Birding My Way ~ Joplin,Missouri to Amarillo, Texas

The early mornings and evenings are almost seductive enough to consider living in the south/southwest...cool and warmish at the same time if that makes sense. The air gently massages the skin.

Again, I drove all day in sunshine as the day heated up to 90 degrees. I was on a toll road in Oklahoma for several hours with a speed limit of 75 and far fewer vehicles, making easy riding.

At a McDonalds and gas stop which was between the east and west bound highways, I parked under a tree to drink coffee and eat breakfast burritos and was entertained by great-tailed grackles, with their piercing whistles and cackling and clucking. These look like the common grackles in Michigan but are larger with very long tails. The wind was blowing hard, and as these birds walked across the grassy areas, their tails were blown sideways at a 90-degree right angle to the bird itself. The males have bright yellow eyes. There were several nests in the tree above me so the birds were flying in and out, screeching and carrying on with much ado.

I have a habit of quickly going through my Peterson's field guide to note the raptors I might see wherever I am. Like yesterday and and today, maybe a Mississippi kite; for certain the ubiquitous red-tails and turkey vultures, maybe a prairie falcon....and, with luck, a ferruginous hawk. I thought I saw this hawk coming out of Maupin, Oregon, last summer, perched on a fence post, and I dithered for about 50 miles about turning around to check. I still regret that I didn't because it presented with a lot of white on its throat, chest and belly as I whipped by in the car. One of the problems sometimes is the road shoulder factor: there either is or isn't one and even if there is, it may be marginally safe to stop. So, maybe today.

All day I was on Interstates 44 and 40 and very rarely "shoulder stop" on these. There are too many semis and it's usually illegal and I absolutely cannot get ticketed due to my insurance rates. Once a sheriff pulled in after me with lights flashing. I was going 75 which I thought was the speed limit but of course then wondered. I was fine because he flew by me and stopped someone else up ahead.No matter what the listed speed is, there are always those who disregard; I get a perverse delight when I see them caught. Not that I haven't had my share of tickets.....

After Oklahoma City, the geography changed from green to brown and one could see forever. The sky was blue. I love driving through this landscape. Ranches and some cows, small gravel roads winding off to houses in the distance. In Texas, sage suddenly appeared and there were cottonwoods along the possible water courses. I passed a couple of farm ponds that were pink from the red earth and one had a dozen longhorns nearby. Before the dryness, there were miles of Indian paintbrush on the roadsides. Roadkill included armadillos and I saw several in Missouri and Oklahoma. I passed one wind farm with at least 100 silver windmills which made me want to look up how these actually work. To me, they are landscape art, graceful and visually simple. DHC told me about a huge cross in Illinois, which I drove by, and then I saw an identical one in Texas. These also are robust and tall and metallic. It seems half of the radio stations are preacher men, even early in the morning. But with the windows open, I can't hear much, so usually drive without talk or music. I suppose I will turn the air on eventually.

At the motel, I got a weak margarita from the noisy happy hour bar, microwaved some stir-fry thing and worked several hours, which is why I stopped in Amarillo rather than driving on to Tucumcari, NM.

Amarillo is large and busy, surprising me in the same way El Pase did last spring, but it seemed not as dusty and dry.