Ronnie Blackwell

My second Jonny C mystery novel, SPITE is finally getting off the ground. Books are available from Lulu.com right now and they will soon be available from Amazon and other sources in the traditional distribution system. Those lucky enough to own a Kindle can download my both first Jonny C book, Serve It Cold and SPITE from the Amazon Kindle store.

This book is a ramble through the alternative reality of Catherine Mississippi and far beyond. The cast of characters introduced in Serve It Cold grows even larger in SPITE, and this time Jonny and Vera take the show on the road. From the blackwater swamps of Mississippi to the windswept highlands of Kauai’s Napali Coast, Jonny C his his motley crew battle mercenaries, legendart warriors, newspaper writers, rogue cops, drug kingpins, and a phalanx of lawyers. Along the way Jonny finds that the past cannot not stay buried and that dead men don’t always stay that way. But even running for his life keeps Jonny C from eating well and doing a little birdwatching along the way.


STAY TUNED FOR SPITE THE PODOIOBOOK- FROM DANCING CATS

Posted by Ron under SPITE & Serve It Cold | No Comments »

click on the pictures to see larger versions!

Woodpeckers from the genus Melanerpes are some of the most fascinating of birds. Melanerpes is latin for “black creeper.” There are six species in the genus, and none seem to have any more black than you would expect from a woodpecker. They don’t seem anymore creepy than other woodpeckers, either. We have two species here in South Mississippi the Red-headed Woodpecker and the Red-bellied Woodpecker. The two are often confused by beginning birders, mainly I think because the two birds both have red heads, and neither has a noticeable red belly.

It’s all Mark Catesby’s fault. Catesby was a young Englishman who visited his sister in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1712. The first bird that Catesby saw as he got off the boat was a Red-headed Woodpecker. That bird seemed so wonderfully exotic that it inspired Catesby to become the first naturalist to systematically describe and paint Colonial America’s flora and fauna, a task that would consume his professional life. Red-headed Woodpeckers are edge-lovers, and even in 1712, these birds had developed the habit of hanging around the ultimate edge-makers—homo sapiens. Catesby no doubt turned to the nearest colonist for an identification and was told, “That’s a red-headed Woodpecker, aye?”

And so it became. Later Catesby would encounter the Red-bellied Woodpecker and ask the same question, and I imagine that he got the same answer. When he began to skin that bird —yes, birding was just a bit different in those days— he found that it had a red blush around its vent, and the bird was named after a feature that no self-respecting woodpecker would show in public. A little more investigation by Catesby would have turned up several other colloquial names for this Melanerpes, including Ladder-back, Zebra Woodpecker, and my favorite, the Calico Woodpecker.

Of course, Catesby was working without a net. He landed on American shores when Carl Linnaeus was a five-year-old Swedish boy who hadn’t even dreamed of inventing binomial nomenclature, the system that is still used to describe and classify all living things. Catesby honored many local colloquial names, and when he created names from whole cloth he was straightforward. He named the Downy Woodpecker the “Smallest Spotted Woodpecker” and the Ivory-billed he called the “Largest White-billed Woodpecker.” He published his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands between 1731 and 1743.

When Linnaeus did grow up and revolutionize how man looks at this world, he followed Catesby’s example by building on the knowledge that was already there. He used Catesby’s careful observations in his descriptions of North American birds seventy-one times. Thus, we still see many of our birds through Mark Catesby’s eyes. He gave us “Yellow-rump”—now the Yellow-rumped Warbler, “Pine Creeper”—the Pine Warbler, “Cat-bird”— the Gray Catbird, “Oyster Catcher”—American Oystercatcher, “Humming-bird”—the Ruby-throated Hummingbird and many more.

I’ve always been a fan of Mark Catesby, nevertheless, the man simply made a mess of our Southern Melanerpes. I know it’s been just a smidgen less than three hundred years since young Catesby made this blunder, but is it too late to correct the mistake? I think not!

I hereby move that Southern birders start calling the bird known to science as Melanerpes erythrocephalus the Red-hooded Woodpecker and that we also restore to the bird whose scientific name is Melanerpes Carolinus the name of Calico Woodpecker.

Do I hear a second?

Jeremy Nicholson got shot of a nice Calico Woodpecker.

Posted by Ron under Blogs & Home | No Comments »

Matt Tillett found his Blueberry Summer Catbird in Maryland’s Patuxent NWR. –Creative Commons Attribution, No Derivatives, 2.0 Generic.

This year our side yard to the west of Ronalin is even more of a jungle than usual, despite my sporadic efforts to blaze a path through the wilderness all the way to the back yard. During the summer this tangle serves as the nursery for our resident songbirds. Cardinals, towhees, mockingbirds, thrashers, catbirds, wrens, and house finches, Blue Jays and more have used the thick vines, shrubs and hollies to raise young over the years. Yesterday I walked out of the door about six in the afternoon and felt just a touch of cool breeze in the air. I grabbed a pruning saw and some shears and headed for the western yard.

Although that breeze had whispered Spring to me, I found Blueberry Summer waiting. Our twenty-year-old Rabbit-eye Blueberries were heavy with fruit, hanging like dusky thrush eggs. I know it’s sacrilege in the eyes of many purists to call these highly tinkered-with creations native plants, but they are some of my favorites. They want no coddling, and thrive on the harsh conditions of my western yard wilderness. And the birds seem to agree with me.

I grabbed a forgotten pot from the underbrush and lined the bottom with green briar to keep the berries falling through the drain hole. The bushes didn’t get pruned last year, and many of the berries waved twelve feet high above me. No problem, the Catbird took everything above eight feet. We both ate our bate and I carried home a good show for Lin.

Life is full and the world is generous in Blueberry Summer.

Posted by Ron under Blogs & Home | 1 Comment »

Hooded Warblers Provided the Soundtrack for the day’s walk.
Photo by Birdfreak—Creative Commons (BY–ND/2.0)

Okay, I’ll admit that I was reluctant from the git-go. It started with a report of a Golden Eagle at Little Black Water Park. There was a scramble among local birders to go look at the eagle. My attitude was that the bird was most likely an immature Bald Eagle. There have been Bald Eagles nesting at Little Black for at least five years now. Not that I doubt that a Golden Eagle might be roaming around in Mississippi—they do. Golden Eagles can and do show up anywhere they want to.
But if the bird was a Golden Eagle, it could be in Canada by the time we could get a trip organized to see it.

Then came the word that the Eagle had probably been a large Red-tailed Hawk. I thought that was the end of the matter.

Then Chuck announced that we would have a May field trip to Little Black Creek to look for the Golden Eagle. As I may have mentioned, I was reluctant. Mid-May in South Mississippi. It sounded hot, buggy, and humid. And, frankly, I’ve never found many birds at Little Black. I have found great crowds of people camping, fishing, and enjoying a very nice Water Park, and crowds and birds just don’t mix well. The week before the trip was planned Grayson Rayborn and I were almost eaten alive by deer flies down at Ansley, in Hancock County. And my reluctance turned into full-blown dread.

But I went. After all a bad birding trip is better than most other activities. I went and I was proven dead wrong. The day was cool and sunny, one of the most beautiful May days I can remember. We were a small group—Me, Chuck Gramling, Liz Wolfe, Larry Morgan, and Jean Jeffs traveled from Hattiesburg. At the trailhead to the nature trail we met, or rather we were found by two local experts, Rochelle and Sheila. Their guidance through the nature trail system proved invaluable.

And this was he birdiest nature trail that I have eve walked,. We took our time and had a very comfortable couple of hours, full of singing birds and Spring wild-flowers. We saw both Scarlet and Summer Tanagers within the first few hundred yards of the trail. Hooded Warblers, Pine Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, and three species of vireos were everywhere. We saw late-blooming Swamp Azaleas, nesting Prothonotary Warblers and Wood Ducks along a very nice beaver pond.
We ended up with nearly fifty bird species. This dreaded field trip turned out to be one of the highlights of a very nice Spring of birding for me.

Little Black is one of the Pat Harrison Waterway District Water Park. There are nine of these public parks scattered across the Pascagoula River Basin. While not the raw wilderness that the Pascagoula is famous for, these well-run parks are treasures for the thousands of South Mississippians who can get away to camp for a weekend, fish for an afternoon, or just walk around in the woods for the morning. You can learn more about the Pat Harrison Waterway District HERE.

Posted by Ron under Blogs & Home | No Comments »

We who live along the Mississippi Coast or up here in greater Hattiesburg are all too familiar with the constant threat that our coastal plain environment faces from unplanned or poorly-planned development in around our cities. However, I find myself shocked more and more at environmental threats from development far off the beaten path. This weekend I got another of those shocks: There is a fully-developed plan to put an Automobile Dirt Racing Track on the hill above the Sweet Bay Bogs in Stone County. This site is owned by the Nature Conservancy and represents a very rare habitat, known as the Magnolia Bog. This habitat is facing development dangers all across the South.
Julia O’Neal laid out the situation in a post to my Appearances page on May 4. I’ve moved her post to here on the Home page. Thanks, Julia!

Photo by Tayrn_* Some Rights Reserved CC
Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana), the Beauty in the Bog.

Dear Mr. Blackwell,
A Nature Conservancy Preserve in Stone County, Sweetbay Bogs, is in danger. Below is a capsule synopsis of what has been going on concerning the hill above the bogs, which directly affects the water in the bogs, both runoff and the ground water that seeps into the bogs from springs.
The Mississippi DEQ is holding a hearing about the storm water runoff on Thursday, May 15, at 7:00 p.m. at the Stone High Auditorium. This hearing will determine the fate of Sweetbay Bogs.
We thought you might be interested, since Sweetbay is kind of a “Cabo San Lucas” for migrating birds! We would very much appreciate your coming to the hearing, if you can make it, to help us plead the case for saving Sweetbay.
Many thanks for your consideration — see the synopsis below.
Julia O’Neal
601-928-5828
—————————
In March, plans were announced for a dirt race track to be built on Smithtown Road in western Stone County, Mississippi.(http://smithtownspeedway.com/). The location of the 40-acre parcel is on the hill across the road and above a Nature Conservancy preserve (http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/mississippi/preserves/art17306.html). The preserve is part of an important geological hydrology that includes other springs in the Red Creek floodplain, but the seepage on the bog hillside and the “quaking” bogs themselves are a unique vestige of the former longleaf pine ecosystem in the area.
Neighbors who are concerned about noise and traffic from the proposed track met with the current Nature Conservancy staffer responsible for the preserve. Also in attendance were other environmentalists who were worried about the effect on the preserve of run-off from the construction as well as oil from the race cars and public parking when the track became active. They began a public campaign (signs in the rural neighborhood saying “Stop the Track,” a complaint to the MS Dept of Environmental Quality, letters to the papers, a petition to the Board of Supervisors–a five-person panel that governs the county). Stone County does not have zoning or a noise ordinance, and any law that the Board of Supervisors might institute once the track owner had filed for his permit would not be retroactive.
A representative from the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science also became involved. The museum has done extensive work on the rare plants at Sweetbay, and helped the preserve to become a “registered” natural area in the state. Unfortunately, the state of Mississippi has no power to defend rare plants, and none of the plants at the preserve are “listed” with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (See attachments.)
On March 27, the track owner/builder filed for a storm water permit with the Mississippi Dept. of Environmental Quality. Meanwhile, two citizens had invited the Board of Supervisors on a “tour” of Sweetbay, led by a naturalist from Audubon Mississippi. The representative from the Museum of Natural Science and several Nature Conservancy staffers were also in attendance when the tour took place on April 7. Ironically, the builder of the track had received permission to begin construction on April 7. Uninvited, he “crashed” the tour and dominated it with argument and invective. After insulting the representative from the Museum and essentially accusing him of “lying,” the track owner brought out a bulldozer on a trailer and blocked the road installing it on the track property while “tour” visitors were leaving. This activity was reported in both local papers and served to further polarize the community.
The museum representative wrote a letter to the DEQ on April 8, expressing concern about the effect of the construction and activity of the race track on the ground water, which is the source of the springs that make the bogs. The DEQ had also received a request for a public hearing from a state senator. On April 8, the DEQ rescinded the permit which had been in effect April 7. Ultimately, the DEQ announced that a public hearing on the construction permit would be held at 7:00 p.m. on May 15, at the Stone High School Auditorium in Wiggins.
(Copies of the Special Plant Tracking List from the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and the Registry Agreement with the state are available from me, or the Museum, if you would like to see them.)

Posted by Ron under Home | No Comments »

Here is the evidence that I do sometimes go birding—a Mississippi Gulf Coast Audubon Field Trip to Spence’s Woods and Logtown. Grayson Rayborn is not in the picture because he’s taking it!

There are great birding events this month along the Northern Gulf Coast. Here are some links.

Dauphin Island is one the premier birding spots in North America. Join the parade of birding clubs, tours, Big Year counters, and people who just like to look at birds. See you at Shell Mound!

The Wilson Ornithological Society and the Association of Field Ornithologist are having a Joint National Meeting in Mobile right at the peak of spring migration, what a coincidence!

The Pascagoula River Nature Festival will have events scattered throughout the month of April.

In Louisiana the Grand Isle Migratory Bird Festival will take place from April 18—20.

April 11—13 Mandeville’s Northlake Nature Center is hosting the Great Louisiana Birdfest.

Right across the river from the guys in the Logtown picutre lies Honey Island. Pines Woods Audubon Field Trip, March 22, 2008 Some innocent passer-by took this picture.

Posted by Ron under Blogs | No Comments »

The Eurasian Wryneck, jynx torquilla Photo by MrClementi

The Biloxi Sun Herald is running a series of three of my columns on jinx birds. You know—those sneaky birds who seem to taunt you, call from the bushes, flash across a gap in the undergrowth, but never give you a decent look at them. If you have missed the jinx columns in the paper, just click on my Sun Herald tab above. I hope you have as much fun reading as I had writing them.

When I started writing about these birds I got curious about the word jinx. I went to a couple of lexicographer sites and found out that I wasn’t the only one who was curious. There seems to be several word-wars going on among word experts about this small word, jinx.

But I was really surprised when I found out that most of the fuss is about how the word is spelled. Someone explained to us nonpartisans who had stumbled onto the battlefield that the problem is where did the ‘I’ come from? Everybody knows that a Jynx is a bird.

Oh, do they?

I left those guys squabbling and found my self in more familiar territory at the European bird sites. Jynx is the latin name for the Eurasian Wryneck, a truly strange bird that is sort of a woodpecker who doesn’t peck wood. The wryneck has a long tongue like a woodpecker and slurps up insects with it like a woodpecker, and it even nests in woodpecker holes, but it is incapable of pecking wood into holes on its own.

But it does have some interesting qualities, such as the ability to turn it’s head 180 degrees and hiss like a snake. These characteristics brought the jynx notoriety long before Billy Friedkin taught Linda Blair the same tricks and won an Oscar for the deed.

Throughout its range from Europe into Africa, the wrynecks has been prized by local spell-casters since before Hector was a pup—literally! In Greece and Rome wryneck feathers were considered such necessary ingredients for any magic potion that the potions themselves became known as jynxes. And now you know….

Posted by Ron under Home | No Comments »

Jean Guy’s fantastic photo of an American Robin: Some rights Reserved: Creative Commons

Today was a gem of Southern winter. Occasional clouds tumbled headlong across the sky, but the surface was cool and calm. Temperatures in the low sixties brought out even the most reluctant resident avian males, and by ten o’clock every tall perch held an insistent singer proclaiming his worthiness.
Lin and I both spent the day inside. It wasn’t the tragedy it seems on the face of it. We both got work done, I caught a bit of basketball on TV, and we savored the luxury of not having to leave Ronnalin and venture into the world of commerce. And right now, I’m listening to Van Morrison sing There’ll Be Days Like this. Not bad, not at all—of course, a cold drizzle outside wouldn’t have hurt my resolve to work.
As it was, I kept running outside to suck in just a little of this beautiful day. On my first foray I was dazzled by the sky. I thought to myself that high arc was the color a male Cerulean wants to be.
On my dash into the yard at ten o’clock —new and improved daylight savings time—I first noticed the robins. There was a faltering stream of American Robins heading north in small groups. By noon the stream had become a river of flocks, some of which probably held as many as fifty birds.
The Basketball game and hard drive housekeeping held my attention for a while, so I didn’t get back outside until the dogs demanded it around four. By then the Robins were in full flood and the mockingbirds, thrashers, and cardinals had all been cowed into silence as hundreds of birds passed overhead. In the back corner of the yard, a lone towhee shrieked his alarm call.
My dashes outside became more frequent after that. There were other birds moving, too. Chunks of starlings, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Cedar Waxwings were embedded in the slipstream of the larger flock. But the large majority of birds winging over were robins. We used to have such flocks fly by when my neighborhood was crowned with tall hardwoods, but it has been years and years since those days.
It was a mighty fine thing to see, again.
Lin came out with at six, just as the flow of birds suddenly stopped. Now there were hundreds of robins sitting in the remaining old water oaks and pecans in the neighborhood. As the birds jockeyed for the best roosting sites the afternoon sun burnished them bright as scarlet tanagers.
As the sun fell, so did the temperature. As I headed in I took one more look at the darkening sky and realized that I was wrong earlier. This was not a cerulean day, today was robin-egg blue.
Take care and keep an eye on the sky.

American Robin’s Nest by Martin Ujlaki. Some rights Reserved: Creative Commons

Posted by Ron under Blogs | No Comments »

My article about the Japanese pintail that was killed in North Mississippi was picked up by the Southeastern Currents, a publication of the National Fish & Wildlife Service, and published in their March 2008 edition. You can read it by clicking here.

If the link does not work for some reason, you can copy the link below and paste into your browser URL bar: http://www.fws.gov/southeast/SoutheasternCurrents/behind.html

Posted by Ron under Blogs | No Comments »

Tuesday, the eleventh, Lin and went to reprise our Gulf Coast Audubon Society PowerPoint presentation, Back Yards Are For The Birds, and the Great Backyard Bird Count for Main Street Methodist’s Prime Time Club. We had a blast on the Coast, but we did run short of time, and I forgot to plug this site and give my email address. I spent Tuesday morning deleting slides and adding a few slides that would refer to Hattiesburg. I finished my work. Lin swooped in and picked me up so that we could go early to set up. The church’s media expert, Jamie Gower quickly got us hooked into their system. I checked the presentation. Everything was perfect, and we had more than an hour before the show started to visit. I admit that I was just a bit worried right then about this “perfect” thing, but pushed it out of my mind and had a delicious pork tenderloin lunch which I finished without dribbling gravy all over my shirt—see, there’s that perfect thing again.
We had over seventy people show up and by the time we all got served, ate, and visited a proper while, we were running the slightest bit late. Not to worry, I knew that I had reduced the presentation. I figured I would run through the pretty pictures quickly and then have plenty of time for questions.
The Prime Timers did some housekeeping, we got introduced, and it was Showtime!
The presentation went well, although I realized that I should have spent less time fiddling with the presentation that morning and more time reading over my slides. Luckily Lin took up the slack, and we began to hit our duel presentation rhythm.
Then…

BOOM!

Thunder shook the meeting room and rain poured down. We charged onward, picking up the pace, but after another couple of volley’s I realized that I was talking to as many backs as faces people were gathering raincoats and umbrellas. I called a halt to the presentation at the first good spot. All in all it was a very good experience. Lin and I had fun visiting with people, and we ate some great food. But, for the second time around, I didn’t get to plugging my columns or my website.
So the next time you come to one of our presentations don’t be surprised to see a title banner that reads

RonnieBlackwell.com • Hattiesburg American • Sun Herald • RonnieBlackwell.com•

Posted by Ron under Blogs | No Comments »