Monday Morning 8-9 a.m.

A good Monday morning for birding! Went out before sun-up to feed cats and saw little Smokey (a 3-4 month old part-siamese kitten) take a flying leap off the porch onto a jasmine bush, flushing a largish bird that flew at me and over, don't know if it was in the bush or the tree above. Owl, otherwise unidentified.

After feeding cats I put out bird seed into 3 feeders and after putting some stuff on the stove to heat went back out with binoculars, choosing my Swift Audubon 8.5 X 44s. Was looking among the house sparrows for something not a house sparrow, because yesterday two other sparrow species showed up and I was not able to ID them.

Started back in the house when a mustard yellow little bird (some kind of warbler?) lit in my arbor vitae tree across the street and disappeared into the foliage. (Damn little yellow and green birds do that often, disappear on me) 80 feet away. I went back in for more optical horsepower.

Came back out with Nikon 12 X 50s. Nothing. Did see a grackle land on a branch with something long and winged in his beak. (OMG, did he catch a hummingbird? Apparently not, the wings -- and the grackle plucked them off as he ate -- were translucent and there were several -- big dragonfly most likely.)

Went in to check on stove. Nothing burning. Went back out with the Swifts again, made 1977 but the sharpest binoculars I own -- just got them off eBay, previously owned by a little old lady in Pasadena, literally, seller said they were his grandma's -- and with a wide field of view compared to the 12 X 50s and the roof prisms (except for the little 8 X 36 Nikon Monarch which is comparable to the Swifts in field of view but not as sharp and without the huge stereo view that porros give).

Went across the street to my other back yard and scanned the trees for something new. Nothing. Blue jay landed in a top branch. Then a raptor flew over fast. Smallish, little bigger than a dove, no idea what it was, merlin, kestrel, cooper's, who knows. Started back in.

Whoa! Stopped in the middle of the street. HUGE wings to the SSW. Do we have condors?

Backed to the curb. Bird passed almost directly overhead, not that high, seemed like he was eyeing the neighborhood. Red naked head. Turkey vulture! Over 6 ft wingspread. First on Backyard Bird List. Did he know we had old people and dogs ready to kick the bucket? He know something about me? Time will tell and the vultures are waiting.

Note about vultures.   Living in Lubbock, Texas, is not like being out in the country.  We rarely see vultures or raptors out in the neighborhoods.    Close to two weeks ago, however, I drove near our canyon greenbelt and saw about 7 vultures circling overhead near the road, a clear indication that something or somebody was dead.  A rare sight!   We do get geese here, both overhead and at the hundred or so playa lakes within city limits.