Scrambled vultures

This was the flock of vultures I talked about a few days ago.  They flew off when they decided that I was not to be trusted.  I had come upon a flock of about 100 of them on the side of the road, just outside of Orange,Texas.A few of them were trying to reach a carcass on the side of the highway, but were being scared back each time a vehicle passed.  The bulk of them were waiting behind the barbed -wire fence.  They were apparently the cheering squad.

--steve buser

Vultures, birds, nature, Orange, Texas

Fishing, no strings attached

This Brown Pelican (Pelicanus occidentalis carolinensis) was sitting in a canal to the west of Bridge City the other day as I drove by. When I stopped to shoot the pix, it seemed he went into action. He was very intent on what was going on below him. Suddenly he sprang from the water, flew about 100 feet and dropped down making a quick splash, ducking his bill and head below the water.

He came up with the bill closed and lifted his head up. Whatever it was he caught, you could tell, by the way it swelled his pouch and the effort he made to swallow it, that it was very large.

He repeated that trick once more, before spotting me and flying off to find a new fishing hole.

-steve buser

Brown Pelican, Pelicanus occidentalis carolinensis, Bridge City, Texas

Veiled threat

It's SkyWatch Friday time again --I chose another from a series of shots I took a couple weeks ago on the way home  from work.  The sun was using the low hanging clouds sliding by to practice veil dancing.  Just part of the unusually mild and muggy February weather that has visited us this year.   Go and check out more Skywatch images at the Skywatch Site!

--steve buser

SkyWatch Friday, sundown, sunset, Beaumont, Texas

Looking over an overlooked clover

You remember as a child looking for four-leaf clovers? You don't? Do you mean you don't remember, or you didn't do it? This is an important distinction. Your personality and your reputation hinge on it.

Take a look at the photo above of Sullivan in the park at Port Neches, Texas, looking for the luck of the Irish.

We're waiting. For you not him. This is what you may have missed.


--steve buser

Port Neches, Texas, four-leaf clover, luck, kids

Stay, kitty

This is the white tiger at the Houston Aquarium that you saw yesterday. This close up was courtesy my new lens. Doesn't he look just like a playful little kitty? Thank God for thick glass.

--steve buser

Houston, Texas, Aquarium, White Tiger, tiger, animals

Big is in the face of the beholder

Little Sophie gets an up-close-and-personal view of the white tiger at the Houston Aquarium. The tiger walked right up to the glass and paced back and forth a few times, then suddenly reached up on the glass with his paws. He probably does that a few times a day just to see how fearful those figures on the other side of the glass are.

--steve buser

Houston Aquarium, tiger, white tiger, kids

Fear and feathers

I was driving in Orange, TX, the other day when I came upon a flock of about 100 vultures.  Most of them were sitting in a field behind a fence. A bout 10 of though were out in the road right-of-way, trying to make a mealof a carcass by the side of the road.  The carcass was right up against the pavement, which made it a scary endavor for these feathered carnivores.  Every time a vehicle passed by, they would flee for cover and then have to brave themselves into sneaking back toward the road. The whole flock flew off before they got the meal, but I bet they came back later in the day to try again.

Vultures, Orange, Texas, birds, nature

Levee Walk --Port Arthur

Enjoy a relaxing walk along the levee on the Sabine Neches Waterway in Port Arthur. The board walk gives a scenic view of Pleasure Island and occasional passing ships and barges.
-- steve buser

Stretch the sky

The clouds seemed to be stretching the sky the other day.  

"Excuse me while I stretch the sky!" to butcher Hendrix

A Sky Watch Friday shot.  Go and check out more Skywatch images at the Skywatch Site!

--stev buser

Feathery bathers

One more shot from the bathing birders at the Houston Aquarium -- our outing for the weekend. Seems evenbirds that are not of a feather bath together.

--steve buser

birds, sparrows, Houston, Aquarium, Texas, nature

Bubbling with excitement

This has to be a weird site for young kids,  to look up from under the water and see things floating around.  Sophie and Sullian (our grandkids) enjoy looking at the stingrays glide pass.   In the front,  the stingrays scoot up the side of the tank to try to find someone to pet them.   This tank is at the Aquarium in Houston.

--steve buser

Aquarium, Houston, Texas, kids, stingray

Puddle splasher

We were at the Houston Aquarium sitting outside, when a bunch of these sparrows came flying in to look for food from the picnickers and to take a bath in the water puddles. This guy was just drying out his feathers. Belly full, feathers clean, he flew away.

--steve buser

Sparrow, Houston, Texas Aquarium, nature, birds

I want an iquana

Our granddaughter Sophie and an Iquana at the Houston Aquarium seem to have a communication going on. We took the kids to the Aquarium for a a break. They enjoyed the fish and squirmy things, but most off the rides. I should say they enjoyed the train and the carousel. That's about as far as their bravery would take them.

--steve buser

Houston, Houston Aquarium, kids, iquana, Texas

Hi! Jumper.

Our grandson Sullivan, tries to see how high he can jump, using the mirror in our hotel room. This was on a visit to see my daughter's family in College Station.

--steve buser

kids, jumping, College Station, Texas

Hardy gar

We were taking a tour of the Tony Houseman State Park and Wildlife preserve at Blue Elbow Swamp a couple years ago, when we pulled along side a boat of a fisherman.  He was eager to show us this gar fish he had just snagged.   The park is mostly inaccessible except by boat, but is a tremendous unspoiled area. It lies just to the north of Orange, Texas.  If you stop at the Texas welcome center at the Louisiana State line  (near the Sabine River, where this shot was taken) you can walk out on a board walk and get a sense of some of the natural beauty.

-steve buser

fishing, gar, Sabine River, Orange, Texas

You give me fever

This was the sky that seemed to be burning with fever the other night, looking out over Lamar University in Beaumont. I walked out and saw this and wished I would have got to my car a few minutes earlier so that I could find the perfect vantage point. As it was, I shot as fast as I can as the sun fought off the fever and began to get drousy.

--steve buser

Go and check out more Skywatch images at the Skywatch Site!

sunset, Texas, sky, clouds, Beaumont

Backwards rays

Daylight reflects back on Houston's Discovery Green Park as the sun start's lighting up the buildings on Houston downtown's east side.  The early morning sun shimmers down the board walk of the park across from the George R. Brown Convention Center and near the Toyota Center.

--steve buser

Houston, parks, Texas, Discovery Green Park, George R.Brown, Convention Center

Here comes the run

This was the scene at the recent Houston Marathon as runners were arriving before dawn to get ready.  Our son Charles was running in the 26.2 mile race.  The shot is outside of the George R. Brown Convention Center which is the headquarters for the day of the event.

--steve buser

marathon, Houston marathon, Houston, Texas, George R Brown, Convention Center

Feast your eyes

This Iris and bee shot is at the Discovery Green Park in Houston, acrossfrom the George R. Brown Convention Center. I was actually shooting the flower, before I noticed the bee. He popped out from the heart of the flower after apparently having a nectar feast.

--steve buser

Bee, iris, Houston, Texas, parks, Discovery Green Park

Dry water

This picture from a few years back is a road side ditch on Bolivar Peninsula. It was just after a rain, which followed a long dry spurt. So the bottom of the ditch was drought-crack and the top was gully-washing rain water.

--steve buser

dry, water, cracks, drought, downpour, rain.Bolivar Peninsula, Texas

Beached

Where once stood a house, now stands piers on a beach on the Bolivar Peninsula of Texas.
The peninsula runs along the Gulf of Mexico for 40 + miles. It took the brute force blow of Hurricane Ike.

Land that was reclaimed by the ocean by Ike's strong hand, will revert to the state leaving homeowners without even a lot.

--steve buser

Texas, Hurricane Ike, Bolivar Peninsula, severe weather, beach

Sky climbing

Soaring above the clouds, probably 35,000 feet up, about 6 miles from earth, a metal bird carries people quickly across the earth. Down on the ground, in Beaumont, few people even notice.

This is a Skywatch Friday post. See all the other post today at the Skywatch Site!

--steve buser

airplane, sky, sundown

Fluttering feast

I was out at Tyrrell Park in Beaumont one day in the fall when a bunch of these Orchid Orioles (Icterus spurius -- at least that's what I think they are) came fluttering through the trees. There was a stand of trees maybe 300' by 300' and they were scavenging through it, limb by limb, looking for goodies for a meal. After about 15 minutes they were gone -- either full or in search of food elsewhere.

--steve buser

Orchid Oriole, Icterus spurius, bird, nature, yellow, trees, park, Tyrrell Park, Beaumont, Texas

Fighters never win!

While these two Brown Pelicans were arquing about who was going to get the biggest fish for this meal, they missed the thief. Look in the back ground at the wood duck who was taking advantage of their fighting ways to fatten himself up.

The shot was on a trip to the Houston Zoo recently.

--steve buser

Blowin in the wind

You know those cottony looking balls on dandelions and other plants -- I think they call them clocks -- I got a view at a bunch of them growing on the side of Hwy 105 out by Sour Lake a few weeks back. Wikipedia says the clocks have many single-seeded furites called achenes, each attached to a pappus of fine hairsto enable wind-aided dispersal over long distances.

All that is the kind of scientific stuff. What got me thinking was that, with the change from summer to fall, these pappus were finished with the mother plant and ready to embark on their own adventure in life.

Their early life as a flower and their dance with bees was surely no longer in their memory. Now, they didn't know where they were going, and for sure they didn't know what they were going to do when they got there. They were just letting their nature lead them as they grabbed ahold of the wind.

--steve buser

wind, flower, clock, dandelion, pappus, nature, weather, wind, summer, fall, Sour Lake, Texas