Red Shouldered Hawks Last Sunday, I planned to spend the morning discovering fall migrants–the warblers, orioles, hummingbirds, etc. that birders all over Texas reported daily for the past week. I didn’t have much luck with that plan, though. Instead, Sunday’s story was about larger birds. Red Shouldered Hawks patroled at Little Piney all day. I saw themContinue reading
Category: Bastrop Lost Pines Birds
Birds of Bastrop Texas as seen and photographed at Little Piney, country home and wildlife habitat in the Lost Pines.
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Nature Writes Her Own Story
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Hints of Fall
Fall visitors Temperatures range in the nineties yet there are hints of fall in the air at Little Piney. Early mornings feel pleasant, and migrating birds stop by for seed and berries. I’ve spied two early ducks, a Black and White Warbler, and a Baltimore Oriole. I hear lots of new calls and songs and seeContinue reading
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Home to Little Piney
Return to Little Piney After being away for a month, I was happy to be heading home to Little Piney, and anxious to see what the 100+ temperatures and scarce rain had wrought. As I pulled up to the house in hot mid-afternoon, Little Piney was silent and still except for three squawking crows.Continue reading
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Bluebird Nest Boxes for Total Beginners
How to Install Bluebird Nest Boxes Little Piney hosts a healthy population of Eastern Bluebirds. They are encouraged to settle here by good habitat and available real estate. We have 7 bluebird nest boxes put in place several years ago by previous owners. Recently, I removed all nest boxes for cleaning and fresh paint,Continue reading
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Slash: A Mixed Use High Rise Development for Birds
What is Slash? When our wildlife plan suggested we create brush piles and maintain “slash” I had no idea what slash meant. Well, below is a photo of slash, an architecturally stunning, mixed use high rise for birds in a prime location in the Little Piney area of the Lost Pines, Bastrop, Texas! Maintaining slashContinue reading
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Nest Box Surprises
Newly hatched Eastern Bluebirds When I checked Box 2 by Dragonfly Pond today, I found two tiny baby bluebirds nestled together with three unhatched eggs . I’ve never seen baby birds this young before, all pink and blue with little wispy beginnings of feathers on their heads. If you zoom in you can seeContinue reading
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Birding with Greg Lavaty at Little Piney
Last January when I began identifying the winter strangers at my Little Piney feeders, I discovered the work of Greg Lavaty. On his Texas Birds website I found intimate and detailed views of the Texas birds I was looking for. Many times these photos helped me more than my guidebooks, and they were a treatContinue reading
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The Nest Box Report–Baby chickadees!
When we acquired Little Piney, we took on a wildlife management plan already in action. As part of the wildlife plan, we became custodians of 7 Bluebird nest boxes. After we located all 7 little bird houses on poles, we made sure the boxes were cleaned out and ready for residents. That involves removing oldContinue reading
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Bluebirds and chickadees: Full house at Little Piney
Big excitement at Little Piney this week! No Vacancy in the nest boxes! It’s a full house at Little Piney for the bluebirds and chickadees. When I made my rounds this week, I discovered 7 nests–3 with bluebird eggs, 3 with chickadee eggs, one box with a completed nest just waiting for eggs, andContinue reading
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Butterflies, Seeds, and Tree Planting at Little Piney
There’s a new kind of winged creature fluttering about the fields at Little Piney. With the wildflowers starting to bloom, the butterflies have arrived. These three were still long enough to photograph. Seeing all the activity, I was inspired to order wildflower seeds for the pastures to encourage more butterfly andContinue reading