Texas Gulf Coast Birds

 

Texas Gulf Coast Birds

Galveston Island is part of the Texas Birding Trail.  Now, neither Jeff nor I are “birders”, people who are truly devoted to finding and cataloging birds they have seen, but we did take a few days to see what birds we could find.  As it turned out, it wasn’t quite the peak time for birds, but we did get to see a fair number!

One of my favorite shore birds is the Great Blue Heron.  I remember seeing them when we lived in the Midwest, and it was nice to see this one along a roadside marsh one morning.  I find both herons and egrets among the most awkwardly graceful birds when taking off.  I’m always semi-amazed when they actually make it into the sky!

Both the above and below images are of ibises.  The above images are of a white and black ibis.  I had never seen a black ibis before, and I kept doublechecking images on the internet of the bird to make sure I had seen what I thought I saw!  The images below are of several black-winged ibis and some friends – some ruddy ducks and some turtles.  These images were taken along a boardwalk that was in somewhat of a neighborhood.  The birds were protected from the shore winds and could feed in peace and quiet!

Here’s another image of an ibis and the only cormorant that we saw on this trip.  They just seemed to be enjoying a moment in the sun, perhaps resting after a hearty morning meal.

The above and below images are of egrets.  The above image was taken just off the beach in the early evening, before sunset.  The sun is warming the glow of his white feathers.  The below images were taken as we drove along another marsh area.  Although these birds do look awkward taking off, once airborne, they are very graceful flyers.  I especially like the image on the left, below.  The crisp, clean white of the egret’s wings really contrasts with the dead, brown leaves of a nearby palm tree.  We saw several brown-leafed palm trees.  We visited this area just a few weeks after Texas suffered the unusual freezing cold weather for several days, and the toll could be seen in the trees.

Another of my favorite birds when along the warm shores of the Gulf of Mexico are pelicans.  I love to watch them glide ever so close to the surface of the water.

Of course, what’s a trip to the shore without seagulls?  These birds seem to be full of character, and, if they weren’t busy, gracefully flying, I felt like they couldn’t quite understand the crazy human taking photographs of them!!

Finally, this bird is called a Roseate Spoonbill.  I had never seen this bird before.  It does make its home in various locations around the world, but only along the Gulf Coast and Florida’s Central Atlantic coast.  It’s a sort of bird cousin to the ibis (my terminology) and I was especially taken with its bill – called a spoon bill for obvious reasons.  When fishing for food, it will swing its bill from side to side in the water as it wades in shallow water.  It can fly, but I didn’t see any doing that during this trip.  What a treat!

Enjoy!!