28 April 08
Not Just Birds
We saw lots of birds in Texas. I sketched a good number of them; some of those sketches will be appearing on Bird by Bird.
There were other critters out and about, though, including javelinas, deer, coyotes, and bats. Millions and millions of Brazilian free-tailed bats that emerged from the mouth of a cave mere feet below us, at a rate of about 500 per second, for ages and ages. They swirled up into the air to be picked off at random by awaiting red-tailed and Swainson’s hawks (and be summarily eaten mid-air) yet drifted off toward Austin unfazed, eventually looking like smoke.
There are some sights that defy description, verbal or pictorial. This is one of them. I offer my meager attempts knowing that nothing at all can compare with being there. Certainly nothing at all can convey the ammonia stink of twenty million bats emerging from their sleeping quarters…
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“Ammonia stink…” – LOL! These are things you don’t get to appreciate when you watch the David Attenborough documentaries.
Ah well, every silver lining has its cloud… or stink.
Congratulations on the Colima! We haven’t even tried for that one yet and, from what I know of that hike, maybe never will. Texas still owes us buff-bellied hummingbird, at least.