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!

 

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary

For the first two stops in Australia, we did a city tour and a country tour (and wineries!).  For this third port of call, to do something a bit different, we visited the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary that focuses on those animals native to Tasmania, or Tazy natives, as they called them. I admit, my dream was to see a Tasmanian Devil in Tasmania.  Jeff told me not to get my hopes up too high, as they are nocturnal critters.  Still, hope sprang eternal! 

“Bonorong” is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning “native companion”.  It is on land originally owned by the Mumirimina people, who did not survive the early colonization of Tasmania.  It’s currently owned by the Palawa, today’s Tasmanian Aboriginal Community, and is used with their blessing.  However, nobody told the kangaroos that – they seem to feel it’s totally their space, and they are very welcoming to guests, albeit at time curious as to what else we’re checking out in their “home”!

The sanctuary is set up with several wooden boxes of “Roo Food”, free for the taking.  We were encouraged to feed the kangaroos, and were assured they would always be “up for food”!  The food seemed to be dried corn kernels, or something similar, and all we had to do was hold our hands out with the kernels, and the ‘roo’s came around.  Jeff quickly became a two-fisted feeder!  I had my hand at feeding them as well, and they were very gentle as they took the food from our hands.  I also petted a kangaroo – the place they love to be petted/scratched is at the base of their throat, just above their chest.  They are in kangaroo heaven when you scratch them there!  Petting them on the head or back just tells them to back off and leave you alone, so it accomplishes exactly the opposite of what one would be trying to do!

There were a couple of things I noticed about kangaroos – one was their claws!!  They are incredibly long and seemed really thick.  I have heard of people being killed by kangaroos, when the kangaroos felt threatened and used their back feet to lash out.  Can you imagine the damage getting kicked with those back feet?  Thank goodness, these kangaroos know they are safe and don’t feel threatened in any way.  The other curious thing is how they drink – if I were to try to drink from a pond (not that I would do that), I’d tumble in in about a minute…..or less!

I decided to include this image just because I really like the reflection of the kangaroo in the manmade pond in their home area.

Isn’t this little guy just the cutest thing?  Regardless of how we’re supposed to scratch them, it was all I could do to stop myself from trying to hug this little guy!

Jeff got some food and went up to the little guy to see if he wanted to eat, and of course, he did.  Check out how small this little guy really was!  And, Jeff said when he was feeding him, the little guy kept patting his hand, as if to tell him he was doing a good job!  So cute!

The kangaroos weren’t the only animals to see, tho!  If we looked up, we could see some very colorful wild parrots!  There weren’t any in the sanctuary, but abundant in Australia, are white cockatoos!  They are all over the place – almost like pigeons back in Chicago!

Here are the next two animals that we came across – the emu, which I’d heard of before, and the Tawny Frogmouth, which I’d never heard of before!  Turns out, the tawny frogmouth is only found in Australia, and is somewhat related to owls.  They are carnivores, and are considered pest control birds, as they eat moths, spiders, bugs, etc.

And, get a load of this little cutie pie!!   Koalas generally are asleep most of the time - about 19 hours per day, which leaves only 5 hours per day for eating and everything else.  But, this little one woke up long enough to say hi to everyone!

And, I got my wish!!  We did see some Tasmanian Devils!!  I was getting really disappointed, as we’d been thru almost the entire sanctuary, and didn’t see any.  The enclosures we expected them to be in were very quiet, with them in hiding there.  However, there was another set of enclosures, closer to the top, and the ranger was in one of those and the Devils were out!  For reference, they are about the size of a not-overweight pot-bellied pig.  I would say it might come up to my mid-calf in height.

And, contrary to the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, they are not really mean, vicious critters.  In fact, they are quite shy, and frequently will hide if humans are around.  Even if we had come across them in the wild, odds are we wouldn’t have seen them, as they would have seen us first and ran and hid.  This little one was barely peeking out from her hiding place, a hollowed out log.

And, altho they are considered nocturnal animals, the ranger said that they also love to lay in the sun.  And, if you’re wondering how such a sweet looking little thing came to be called a Devil, the ranger said it was due to 2 things.  The first is that if they lay in the sun, sometimes their ears will appear to glow red, and they sort of look like the horns of a devil.  The other reason they are called Devils are that they are known for making an absolutely horrible, screeching, guttural type of noise.  But, they don’t do that all the time – only when they are angry, afraid or having sex (hmmm….let’s not go there…).  And, when that happens, their ears take on that red glow, as the increased blood flow changes the color of the inside of their ears. But, during this visit, there was no sex, so Celina was a  safe and happy little Devil!

The last animals that we visited were Toby & Millie, the wombats.  Toby was with his friend, the ranger, and was quite shy, hiding his face in the ranger’s arm.  And, Millie was a little baby wombat and was wrapped up in an appropriately pink blanket and held by a volunteer.  That’s why I was able to get such a close-up of her sweet face.  I wanted to pet her, but that’s not really acceptable, so once again, I had to restrain myself!  Millie was fairly new to the sanctuary, and was still getting adjusted to living there and feeling safe.  By the way, all the animals (not birds) in the sanctuary are considered marsupials.  A marsupial is an animal that carries their young in a pouch or on their backs, etc. until they are old enough to be on their own.

Enjoy!

Back Road to Taos

After the cabins, we actually turned onto the dirt roads that we’d follow almost all the way to Taos.  The sights were varied, and kept us captivated during the entire drive.

Driving the Back Road

We were having typical monsoon weather while on this camping trip, so we were a bit concerned that the roads might be a bit muddy and difficult to travel.  However, they actually were quite nice, and the afternoon showers only served to keep the dust down!  These roads were quite well maintained, as we discovered several folks did some true back country camping as we traveled along the way!

Old Fence

This portion of the fence just seemed so perfect sitting in the back woods.  I imagine that at one time, it was more complete, and held some horses, or even cattle.  Makes you wonder what happened to the rest of it, but that this part was left to stand as a sort of monument to times past.

White Woods

I have come to learn that these are not birch, but alder instead.  I loved the look of what I think of as the white woods.  I adjusted the image so that the white of the alders was emphasized. 

Wild Life Sighting

And, then, along the road, we saw 2 deer.  It seemed as tho they were as surprised to see us as we were delighted to see them!  I took several images, but these three tell the story.  They see us, and then, one at a time, they decided they didn’t care for us or our mode of transport, and off they went!

Peaceful Stream

We did stop at a place that seemed like it would be a lovely backwoods camping area and had a look around.  There was a lovely stream, slowing flowing along.  Camping here wouldn’t give us the sound of a babbling brook, but it would provide a nice place to sit and read, or think, or just imagine.

Enjoy!