A Bluebird's Kind of Day

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Crescent Bend Nature Park

Today's photos:

In Bexar County, Winter went out with a vengeance Monday night and Spring entered with a torrent early Tuesday morning. As so often happens this time of year, the torrent was followed by a bright, clear, cool, windy day today. A curious bluebird looked down from its perch in the shade in a tree.

A Conclave of Cardinals

The Northern Cardinals (typically referred to simply as cardinals, but there are other species in the Cardinal family) were very active when I walked the Yanaguana Nature Trail on Wednesday, March 7. Cardinals are generally easy to see because of their bright red color, but they are as likely as any other bird to be difficult to photograph, because they do tend to live in densely vegetated areas.

These cardinals were spending a little longer than usual feeding out in the open which greatly reduced the degree of difficulty in getting a series of photos. The males, there are at least three individuals pictured here, were keeping an eye on me to be sure I remained at a safe distance. The one female seemed to be genuinely curious about what I was doing:

South Central Texas, Where Storms Are Born

Monday, March 19, 2012

The San Antonio River, Concepcíon Park Trailhead

Today's photos:

Here in South Central Texas it can be difficult to predict the timing and intensity of storms because this is where they take root in the super-moist air coming off the Gulf of Mexico. They can blossom and grow to towering, severe thunderstorms with what seems to be explosive speed.

Today was one of those days when the atmosphere was ripe for thunderstorm formation. While I was on my walk at mid-day, there was mist in the air and a very light, short-lived shower.

As I have worked to get this post published this evening, a cluster of very strong thunderstorms developed southwest of Bexar County. A couple of these storms produced tornados with structure damage and injuries reported as far north as southwest Bexar County. There is at least one more very powerful squall line not far to the west that will come through the county in the next few hours.