Mountain City Montage
by PAULINE TOM
A male Painted Bunting just about knocked me out of my desk chair last Friday, two mornings after we returned from “the bluebird convention” in Ontario on Sept. 17.
Wow! My bird sighting records on www.ebird.com tell me that the previous late date I recorded a Painted Bunting was August 6, 2005.
EBird tells me my earliest “first of season” Painted Bunting in my records is April 16, 2007.
James and Dianne Polk eye-witnessed a bird for their record books on August 24th – an Anna’s Hummingbird.
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One of James Polk’s Facebook friends asked, “Did you move from Kyle?” You can probably verbatim guess his answer. We have to say this so many times, even to folks who live in the area.
“Mountain City is an incorporated subdivision between Kyle and Buda by Hays High School. We have a Mayor and city council and pay city taxes.”
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Holly Cass wrote, “Did I miss something or what … is it now permissible to park vehicles (and, yes, boats and campers) on the lawns of Mountain City? Driving down just one street, I counted 7 cars and trucks on the grass. In addition, neighbors are cutting their grass and letting the clippings lay on the street. This used to be a beautiful place to live. It is getting more cluttered and unkempt each day. I thought there were covenants to cover this type of abuse of property. Even if the rules no longer apply or are unenforceable, common courtesy would dictate that you wouldn’t trash a neighborhood. Show your pride in our community by keeping cars in the garage or driveway and your trash in trash cans.
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Our tall grass just about knocked us over when we stepped out of the car after 6 days in Canada. We left just after the 8-inch to 12-inch rain.
Monarch butterflies in Canada had started their migration southward to the mountains of Mexico.
The butterflies leaving Canada (for the mountains of Mexico) will live 6 – 8 months, unlike the previous 2010 generations that lived 2 – 6 weeks.
In February and March 2011, they will come out of hibernation to find a mate. They’ll then migrate north across the border and females will find milkweed plants, in order to lay eggs. That will start stage one and generation one of 2011.
After about 4 days the eggs will hatch. For about two weeks the caterpillar will eat milkweed before starting metamorphosis. It transforms into a chrysalis and during 10 days the old body parts of the caterpillar turn into the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly. The butterfly will live about 2-weeks to 6-weeks.
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations in 2011 will go through the same short-lived process during March through September/October. This time next year, the 4th generation will be migrating to Mexico.
How great is our God!!!
How great it would be to get some tidbits! 268.5678 or ptom5678@gmail.com
See you at Fire & Ice on Saturday.
