We returned to central Kansas to revisit Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge at what is usually the peak of the shorebird migration. Unfortunately, all the recent rain had flooded the mudflats, sandy areas, and very shallow water preferred by most shorebirds, so the numbers were about the same as two weeks […]
Flood and Famine
From the Osage Hills in northeast Oklahoma, described in the last post, we headed across southeast Kansas. We’ve only run out of gas twice in the 30 years we’ve been married, but this was an extremely rural area, and when we finally reached a station, the truck’s display indicated only 9 miles to empty. Our […]
From Shorebirds to Bison
Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and the adjacent land held by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), in central Kansas, comprise a globally critical area for migrating shorebirds (sandpipers, plovers, etc.). In some years, an estimated 40% of the shorebirds breeding in North America pass through the Bottoms during spring migration. The Bottoms is a natural wet area […]
A Quartet of National Grasslands
Leaving the Amarillo, TX area, we headed northwest to visit four National Grasslands (NGs) in a relatively small area, but one that spanned four states: Rita Blanca NG in the northwest corner of the Texas panhandle; Kiowa NG in northeast New Mexico; Comanche NG in southeast Colorado; and Cimarron NG in SW Kansas. As we […]
The Mundane and the Aqueous
After a lot of remote camping, we needed a day to get caught up on mundane tasks, which I thought I should describe. We do most of our shopping at Wal-Mart, because the chain is widespread and has most of what we need at reasonable cost. In addition, the stores have similar inventories and are […]
So Where Are the Prairies, Anyway?
Our first stop after the Big Thicket was at the Lennox Woods Preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). It is located northeast of Dallas, close to the Arkansas border. Although part of our prairies expedition itinerary, it was just thrown in for variety, as it is actually a very westerly example of the southeastern […]
The Big Thicket
We briefly came through the Big Thicket around Christmas of 1989 and really liked the area. It was well located to spend some time before beginning the main endeavor of the year, our tour of prairies from south (northeast Texas, in March) to north (southern Saskatchewan, in August), and we looked forward to a spring […]
LRGV: a Reprise
We had a good time in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), where we spent 4 days. There is no dispersed or public camping in the prime area so we stayed in an RV resort for 4 nights, which cost more than the studio apartment we rented when we were in the LRGV in December. […]
On the Road – But Just Barely
I am writing this outside Laredo, Texas, about 600 miles southeast of El Paso, listening to the incessant and haunting calls of a Pauraque. This nocturnal bird is characteristic of the subtropical habitat along the lower Rio Grande. Like several other species with similar ecological preferences, here it is close to the northwesternmost extent of […]
At Last!
The new year did not start well. I woke up January 1 with symptoms like those of a urinary tract infection I had 30 years ago. As we did not yet have a primary care physician in Texas, I went to a clinic, where they told me I did not have a UTI, but there […]
Nomadic Naturalists 