About the Center
You never know what you'll see on a daytrip...
This essay comes from a number of photographers; Eloise Taylor, Justin O’Neill, Richard Galle, Kelly Tipton, Dave Swenson, Bill Hopkins and Burr Williams. If a person leaves at daybreak and aimlessly wanders until sunset, an amazing amount of things can be seen. Richard’s badger photographs were not taken in Midland County, and nor were Dave Swenson’s pronghorn photos, but badgers and pronghorns can be found in Midland County.
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Most people know of Midland as the center of the Permian Basin, a major oil producing region of the United States. At the first light of dawn, a pumpjack is seen against the Midland skyline.
Many pipelines converge on Midland, ending up a large "tank farm," and then is sent down other pipelines to refineries.
Midland was originally a ranch supply town. For the first 20 years after settlement in the 1880s, huge cattle ranches controlled the landscape. Ranching remains part of the West Texas tradition. In Midland Draw east of town, these cattle enjoy the lush results of summer rain.
Sunflowers, pumpjack, oil tanks in distance - summer on the Llano Estacado.
Cotton farming is also a major industry on the Llano Estacado. Irrigation is necessary in most years.
Richard Galle can whistle up ground squirrels. After the first whistle, it faces him.
After the second whistle, it raised up to see where the sound was coming from.
After a period of silence, the squirrel forgets Richard and grabs a bite to eat.
Another whistle gets him alert again.
The squirrel gets curious - just what is going on?
Then he goes back to eating, this time eating an evening primrose flower bud.
But... he is still concerned about the whistling, so he looks around
And finally he eats the flower of an evening primrose.
Prairie dogs are large ground squirrels.
In prairie dog towns, jackrabbits hang around and eat grass, too.
Jackrabbits are alert creatures, as well.
Justin found one cooling its belly in dirt.
Burrowing owls live in prairie dog towns, too.
Dave found a grackle feeding near a prairie dog on the Midland College campus.
Richard found a badger in an overgrown farm field. It first peeked its nose up out of a burrow.
Then the badger sniffed the air, trying to smell what was making the noise that bothered him.
Dirt was on the nose of the badger.
He came out of the hole further, to try to get a better look. He did not pay attention to the leaf of the maize plant on his nose.
The badger got fed up with Richard, so he ducked back to hide.
And finally, he tottered off, out of sight.
In the Junior Master Garden at Sibley, Eloise Taylor and members of a youth gardening class found a mama cottontail while moving mulch. Momma nursed the babies in plain view.
After they fed, mama cleaned up.
After the mama moved away, the babies nuzzled each other.
Then the babies looked around for mama.
Looking around was too much work, so they began drifting off to sleep.
And, then, they went to sleep.
Cottontails are common, but they love to hide.
Whitewinged doves have become common in Midland since first arriving in 1980. Two sit in a flower pot in a yard.
A few minutes later, 5 are on the flower pot.
If the doves are fed, they become tame, and a person can see them in great detail.
Morning doves are common, too. They build simple stick nests in trees.
Justin found a baby morning dove blown out of a tree.
With all the rain, some of the playas are full. Richard found a black-necked stilt.
Among the paspalum grass in the bottom of the playa not covered by water, a killdeer tried to hide.
Justin found one on the golf course where he works. They are often found on playing fields, and school grounds, too.
One of the resident Canada geese in Midland County loves a playa that receives runoff water from the town
In late summer, migrant sandpipers and waterbirds come through west Texas. Richard found a phalarope doing its circling behavior to make water insects visible.
Phalaropes can sometimes arrive in large flocks.
The golf course where Justin works has a number of irrigation ponds, which bring in water birds. Coots get out of the water and graze on the grass.
Redwinged blackbirds nest in the cattails of the golf course ponds, but will land on the grass to catch insects.
Southwest of town, folks can find pronghorn, and they are often near prairie dog towns. Dave found these near the Davis Mountains, but the same behavior can be seen 10 miles from Midland.
He also found pronghorn with babies.
Kelly Tipton visited a ranch north of Midland. Along an old barn she found a Great Plains Skink. They often come out of the ground after a rain.
A whiptail lizard allowed her to come close.
Near the barns she found a scaled quail in a tree - a somewhat unusual sight, since they prefer to be on the ground.
In the barn was a barn owl.
It tried to hide from Kelly by getting behind a post.
Finally the barn owl gave up, and flew away.
In an old box in the barn, two house mice cowered when she removed the lid. Why was there so many old muddauber wasp nests in the box?
A conehead grasshopper rested on one of the old wooden fences.
Richard took a close look at a yucca stalk, and found this unknown bizarre insect. It kept going to the back side of the stalk.
He also found a golden skipper on a blue mist eupatorium.
During the hot afternoon most creatures behave as does this grackle - stand in the shade and pant.
Kingbirds just sit on fences and electric lines in the heat.
Bill Hopkins found this Matalea - an unusual vine of the Milkweed family. It has a musky odor.
South of town a person can find Allthorn - a plant with green stems and no leaves.
Midsummer brings berries to the allthorn.
With the heat of the day, thunderstorms build up. South of Midland at "Salt Lake," the promise of rain during the night looms far to the south. If the clouds hold together, the storm would arrive in three or four hours.
When thunderstorms do come, the outflow boundary of the cool air rushing out of the storm sometimes brings a dust storm that lasts for a few minutes. A dust storm can occur even the day after a rain.
As the sun goes down, the light of the golden sunflowers brightens a draw.