Happy Birthday to Me!

*I wrote this about a week ago but didn't get a chance to post it until now.*

I am twenty six. I don’t approve of being closer to thirty than to twenty, and there is a minor voice in my head telling me I haven’t done nearly enough to be at this point, but I’m on a brand new adventure now so that voice can shut up. This is by far my loneliest birthday ever but I didn’t care at all today because for my birthday I got an entire new world!

The drive from Wisconsin was long and mostly boring except for the snowstorm and murder motel in Kansas. But I added three states to my list (Missouri, Kansas, and Texas) and we reached my new home past dark so I didn’t see much of the town or even my surroundings. I set up my tiny new home. I have to say, so far I kind of love it. I have way too much stuff (I knew that was going to happen) but I have just enough space (for now). It’s going to be kind of an extended dry run to see if I could hack it for long periods of time on a boat. The whole thing is 18 feet. It looks like this:

Let’s play a game I like to call “Which Bed did Karis Sleep in Last Night?” If you guessed the tiny high-up one, you are correct. Hint for the future: that will always be the answer to this question.

So far I’ve been doing really well. There were a few pangs of loneliness and fear last night, and a little bit of a feeling of being lost without the distraction of other people and the internet at my fingers constantly. Just as one of those pangs was hitting me I started to hear a great horned owl pretty close to the trailer. I heard another, then another, even closer. Three of them called back and forth so close that after listening for a few minutes I got out and by the light of the full moon (and it’s reflection on the bay) I could see them, soaring and perching only fifteen or twenty feet away! I listened to them off and on around my music all night and they made me feel so much happier and at home.

I was shocked when I stepped out into the sunlight and the bitter wind this morning and saw a pasture full of cattle in my front yard! 

There were also trees! With leaves! They are live oaks and they are everywhere and they are fast becoming one of my favorite trees. They make such gorgeous shapes, are often extremely easy to climb, and I just love them.

I heard cranes calling and thought nothing of it for a few minutes. The last nine months with fifteen species within earshot has made me fairly blasé about the preposterous calls of even African species echoing across the Wisconsin prairie. But the second or third time it dawned on me: those are real wild whooping cranes! Not raised by humans in costume, but from the original flock, brought back from the brink of 16 individuals in the wild. I can hear them calling back and forth from the marsh out to the North and the ponds in the cow pasture outside my front door. It is an amazing life I lead.

I finally met my new boss, Liz! I absolutely love her. She knows everything. We ate breakfast tacos (yep. Texas), and she showed me around the Lamar Penninsula (where I live), Fulton and Rockport (the closest towns), and Mustang Island (the barrier island across the bay). It is a strange mix around here of ranchers, oyster fishing, local beach folks, and wealthy snowbirds (“Winter Texans”). We saw tiny brightly colored shacks and enormous $10 million mansions, restored wetlands, and decimated habitat. 

Coastal ecology (like a lot of ecology these days) is full of fascinating facts and beautiful sights followed by phrases like “but its population is declining”, or “but it will all be underwater in a couple of decades”. I saw mangroves which was very exciting, but they’re moving into this area now only because it no longer freezes enough to keep them out because of climate change, so they’re choking out a lot of native plants and decreasing coastal habitats for - among other things - cranes. It was fascinating and depressing. But mostly fascinating. I hope to one day know half as much as Liz.

I saw the Gulf of Mexico! And we went birding! Both at the beach and at a little watering hole (apparently all of the migrating species stop there during the migration and in the spring they will have their breeding plumage. I cannot wait). Every year I make a resolution to become a better birder and every year I fail pretty badly but there isn’t a choice here. I will get better at it because there are just crazy amounts of birds everywhere! And they are all new and exciting to me. Today we saw:

Black and Turkey vulture (my most abundant neighbors next to cows)

Grackle (everywhere. Like pigeons. I love them)

Sanderling

Willet

Royal tern

Black skimmer (a huge flock, pretty uncommon as they are declining)

Brown pelican (almost went extinct due to DDT and are now off the endangered list)

White pelican

Laughing gull

Herring gull

Ring-bill gull

Snowy plover

Couch’s Kingbird

Kiskadee

Black crowned night heron

Great blue heron

Common flicker

Forester’s tern

Great egret

Belted kingfisher

Kestrel

Osprey

Liz knew almost all of them. And most of the shells. And told excellent stories about field biology. I kind of want to be her. I think I’m off to a good start here.

As we drove up to the gate (yes, I live in a “gated community” here) we could tell there were still whooping cranes at the cow ponds because there were birders parked all along the road with huge zoom lenses trained towards the pasture. It is very strange to have people training telescope lenses towards your home. I’m glad none of my windows face that way. I also feel like King of the Birders in a weird way. Although, I don’t want to tell them where I live because I can’t let them in to take good pictures of the birds.

So today was amazing. I am so excited to explore the town and the natural areas and just everything. I can’t wait. Now that I am alone in my tiny trailer I’m getting those pangs again a little, and I know I will get homesick and friendsick and things will be scary and hard but that’s how I know it’s worthwhile! I am so very excited to be starting this brand new adventure, and while I am not exactly excited to be turning 26, I think this is going to be a very good year.