 |
Our home away from home (Judy and Kevin's). We awoke at 7 am and got up slowly. Kevin went to work at 8 and walked 1.2 miles to the observatory with Gus, the Coonhound.
Judy drove up to bring the dog back. Paul, Sofie and I hitched a ride with Judy to the top and walked back. We got to ride in their cop-car (formerly) with the canoe on top. They recently bought a new-to-them canoe. It is a beautiful sunny day.
We had an ulterior motive. Montezuma Quail are occasionally seen along this road.
|
 |
Sofie was thrilled to go on a walk. She had been in the house and met the very gentle and sweet resident dogs Gus and Spica (a quiet ball of fluff). But Sofie was intimidated. She spent her time STANDING between Paul and my chairs watching but not venturing out.
I think she has had almost enough new experiences for one trip. She has happily spent most of the rest of the time on our bed in the van.
|
 |
We had barely started walking down the road when we spotted three quail that scurried to the side of the road and froze.
They were Scaled Quail. At this point I noticed my camera battery flashing. Here I am looking for the Montezuma Quail with almost no camera!
Paul had Sofie so he traded his good battery with me. We kept walking and watching.
|
 |
It takes about 80 people to run the McDonald Observatory. More than half live on the Observatory grounds. This is one of the bigger homes--they vary in size. Other residences are scattered down the hill.
|
 |
One of the stunning observatories--Hobby-Eberly Observatory 1997--the newest one. We could see the Visitor's Center in the distance.
The reddish circular area in front is the amphitheater where we had the star party. You can see three small telescopes and observatories used in the star party.
|
 |
As I took this photo of a Woodhouse's Jay, the newly exchanged camera battery started flashing empty. Here we were looking for the Montezuma Quail with 2 almost drained camera batteries. That is so typical of birding! We have each been carrying extra batteries in our pockets for 4 weeks. None today!
All of a sudden two small quail flushed about 4 feet from us. They flew up the hill. I followed them. Then one flushed a few steps from me.
This is where Kevin had seen them flush as he walked up the hill earlier. We did not get a good look at them, we saw them flying twice and we almost stepped on them twice. That is very characteristic behavior. They were much smaller than the Scaled Quail we had seen earlier. They were Montezuma Quail. BUT NO PHOTO!
|
 |
At 2:30 Judy led us on a special tour of the newest observatory, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope dedicated in 1997.
|
 |
This telescope is made of 91 mirrors and no big tube above them.The observatory looks entirely different inside without the tube to point at the stars.
The base of mirrors is pointed to the stars. It points the image to another set of mirrors near the top of the observatory and then is converted by many spectrographs into information the astronomers can use.
This observatory has a new project trying to find the reason for Dark Energy. It boggles the mind!
|
 |
After this, we took a long walk with Judy and her two dogs Gus and Spica, and Sofie.
|
 |
We found a male and female Western Bluebird.
Another fun and busy day, again not a cloud in the sky. It was a beautiful day.
We have decided we will not be heading south to Big Bend National Park. Today the temp there was 95 and there are limited camping sites and no reservations. It is about 3 hours from any other choice of accommodations if we couldn't find a site.
Also, after 4 weeks we are now more interested in heading toward home than farther away.
|
 |
Today Our Eyes Were On
Two walks with our dog
A couple of quick looks at Montezuma Quails flying fast away from us
A mind-stretching look at a beautiful observatory and 91 mirror telescope
|
No comments:
Post a Comment