Robert Edwards and I decided Tuesday to drive to Lost Maples State Park. We took 337 out of Leakey. This stretch of mountain road will hold it's own with those in Colorado. One curve had a speed limit of 10 MPH. It takes you to Vanderpool, or for us, Lost Maples. What a park this is! It is filled with walking trails of varied challenge. We took off on one and had not gone far before Robert had spotted the rare and endangered Golden Cheeked Warbler. It was a thrill to see this bird again. It was so easy we thought it would be seen some more...wrong! As it is in birding, that was our first and last look. Other birds brightened the trail, along with various wildflowers we did not know. In hiking you know how easy it is to go farther than planned, then remember there is no bus or trolley, and you must hike all the way back. We did. Robert was quickly ready to hike to a pond for more viewing. I chose a shady site at a birding station. We both enjoyed our choices.
In Mark Lockwood's book, "Birds of The Texas Hill Country" he has a chapter on ornithological investigations. He mentioned Henry Philemon Attwater who was a student of natural history, and who arrived in San Antonio in 1884. Attwater began an intensive study of birds, their nesting habits and abundance. In a paper he wrote in 1892 Attwater expressed a concern that the abundance of Golden Cheeked Warbler could change. He went so far as to predict it would become a rare bird. That was a correct call. But the warbler hangs on and can be seen in various locations in the Hill Country.
In one of their many tests the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven. Here was His response: WHEN EVENING COMES, YOU SAY, "It will be fair weather for the sky is red", AND IN THE MORNING, "Today it will be stormy for the sky is red and overcast." YOU KNOW HOW TO INTERPRET THE APPEARANCE OF THE SKY, BUT YOU CANNOT INTERPRET THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. (Matthew 16:2-3). Mankind knows so much about the world. Predictions about it often come to pass. Sadly, most of the world's people know little about God and cannot interpret through God's Word the signs of the times.
Many of them are rather clear today. We best look and listen.
