Wind Blown

Monday, February 25, 2013

San Antonio River, Mission Reach, Concepcíon Park Trailhead
the downstream loop trail

Today's photos:

The weather story today here in Bexar County was the high wind. This afternoon while I was walking, the wind was blowing at about 28 mph sustained with gusts between 40 and 45 mph. There were a few grass fires around the area (one with fatalities), but falling trees and blowing debris were the bigger problems.

It seemed to me the River greenway trail was probably the safest place for a walk. The primary disadvantage was there are few windbreaks along the open river channel. Holding the camera steady enough to take the photos was quite a challenge at times. But then, just standing up in the higher wind gusts was also a challenge.

In spite of the wind, I still took at least as many photos on this walk as I usually do on any walk along the River. This is just a sample. There are enough photos for two more posts in the near future.

• The first two photos are Purple Threeawn. The wind was furiously lashing the grass around almost flattening it to the ground at times.
• In the third and fourth photos, the tall dense stand of Cattail provided a windbreak on the river bank. A couple of Northern Shovelers, a few Gadwalls and a Little Blue Heron took advantage of a respite from the wind in its shelter.
• The fifth and sixth photos are of a Pink Evening Primrose. Like all the other plants, this flower was taking a fairly severe beating as the wind whipped it around.
• The seventh and eighth photos are a Snowy Egret.
• The ninth through thirteenth photos are two Lesser Yellowlegs. There were several lesser yellowlegs feeding in the wind whipped water flowing down one of the riffles.
• The fourteenth and fifteenth photos are a male Gadwall swimming in the rough, wind blown water at the center of the River channel.
• The sixteenth and seventeenth photos are of three Killdeer. Along with the lesser yellowlegs, there were numerous killdeer. In the sixteenth photo, the killdeer that was flying higher above the water was having some difficulty navigating a wind gust, but it landed on a rock without any apparent difficulty. (They showed some planes landing at SA International Airport on the evening news. The large jumbo jets seemed to be having similar problems as they approached the runway.)
• The eighteenth photo is a Loggerhead Shrike. It had a tight grip on the tree branch. If shrikes are concerned about such things, this one was definitely having a "bad feather day."