Winter Birds Have Finally Returned

For the last couple of months my backyard has been virtually absent of birds. Other than a flock of House Sparrows and Crows that roam the neighborhood as well as a few Chickadees, Titmice and a pair of Inca Doves that have been coming to the feeders every day or so, it's been awfully quiet. Even the Northern Cardinals, which I usually have in large numbers year round, haven't been around.

That all changed yesterday morning with temperatures in the high 20's. This last cold front has finally brought my winter migrants to the backyard feeders. In all, I had eight varieties of migrant birds in the backyard yesterday morning that I haven't seen since the early Spring including several Chipping Sparrows & Dark Eyed Juncos, an American Goldfinch, two Orange-crowned Warblers, a White-crowned Sparrow, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler. I also had several other non migrant varieties that have been largely absent since early September including Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, a pair of Mockingbirds, a Carolina Wren, an Eastern Phoebe, a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, and a Blue Jay. And this morning, I had an American Robin at the bird bath. All in all, quite a change from the last two and half months. Hopefully, some of the other migrants that usually frequent my feeders during the winter months (House Finches, Pine Siskins, Harris Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, etc.) will start showing up in the next week or so. Guess I'll have a bigger bird food bill for the next four months, but don't mind at all.

Honoring our Veterans on This Day

Today we honor our veterans who have preserved and protected our country for most of our nation's history. Though I was of age during the mid to late 1960's when the Vietnam War was being waged, I never served in any branch of the Armed Forces during that time unless you want to count the one semester I spent in college Air Force ROTC back in 1966. I did, however, have many friends and classmates from high school and college that did serve with at least three making the ultimate sacrifice during that conflict. As a result, I have always had the utmost respect for those who have served our country.

In my own family, my dad, Garlin Scroggins,


and two of his brothers, Fermin and Oliver Scroggins, served in the Army in Europe during WW II with Oliver giving his life for his country at the age of 19 in February of 1945, and dad's youngest brother, Don, served in the early 1960's during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and later told me about sitting on a troop ship in Savannah harbor along with several thousand other soldiers for three days awaiting orders to invade Cuba if Russian ships carrying nuclear missile parts tried to run the U.S. naval blockade around that island nation. Fortunately for him and all the rest of us, the Russian's backed down and turned their ships around and dismantled the missile bases they had been constructing only 50 or so miles from our shores rather than go to war with the U.S. Everyone today should say thanks to those they know that have served and say a prayer for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Where Have the Birds Gone

As most of my friends know, over the past few years, I have become somewhat of an avid bird watcher and particularly look forward to the return of the winter migrants that come to my backyard feeders such as Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, Juncos, etc., but so far, none of them have shown up this Fall. I guess it could be because the weather hasn't cooled off enough this Fall to encourage them to start their southern migration, so I still expect to start seeing some of them here by the end of the month.

It may be somewhat early for the migrants, but what has me completely befuddled is the disappearance of the backyard birds that reside here year round. I have always had fairly large numbers of Northern Cardinals, Chickadees, Titmice, woodpeckers and doves of various kinds coming to the backyard feeders regardless of the time of year, but since I returned from a month-long trip out to New Mexico the middle of September, they have become almost non-existent around here other than a large flock of House Sparrows which I could do without and a pair of Inca Doves. Had my bird feeders been empty while I was gone, I might think they simply moved on to someone elses backyard feeders, but a family member put out bird food and suet on a regular basis during that time, so I don't have a clue what is keeping them away. Just wondering if any other backyard birder is experiencing the same situation.

The Rifters Coming to Nocona Nights on Saturday

For the past 16 years, I have been a fan of so called Texas music which encompasses a great variety of styles and genres with the recurring theme being that the music is performed by the the same people who wrote it and who, for the most part, have Texas roots. That's why I follow folks like Larry Joe Taylor, Tommy Alverson, Max Stalling and Roger Creager, just to name a few. I also include in the group those performers that live outside of Texas, but grew up here such as Michael Hearne and those who came to Texas from somewhere else and have made Texas their home such as Jerry Jeff Walker and the band, Reckless Kelly.

Having traveled to music festivals in Red River and Taos, NM on numerous occasions since 2003, I have also developed an appreciation of the music coming out of Northern New Mexico and Colorado from performers such as Jimmy Stadler, Two Dollar Horse, Chuck Pyle and The Rifters ,who this Saturday night, will be performing their Southwestern Americana style of music for a sold-out crowd at Daddy Sam's in Nocona. The group, comprised of Don Richmond, Rod Taylor and Jim Bradley, have, over the years, developed a large dedicated following in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Their trip to Nocona this week is one of only a few dates they will play outside of NM and CO, but was put in doubt a month ago when Jim Bradley fell 2 1/2 stories off a roof he was working on and airlifted to a hospital in Albuquerque with three fractured vertebrae and four broken ribs. Fortunately, he has recovered enough from his injuries that he is able to make the trip and perform. It should be a great night of food and music for those fortunate to be there and maybe they'll do some after-show picking out at the Veranda Inn like they did back in February with Joe Pat Hennen and Marvin Wilson when they played at Joe Pat's Winter Campfire which was also held in Nocona.