Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

 

Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

One day, we decided to drive around and explore to see if we could find a wildlife refuge that my reference book for bird sightings mentioned.  At times, we thought we had gotten lost, but eventually, we did find the refuge and the treasures that live within.

Although most of the refuge was geared toward an auto tour, the first part of the refuge had a boardwalk over some marshy lands.  This marsh was home to several types of birds, one of which was this black cormorant.  I must admit, I was mesmerized watching this little guy glide thru the marshy water and plant debris, without getting any on his wings or body!

I should have known better, but I allowed myself to forget that there could be alligators around in these waters.  My reminder came in the form of a nest of baby gators (top photo), Mama Gator hanging around (bottom left photo), and another little guy who just decided to strike a pose for us (lower right photo).

As we continued our drive, we did see an ibis flying over a lake in the refuge.  It was a rather shallow lake, so maybe calling it a pond might be more accurate! I really love his long beak, easier for him to seek out his meals.

A bit further down we saw an anhinga drying his wings.  Anhingas fish by diving into bodies of water to swim after their food.  When they surface, they strike this somewhat unique pose to allow them to dry their wings fairly quickly, so they can again take to the air.

Another shore bird we saw wading through the very shallow waters of some parts of the marshy refuge was the whimbrel.  It is in the sandpiper family, and its name originated in England, and sort of sounds like its call.  It didn’t call when we saw him, so I can’t verify that!

Here was a rare find (for us!) – a tri-colored heron.  This bird used to be known as Louisiana heron, and although solitary in its feeding habits, when it nests, it does tend to be social and can often be found in colonies with other herons and egrets, who are part of its family.

And, finally, we saw a snowy egret.  I did manage to get somewhat of a close-up of him, but then, he took off in the awkward way of egrets and herons.  Once in the air, they do strike quite the graceful pose.

I’m ending this post with another image of the snowy egret.  I loved how peaceful he looked as he glided over the marshy refuge, his white feathers contrasted by the brownish gold grasses, not yet green in the early spring.  You can see the silhouette of taller trees in the background.

Enjoy!

 

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!!