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The staring
and defiant
Eagle Eyes of Texas
are upon you
One in a Series
of Photo Essays
Mike Price and TE Photos |
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Perched over
doors of buildings – is it a coincidence that these are the very
buildings (banks, courthouses and post offices) where we take care
of our most personal business?
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Dignity
on the old Ft. Worth
Post Office
TE Photo |
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In
a state that often gets press for things un-natural; there’s still
a lot of nature to be found in Texas.
Ornithologically-speaking, the Lone Star State is beyond rich.
First, we have the ultimate songster for the state bird. But then
again, something like eight other states claim the Mockingbird.
For the exotic, we’ve got scissor-tailed flycatchers, caracaras,
spoonbills, and blue herons. Let’s hear other states claim those!
Brownsville
has its famed
wild parrots and Corpus
Christi has its air-force of white pelicans. Rockport
has its whooping cranes and every highway overpass between Houston
and San Antonio has
its springtime colony of swifts. Mentone
and Sanderson are
overrun with roadrunners and from Beaumont
to Fort
Davis, everyone and anyone who can mix sugar and water is treated
to the antics of migrating hummingbirds. Thanks to the people of
Wills Point
and Habitat for Ornithology, bluebirds of happiness migrating through
NE Texas are positively
delirious.
All of the aforementioned species share two basic traits (except
grackles and seagulls).
They either want to be alone or want to flock together with their
like-feathered brethren.
Grackles and seagulls just want to be fed.
But
the species featured in this particular gallery are different. They
don’t flock together (except on the McLennan
County Courthouse dome) and they don’t want to be fed. They
don’t catch flies or run roads. They are not the subject of birdwatchers
and indeed – (here’s our point) - they are watching us!
Perched over doors of buildings – is it a coincidence that these
are the very buildings (banks, courthouses and post offices) where
we take care of our most personal business?
The unblinking eyes of these sandstone seers, limestone voyeurs
and marble eavesdroppers are in every county of the state. While
a complete census has yet to be made, we’re beginning an inventory
starting with this very page.
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McKinney's
First National Bank Building
"...cast stone and a gilded eagle."
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
A watchful
eye on the Federal Courthouse in Austin
TE photo |
Tradition
in Beaumont
TE photo, July 2003 |
Eagle
or Winged Platypus?
Jefferson County's Sub-courthouse in Port
Arthur
TE photo |
Sitting
on a fasces - same eagle as above straight on - Port
Arthur
TE photo, June 2003 |
Overly-saturated
Eagle on the Runge, Texas
Former Post Office
TE photo, 2001 |
Pretending
to look distracted on the Taylor,
Texas Post Office
TE photo, 2005 |
Zig
Zag Deco on Waco's
Mvnicipal Bvilding
TE photo, 2004 |
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