Block Creek Natural Area

 

Block Creek Natural Area Rocks

Jo and I took our most recent adventure to Block Creek Natural Area (BCNA), a ranch about halfway between Fredericksburg and Comfort. It is a beautiful piece of land owned by Sharron and Larry Jay, two of the finest people you can imagine on the face of this earth. They love the land and the outdoors and are eager to share that passion with other like-minded folks.

If you want to go on a Block Creek adventure, click this link to learn more about it.

BCNA is an example of the diversity of wildlife and native plants achieved through well planned land management techniques. It is such a treat to observe the wildlife approaching the large pond, to follow the spring-fed creek or to roam the hilly countryside. We saw white-tailed deer, wild turkey, rabbits, fields of wildflowers and lots more. We were torn between sitting in the viewing blinds and letting the wildlife come to us or walking and stalking, so we did a bit of both. There is nothing like the surge of adrenaline when we flushed a pair of spotted fawns hiding in the tall grass.

I took hundreds of photos and am still sorting through them all, but a few of my favorites are posted below. Click on an image for a larger view and just click the back (left arrow) button on your browser to get back here.

Larry set up the perches so that there was a beautiful background. Now the ball is in the birds’ court. They have to cooperate and land on those perches. And, I think Larry and Sharron have them trained. They did. This Ladder-backed Woodpecker and Northern Cardinal were very cooperative.

Larry really got creative with the hummingbird photography. The background is totally fake. He put a cardboard printout behind the flower. Jo ran out there and flipped it and repositioned it for me from time to time. This photography stuff is a group effort. 🙂

This image of the Black-crested Titmouse was also a group effort. Jo found a deer skeleton, so I decided to put the skull in the set-up and see what the birds would think. Most of them gave it a wide berth, but the young Titmouse hopped right on over, jumped on top and started retrieving all the goodies I stashed inside. Brave little guy.

Larry had drips with little bathing pools at each of the set-ups. Not too many takers for baths, but this Chickadee decided to get a drink.

Where’s Waldo? This Texas Spiny Lizard is a master of camouflage.

A few more shots … Ash-throated Flycatcher, Carolina Chickadee, the resident Canada (Cackling) Geese and Mallard and a Black-crested Titmouse.

And, the can! Other than target practice, I don’t know why there were cans like this on some of the fenceposts. Maybe to keep the birds from perching on them? But, why? I’ll have to ask Larry.

The Old Tunnel bat cave is just about 4 miles from Block Creek, so we headed out there one evening. The bats were not under Larry’s tutelage, so they didn’t cooperate, but we enjoyed seeing what little we could anyway. Instead of flying up high into the sky where we could see them silhouetted, they just swirled around near the entrance to the cave and then they sneaked back through the trees so far back that we could no longer see them when they rose into the sky.

This was the best shot I could get … Look closely. They are in there. 🙂 Really!

The rest of the shots are highly manipulated in Photoshop …