip here, too. I told it "humaste" when it started to hop off in the grass.  

 

I have asked a friend on Shitter, former US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, if they have any "why" information from their background, since asking "why" is part of human nature. I haven't heard back yet, but will update as available.

An online and in-person non-local friend who's an even more avid hiker than me thought maybe a very close nearby nest was the answer, in a hawk's "stand your ground" world. Possible, I guess, but to me, it doesn't seem likely.

Another online friend, a birder of some sort herself, wondered if it might be due to injury. Possible. I never saw it fly, only ground-hop. 

Red-tailed hawks, like some other raptors, can make a kill that is too heavy to lift back to a nest, something like a large jackrabbit. But, there's no blood on the beak, and as far as I could tell, none on the talons.

In any case, folks, it is possible to be delighted and challenged and, in a non-metaphysical sense, spiritually stimulated by nature, even without diving coral reefs or other higher-dollar adventures. (It wasn't a spiritual experience at the time, and I wouldn't call it that today, but a "bucket list" item? Walking on a glacier years ago at Jasper National Park.) 

I’m trying to work in more non-political stuff on occasion here. And, this, by getting outside of politics entirely, certainly fits the “non-twosider” angle. As part of that, spread the word and idea of “humaste,” please. Also remember that human beings do have free will and that, in some sense, the spiritual blessing of “humaste” has to be in part earned. This isn’t Martin Luther’s sola gratia.

Check out the bobcats in South Texas

I first saw this piece in High Country News, which writes about the West, which does not include Texas. The piece appeared first in an online mag of the California Academy of Sciences, though, which I guess explains that.

It's a good piece about their resilience in the face of various threats. The photos are better displayed in High Country News, as a slider all at the top. But they're bigger in the webscroll at the second link.

First, I had no idea that bobcats could take down a young deer.

Second, as far as their resilience, versus the threats they face, I didn't know that they were seriously u hunted for their pelts. Disgusting.

Whichever link you click, go past the pictures to read the story.

The fall colors of Texas

A beautiful red oak in Rosebud, Texas, with my judicial

and skilled, if I may say, use of Photoshop.

I was worried, earlier this year, that ongoing semi-drought was going to gut fall colors this year in east and central Texas. Instead, it looks like the year is, at least in selected spots, supplying perfect fall colors.

Without going into all the details, the lighting was from the right back, in other words, partially backlit, which is what you want.

Photoshop work, without giving away details, involved some dodging, some burning, some of the highlights/shadow command, moderate application of, and proper settings for, Photoshop's HDR toning, then my usual combo of Gaussian blur and unsharp mask.

I'd guesstimate this weekend is just about peak color in central Texas. So, if you have time free on or around the weekend, make a thermos of coffee or tea, get in the car, drive at a leisurely pace to and through some favorite spots, and enjoy.

For some more photos from in and around Rosebud, go here.

Wolverines continue to expand

Months after the sighting of a wolverine, the same one, in California for the second year in a row, radio tracking has revealed one in Colorado for the first time in 90 years. This illustrates the need for large, multistate ecosystem environmentalism like the Greater Yellowstone Corridor, as a male wolverine can require a 500-square mile territory.

Second, with global warming, how secure is the wolverine in moving south into Colorado?

Third, as an avid hiker and nature photographer, I dream of a glimpse, even a camera shot. So far, in my Lower 48 treks, this and the woodland caribou are the only two mammals above 25 pounds to escape my eye in the wild. (True, the only mountain lions I’ve seen in the wild were while driving.)

BOULDER PARK PICNIC TABLE

Some reflections from hiking in a Dallas park:
















Broken down and weather beaten,
Agéd, silent picnic table
Gladed inside multi-level
Understory, has seen it all.

Sit and think and ponder do I,
Bounded within parkland nature.
Would that picnic table would speak.
That, though, will not happen for me.

Answers? I must find them inside
Broken planking only watches
Ebbs and flows of live; it acts not.
So, then, knows not sorrow, anguish.

I, though, well know painful moments
Drift and doubt and struggle bitter.
Answers? Mine all must have actions.
Drift is the most painful of all.

BIG BEND ESCAPISM

Big Bend escapism
Escapes me this year.
No four-day weekend
For my Thanksgiving;
I have to work Saturday.
Yes, cry me a river, I know,
As you play your tiny violin for me.
Without justifying myself,
Let me say
That I exchange low pay, and low benefits otherwise,
Even low for my shaky profession,
For some time off,
To enjoy the nature that refreshes me.
A day trip will have to do;
Perhaps Big Bend will come at Christmas.
But for now?
Big Bend escapism escapes me.

— Nov. 26, 2008



At top, the Chisos Rim looking south into the Sierra del Carmen and Mexico; above, me on Emory Peak, the highest point in Big Bend. You can see why I go here every Thanksgiving I can, and I haven't mentioned the 100-degree hot spring.

Friday scatblogging — scathound on the evidence trail!

Mocha watches her handler, Lindsay Madden, examine scat in the Sierra.

Yes, some dogs are now being trained to scent scat. But, they’re not tracing just any poop — they’re on the nose of scat in its technical sense, of wild animal feces.

Why? For population biology studies and similar reasons. Radio collars break or break down. In some cases, animals learn how to shed them.

Besides thast, scat has plenty of clues about an animal’s diet, as well as some about its well being, and even a bit about the animal version of “emotional states.” For example:

By analyzing recovered killer whale scat for certain hormones, the researchers have been able to demonstrate that whale-watching boats are stressing the whales, as are lack of salmon and certain industrial chemicals in the water.

Scatdogs are becoming so in demand, the University of Washington has constructed a training facility on the shoulder of Mount Rainier.

TEMPUS FUGIT, DIES IRAE

The sun set
An hour earlier today
Than yesterday.
The leaves turned redder,
Or browner in this dry year,
And my hike ended at late dusk.
The time that flees is mine
More than the thirst-unquenched oak’s.
But the wrath that could be mine
At passed days and lost opportunities —
As the change of time reminds me
Of the change of life —
Is not, on many days, is not.
An emotional detachment often plays
In the pensively introspective
Key of B minor.
Tempus fugit, dies irae.

Red oak and eastern red cedar,
Windmill Hill Preserve,
DeSoto, Texas/Steve Snyder

Delicate Arch at sunset from my vacation

Here's some sunset and near-sunset pictures of world-famous Delicate Arch in Arches National Park in Utah.

Unfortunately, I was one evening too late to get the just-before-full moon inside the arch at sunset.

This is why I hike the West on vacations, and, as in some of these pics, it is also why I have an ultra-wide lens.

More pictures from this and previous vacations of mine are here.

Rocky Mountain National Park high

Well, if Blogger supports animated GIF scripts as well as JPEG stills, what would have seen below is a slideshow from Rocky Mountain National Park and my vacation there using Adobe ImageReady. But, it doesn't.

If not, you'll just see a still photo until I figure out what to do. (The animation is on a 5-second time per picture.)

So, I finally started a Slide.com membership:

Friday scatblogging — I’ll be taking this as a field test

Can you identify all of the scat pictured above?

Terrierman has the answers right here. I’m giving myself a field test on some of this, in the central and northern Rockies.

Friday scatblogging 2 — National Parks version

In an era when the average child supposedly is outside only eight minutes a day, it’s great that one of our National Parks, Saguaro, is getting so in-depth with its junior ranger program that desert scat is on the education menu.

"The hikes we went on were very enthralling," said junior ranger Kelsey Weaver, 11. "We were taught how to identify scat, burrows and some plants. I've learned a lot about how to figure out animals."

That kid may read this blog someday!

Friday scatblogging — scat you don’t want to see

I’ve camped alone in grizzly country in Montana (Glacier National Park and national forest to the south and Alberta (Banff National Park), so I know you don’t want to stumble upon fresh grizzly scat. That’s what happened to Jenne Danzl while out with boyfriend Roger Long and friend Joanie Merritt in Alaska.

“I’m always yak, yak, yakking,” Danzl says. “But this time I was concentrating on mushrooms and wasn’t talking nearly as much.”

“You have to know that the moss is like walking in really nice carpet,” Long says. “You don’t snap twigs or make a sound.”

Danzl was about 20 yards behind Long when she noticed the bear scat.

“And I said, ‘Oh Roger, this is a really fresh pile of scat.’ And Roger joked, ‘Why don’t you taste it and see how fresh it is?’”

Danzl joked back that she’d pass, and that’s when she heard the three woofing grunts. Seconds later a sow charged.

Turns out the sow had two cubs. Fortunately, the attack wasn’t too serious in its results.

But, it was pretty dramatic, as Danzl was bitten multiple times. Read the full story to see her thoughts in action, and the efforts of her caring boyfriend to try to drive the bear off.

Friday scatblogging – test your outdoors knowledge

Can you tell the difference between coyote and bobcat scat? Field and Stream challenges you with a 22-point scat questionnaire.

First question has to do with the scat pictured here. (I got a 14, myself).

Natureblogging – Palo Duro Canyon

Palo Duro walls
Fade quickly from sunset red
As twilight sets in.

The day is over;
The cooling ev’ning feels fresh.
Enjoy the night air.

Happy Memorial Day – enjoy the great outdoors

That’s what I’ll be doing, so blogging will be light, as I get out of Dodge a little bit.


First, I’m going to the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, pictured at right, with more pictures of my own, of this area plus Palo Duro Canyon, here. It’s a great place, with small lakes, creeks, low mountains (more than hills) bison, longhorns, elk, deer, prairie dog villages and a variety of hiking.

Also, spring wildflowers are in bloom this time of year, including Indian paintbrush, coreopsis and more.

Anyway, it's a nice, leisurely drive from Dallas. I'm heading up tonight, and will crash in my car somewhere.


Then, it’s on to Caprock Canyons (pictured) and/or Copper Breaks state parks in northwest Texas’ upper Red River valley.

Don’t know if I’ll get out to Palo Duro. Yes, trying to economize the gas a little bit.

Natureblogging for bikers and voters in Cedar Hill

Bikers and spectators at the Cedar Hill Rotary Club’s Head for the Hills Rally, as well as voters in municipal elections, got to see stuff like this group of Indian blankets blanketing the roadsides today.

Natureblogging — pink ladies

Pink ladies are a lower Midwest/southern plains wildflower. They’re in bloom right now here in the Dallas area:



Pink ladies smiling
From the mid-April grasslands
Not shy, not blushing.

Soft mallow yellow
Inside a white-faded heart.
Pink ladies hello.

More than bluebonnets in Texas spring

Texas is renowned for its bluebonnets in April, along with other wildflowers. But, that’s not the only thing blooming this time of year.

This is a red oak, caught at just the right time of starting to put on leaves on this particular branch. This is in Windmill Hill Nature Preserve in DeSoto, suburban Dallas.



I shoot (currently) with a Canon Digital Rebel. (When the 50D, or 40D-X, or whatever comes out to knock the price down on a 40D, then I upgrade.)

I shot this with the starter 18-55 lens at about 50mm and a 5.0 on the f-stop.

And, about a year ago, I started a “Reflections” journaling project for myself, to do a haiku on a semi-regular basis to accompany “around town” photography of mine. It’s time to move that here to the blog.

Red oak starts spring red
Different color for life
Than other new growth;

But quick to green, then
In fall, to red again, and
Completes its cycle.