Open Thread - 07-11-25 - Symbiosis
Last week, Wednesday or Thursday I think, I was mowing the back acres. It's about four to five acres of grass with several large spanish moss adorned trees about thirty to forty feet high each. It's really quite beautiful, I think otc has posted some pictures of it at one time or another. One spot in particular has an open area of about an acre or so, surrounded by trees. As I was making a pass I happened to look up and saw a large bird gracefully flying from tree to tree. It stopped and perched atop the highest branches of one of the trees, swaying in the breeze caused by an approaching thunderstorm. It sat there for several minutes, just watching me mow. I thought that was curious.
I got a really good look at it, both perched and in flight. It was about the size of a hawk, whitish gray, with a raptor type beak. It was a beautiful bird. I recognized the flight patterns to be like a falcon or an osprey, I had seen plenty of the latter back north when I lived on a lake. I used those search parameters that evening after dinner to identify the mystery bird.
It was a Mississippi Kite.
I was pretty stoked about spotting a bird I hadn't seen before, or should I say, it spotted me. It flew from tree top to tree top for a while but always came back to the top of the same tree to keep an eye on me. Intently. Like it was as curious of me as I was of it.
After IDing it I started reading some links, most were warnings to stay away from their nests. Mississippi Kites can be quite aggressive when they are nesting. Then I watched this video:
3:29
After watching that I thought to myself, "I didn't see any of that behavior, it flew around a bit up high and then just sat on a branch on the tip top of a tree, studiously watching me". Maybe it was just sizing me up.
Anyway, I thought it was probably just a one-off thing and thought how lucky I was to see it and didn't think much more about the encounter after that.
Two days ago, Wednesday, I was mowing the back acres again, we've been getting a lot of rain here in Southeast Texas and if you don't keep up with the grass it can quickly get out of hand. I was in that same open area as I was the week before, making passes back and forth, when I started seeing shadows of a bird flying overhead, like that old Japanese movie from the 60s, Rodan. Then I saw it swooping down about ten feet away off to my side, like a stutka, it pulled up right before it hit the ground and flew into a nearby tree. It happened so quickly and so beautifully graceful.
It was the Kite, it was back, or maybe it was always there, I'm not really sure unless I see it again. It was performing aerobatics above me and to my side, left and right, from tree to tree. And, I thought about the video and the warnings. Ruh roh!
Then it dawned on me. It was hunting. As the mower kicked up bugs, big bugs, the Kite would swoop down and grab it. It was a sight to behold, and humbling. This aerial ballet went on for several minutes, from tree to tree, from bug to bug.
As I made one particular pass I kicked up a large katydid. With the sun behind me the green glowed almost florescent as it took to the wing towards the trees about fifty feet way. It elevated upwards to a branch when lickity split over my shoulder the Kite followed the katydids trajectory and grabbed that tasty morsel mid air and landed on the branch that the katydid was headed for. It was so graceful.
I grinned from ear to ear and let out a verbal "hah" over the din of the mower blades. That was something special. Right in front of me.
That incident happened on the last couple of passes I made in that tree lined open area. I moved to another open area on the other side of that little grove, the Kite followed, flew over a couple of times and then retreated back to the area where I mowed before. That open area where I first encountered it was probably a perfect hunting zone, or it had a full tummy. I didn't see it anymore after that. I'll be mowing there again next week, I hope to see it again.
I'm not a spiritual man, in the common sense of the word anyways, but I do get a sense of spirit when the natural world reveals itself to me. The symbiotic dance that day was not lost upon me , of man, machine and nature.
And looking back, that week before, the spirit of that bird was not lost on me , as it sat, intently, watching me.
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
letting nature sing is cathartic, especially when looking for answers.
Good morning...
I often have hawks hang out with me when I mow looking for mice and other tasty morsels. A Mississippi kite would be a treat for sure!
Keeping up with the mowing is a challenge this time of year. I just finished a round this morning. We've not been scorching hot, but its been humid and in the 90's....hot enough to get out early to do the chores. It is also garden production time with daily harvests.
We've had a sharp shinned hawk hang out around the house this summer. It has sure decreased our song birds around the house this summer. Interesting how it changes every year.
Y'all take care and enjoy your wildlife show. Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I was thankful...
that it was in hunting mode and not nest protection mode. I wear a large Breezer Hat when I mow, plenty of target there.
When we cleared and started mowing the back acres it transformed the habitat. It's interesting to see what pops up.
The mowing is a weekly thing this year, for now anyway, it will slow down with the summer heat and sun. I now mow approximately 7 to 8 acres and otc's office, all with a 52" zero turn mower. I break it up into three days work, it's a handful but worth it.
Have a good one, partner.
Wonderful image of snoopydawg, JtC. Kudos!
A Mississippi Kite? Great video. I've seen plenty of Ospreys and smaller raptors here in ECFL. I've never had the honor of seeing a Bald Eagle, though I've driven by plenty of nests over the years. I live in a downtown area. We have several feathered families who have settled here years ago, cardinals, crows, an occasional Blue Jay and Woodpecker, and the Mockingbirds. The latter are fearless buggers especially during nesting/fledging season. They will dive bomb you, and go for striking your head full force with their beaks. I've dodged many feathered bombers. One time I was braced for an attack, and ready to wack the attacker. If that beak hits your head, it is one nasty wound. I was no threat to the bird. I fully 'grok' the protectiveness, but I can do without the head strike.
You live in SE Texas. Where is that in terms of the location of the Hill Country where the terrible flash flood hit? I am very, very grateful I live in one of the best inland drainage areas in FL. Anywho, Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Sometimes I get the feeling...
that snoops is watching down on me from above, kind of like the kite was.
When I lived in northern Illinois I saw eagles all the time, sometimes dozens at a time along the Illinois River. When things froze up in the winter up in Canada and the upper midwest states the eagles would come south looking for open water to fish. I've seen a few here in Texas, but not like northern Illinois.
We have multitudes of mockingbirds here in Southeast Texas, otc has been attacked by them several times at her office in town. They are tenacious.
We live about 300 miles to the east from Kerrville where the brunt of the flood happened. We do go vacationing to the Hill Country several times a year, usually Luckenbach and Fredericksburg which is only about 25 miles north of Kerrville. We go there for music events and concerts. We've been to Kerrville and it is a gorgeous city nestled in the rocky bluffs, the Guadalupe River runs right through it. The flooding and loss of life is just sad.
Thanks for stopping in and thanks for the rec.
Hi JtC, we have a Kite here that has moved into most areas
of France. It is Milan Royal in French or milvus milvus in Latin. We cross reference birds and plants/trees in British English, French and Latin in self defence.
As far as I know, there is only one Kite here but I see it called Black Kite or Red Kite among other things.
We also have Hawks, Buse variables in French, which are in behavior, size and location, much like our Red Tail Hawks in the PNW.
What you describe as using your mowing to get to favorite food is something we have seen in the last couple of years after farmers till in Spring. We have come upon fields filled with Storks closely following the tractor au pied (on foot) getting rodents and frogs. A truly spectacular sight. Storks have also increased their range further South in the last decade.
I am sure your birdies are grateful for your mowing.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
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Good morning Dawn...
or whatever it may be over there in France. That's a beautiful bird.
I really don't recall seeing a Kite before this encounter. Seeing it all happen up close and personal from a mower I bet is an event that is unique in its perspective. It really was exhilarating.
Cattle egrets are the birds most often seen with cattle and horses in the fields around here, and back in the midwest too. They also follow tractors scooping up insects. I actually saw an egret in the back acres the same day as the kite adventure, it was on the ground briefly and then flew off. I'm sure it was there for the same reason as the kite.
There is a creek at the bottom of the back acres, the last few weeks we've been inundated with dragon flies. That's probably what initially attracted the kite. That and it's a perfect habitat with the open grove and large trees, it's a great spot for an ambush, kite style.
Thanks for stopping in this fine morn.
Hola DM. Milvus milvus is also known as the Red Kite,
breeds all over Europe, redident in some of Europe and North Africa. Used to be widespread out into asia too.
You do also get Black Kites, Milvus Migrans, breeds in Europe, resident in Africa, but not North Africa, further south.
The two species are quite similar looking, one is a little bigger and has a more deeply notched tail.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Different kind of symbiosis
The snake and mockingbird went at it, tete a tete, but the bird did not hesitate to strike with its claws, and the snake beat a hasty retreat.
I used to take some small comfort from the encounters with two different large cranes in the yard at the house when I was working outside over there. More commonly with the butterflies. It was something of a Zenlike or Daoist moment, I imagined. There are a few hawks in the area. I use to worry about Smokey if he was outside when a larger hawk was hanging around. Eagles are not uncommon in the area, but tend to be near the intercoastal or inland in less densely populated areas. I last saw one about a year ago, off a main road in the local area, trying to retrieve a squirrel it had killed lying on a side road, but the traffic interfered. I used to spend a lot more time outdoors doing fishing mostly, just to get the symbiotic thing going on. Osprey use the microwave tower next to the park.
I was looking for the crane photos, but going through the old photos which was mostly flood damage at the house bothered me too much, so I gave up.
It's too hot and muggy to go outside here lately.
Thanks for the OT, JtC!
여러분 잘 지내시죠?
語必忠信 行必正直
Great action photos, soryang...
cool that you had a camera handy to catch it. That's a pretty big snake that the mockingbird went after, and a wise decision to approach it from the non-business end. Those little birds are fearless. What kind of flowering tree is that? The flowers look like a crepe myrtle but the leaves don't.
Yeah, zen-like is a good descriptor of my kite encounter, one of those reminders of our connection with nature.
I understand your being bothered by the photos that reminded you of the flood damage.
It's been a pretty mild summer so far here in Southeast Texas. I think it's hit 95 once and lots of rain, fingers crossed it stays that way.
Florida was always one of my favorite states to visit back in my younger traveling days.
Thanks for stopping in and the great photos.
Have to give credit to Ms. So
She took the photos on her apple phone on a moment's notice, there are actually two screens in the way, but they caught the action well enough. One to keep the bugs out, the other to provide at least some protection from the intense sun for her potted plants. She's the photographer and plant expert. We still have her old SLR and telephoto lens. She hasn't used it in sometime.
Ms. So and I have not been able to find the English name of that flowering tree in the picture. Ms So said it's 목백일홍 木白日紅. Naver.com is giving me tree zinnia as a suggested translation. I'm guessing on the Hanja/Chinese name.
語必忠信 行必正直
It's amazing how changing
the landscape, or not changing it, can attract different wildlife.
This year I elected to not mow until the few days before the annual Family Campout on July 4 weekend. This brought an explosion of wildflowers across the fenced garden (75' x 75') and surrounding open field. Mostly daisies, but multiple varieties of flowers I can't yet ID.
It was a sea of white mostly. A my purpose was to help out the bees by leaving food for them as long as I could before summer heat required fire breaks for safety.
The result? Huge hornets nest in the car canopy, the size of a basketball!
I knocked it down with a 10' stick, and ran like hell ( new knees don't fail me now) and hopped in the car and went home to Vancouver.
The next weekend, the 4th, they had built another one right next to the old one.
So I just let all the guests know about it and brought an EpiPen my son gave me to stock in the medicine cabinet.
But after mowing, three owls showed up and started divebombing the garden and field, coming up with two rabbits, a snake and what looked like mice over the course of the 5 days we were there.
I hope they nail the damn gophers.
Great tribute to the Snoop. Damn you! Keyboard getting all blurry again.
Thanks for the OT.
PS, will try to post a pic of one of those owls balancing on the garden fencepost. Could use an ID on it, seems like a barred owl.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I hear you, brother...
before we cleared and started mowing it was all weeds and tall grass. If there was any wildlife of any nature we couldn't see it, we could see their runs but not them. That's all changed now. It's teeming with critters.
One of the big pluses of knocking it all down is snake deterrence, we have a lot of copperheads and a few coral snakes around these parts, the less the merrier.
We had a huge basketball size red wasp nest last year under an overhang in the back. They're nasty critters with a potent sting. Over the winter months we had an extensive wood siding repair and new painting on the house. I don't know if that was a factor but this year the wasps are really less noticeable. I'm not going to complain about that.
Sorry about the blurry keyboard. I don't think most folks caught my intention, but when I wrote the last sentence of this open thread I was thinking of snoops.
Sitting in the
Cancun airport, getting ready to fly “home”. I saw the news about Snoopy via the hotel biz center, but I did bring my phone to do the gringo boarding pass dance. So this is the first time I’ve turned it on this week.
I did a full backup before we left, so I’ll do a factory reset once we are on final approach to Denver, and completely clear it. At that point, if TSA wants it, they can simply have it. I won’t need a receipt.
I did a quick glance to see if Denver is still there, and apparently it is. I’m honestly surprised- I would have bet good money that the cheeto would have killed everyone, or at least bankrupted everyone, by now.
If we didn’t have to come back to fight with our employers, we’d simply stay. There are lots of boats with overcomplex electronics that need attention, I’ve logged enough sea time to get my 6-pack ticket, and my wife is a scuba instructor. We could make do. If Mx does go Brics, that will be a really good decision on their part.
I can’t read the news anymore. We’re just going to hang in the bar here, and dream our dreams, for now. But it won’t be long until the tickets are one-way.
Peace, and good health to all!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Yeppers
If Mexico goes BRICS, I may bail also.
Smartest thing they could do.
welcome home.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Buenas tardes, gringo...
you haven't left yet but I bet you already miss it. Mexico, that is, even though, in some spots, Mexico isn't that safe for gringos any longer.
Have a drink for me, my friend, you'll need it when you get back to Denver.
Have a good and safe trip back home.
True, dat.
My wife has been doing Duolingo Spanish for about a year now, and can get by. She’s shaming me into doing it, and I can now justify doing it myself. I wasn’t going to need it if we went to Grenada, but that country’s financial future is too linked to the US for me to be comfortable.
Puerto Aventuras has the best marina between Cancun and Belize, and it is stuffed full of boats owned by gringos with lots of dollars and no sense- and is relatively secure, as such things go. So that might be a reasonable place to get oriented, should a hasty exit be needed…
On edit- we were talking to a couple with a Lagoon 47 cat there, and they come down only twice a year for two weeks at a stretch. The rest of the time, it just sits and waits for a hurricane to sink it at the dock. We offered to boat-sit, keep it healthy and maintained, and keep the bottom(s) clean for them- and run like hell if needed.
They are thinking about it. The poor thing needs some TLC. Lots of dollars, but no sense…
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Good luck...
it would sure beat the winters in Denver.
I've a half dozen boats also in similar conditions
.
If you need to escape
it may be similar to theft.
Zionism is a social disease
I’m thinking
“salvage”… (;-)
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
yes, that is a softer perspective
.
salvaging industrial level wreckage
Zionism is a social disease
This pretty well sums up Trump's egomaniacal behavior.
Hey Trump supporters...
you've been snookered, again.
How do both parties keep pulling the wool over the voter's eyes? They offer up candidates that are so unpalpable to the other side they hold their noses and vote for the lesser of the two evils.
Case in point: Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump. Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden. Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump. That's how they insure that their selection gets voted in. Watch and see if they don't do it again next election. It gets worse each successive election and we get the worst presidents imaginable.
It's a good racket if you can get it.
Thanks humphrey.
When field mowing it is the turkey vulture methodically
following me at low altitudes which gives me the creeps. Generally enjoy watching them soar in the thermals along some specific tree lines and butte edges.
The microenvironments which have been allowed to develop on the property keep increasing the diversity of birds and critters. Red-wing blackbirds have shown up this summer.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Turkey vultures are actually quite cool, non-threatening
non-creepy and essential to the environment. They are also arguably "miraculous" insofar as we still do not fully comprehend their biology. They eat stuff that would kill most species, including us, and get away with it.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Turkey Vultures abound...
here in Texas, they are ubiquitous everywhere. They should rename Texas "The Turkey Vulture State". I make sure I keep moving when I see them, it's fooled them every time, so far (knock on wood).
If only we could reduce the scorpion population. I know they serve a purpose, and I'm pretty sure that main purpose is to creep me out.
Thanks for weighing in, soe.
I just submitted the adoption application
for Sam, and will be making the payment for fees and getting some shipping instructions this afternoon.
Sam is so traumatized, she will not leave her kennel. She is gonna need excessive TLC henceforth.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Congrats. Best of luck in getting Sam acclimated and
over her trauma rapidly. Thanks for stepping in and doing this.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hola JtC. Congrats on your kite sightings.
Thanks for the OT. Over 80 i the shade when I came in from the yard about an hour and a half ago. It will get hotter until late afternoon, so indoor work is the order of the day now.
Be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I thought it is...
supposed to be pleasant all year round in the Bay area. Well, if that keeps up you can always move to Texas. Here where we live, it's been surprisingly mild this early summer.
People in Texas absolutely love Californians, heh!
Hi Johnny,
Such a touching story, thank you. I could feel the symbiosis of life all around you, the circle it makes, and the mystery it is. Your interaction with the Kite, showing you its power and graceful acrobatic displays, and the cycle of life and death in the hunting. The beautifully ethereal and radiant image of snoopy at the end was very special.
I was reminded by your reference to Dragonflies, of this story which fits the mood and sentiments ...