Mount St. Sullivan

Scientific note: when you push a filter over a fountain, you have a volcano. Scientific note 2: when you let go, you have a real explosion. Kid note: This is worth doing over and over.
The grandkids were in town and they took Nanny to Rogers Park in Beaumont to play at the splash pad. (If you're a grandma you know what I mean.) Sullivan demonstrates for us.

Scientific note: Kids have more energy than grandparents.
--steve buser

Splash pad, Beaumont, Texas

Powered by ScribeFire.

Scratch my neck and I will scratch yours

Your job, should you decide to accept it, is to figure out how this Roseate Spoonbill scratches that long neck. Or is this one of the fairy tale stories where the birds have to figure out that the only way to scratch their necks with that large spoonbill is to let another spoonbill do it.

I bet it makes for a better marriage anyway. This shot is at the Shangri La Botanical Gardens in Orange, Texas.
--steve buser

Roseate Spoonbill, Orange, Texas, Shangri La Botanical Gardens

Powered by ScribeFire.

Stick built house for Cattle Egrets

A Cattle Egret, (Bubulcus ibis), has found a real treasure just below his nest -- a stick. The stick will make a fine addition to his tree-branch home at the heronry here at Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange Texas.

This the breeding season for the birds and all their egret and heron cousins -- their nests are branch to branch with each other through out the several acres of trees lining the small lake - the safety and plentiful food attract them.
-steve buser

Cattle Egret, Shangri La Botanical Gardens, Orange, Texas
Powered by ScribeFire.

Roseate Spoonbill

This Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajajai) at the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange Texas, checks out the conditions of her nest. The nest, about 10 feet above the water in the lake, is nestled in with those of Great White Egrets, Snowy Egrets, some blue and night herons, and as you can see behind her, Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis).

The bird blind affords a great view without disturbing the birds, especially during the breeding season.

THe Roseate Spoonbill gets the second part of its name from its odd shaped bill which it uses to "spoon" along the bottom of shallow lakes and streams for food. The Roseate part comes from the color. The color comes from the shell fish that the bird eats. The colors seem to intensive this time of year -- I believe that's probably because mom and dad do a whole lot more eating to support the effort of raising young ones.

These birds get a few inches shy of a yard long with wing spans about four and a half feet across.
--steve buser

Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajajai, Shangri La Botanical Gardens, heronry, Orange, Texas
Powered by ScribeFire.

Baby Egrets play mom

"Do you want to practice this eating thing again so that when Mom gets home we don't look so awkward?"

"Okay, but this time I get to play Mom. Open up."

Two baby egrets, feathers not yet fully formed, while away the time playing what is probably the only game they know. They are waiting until Mom or Dad get back to feed them, with whatever they have eaten.

The two are resting in a nest about 10 to 15 feet above the water in the lake at the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange, TX - a favorite tourist destination.
--steve buser

Egrets, Shangri La Botanical Gardens, Orange, Texas

Powered by ScribeFire.

Shangri OOOOh La La ---

This purple Water Lily greets the visitor on the way to the back gardens in Shangri La Boganical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange, Texas. It is at the front of a small clear pool. The dragon fly is apparently a fixture too. As I walked up to take a picture, he flew away. As I stood there preparing for the shot, he flew back and took the same position. Then I moved to adjust my angle. He flew away again. After about 10 seconds, he figured I was no threat -- anyone who carries their third eye around in their hand can be much of a menace. He came back and landed in the same place-- almost opposite the flower from me. I quickly took my shots and moseyed on, leaving him guarding his flower.

I had 252 acres of intense eye candy to take in - a gathering storm was starting to rumble off in the distance.

--steve buser

Shangri La Boganical Gardens and Nature Center, Lily, Orange, Texas

Powered by ScribeFire.

Thistle thinking

It is a shame that these Texas Thistle flowers come on such an ugly plant. They really are attractive when you get up close of a look (and screen out the thorny weed that sustains them.

I was waiting for my wife one day, and wondered out in the field next door to her office to kill the time. I found several interesting wildflowers -- but this one stuck up and stuck out so much, I wander over to it first.
--steve buser

Powered by ScribeFire.

Light, waves

As these grass pods wave lightly in the breeze they soak in the last rays of sunshine for the day.  

The shot is on the hike and bike path on the west side of Beaumont that encircles a drainage retention pond.
--steve buser

Texas, Beaumont, nature, sunset

Powered by ScribeFire.

Embered sky

I don't know if this is related to the subtropical depression that is crawling across the Gulf of Mexico toward us, but the sunset tonight was in all its splendor.  Helios was sliding over and under clouds, spraying rosy-orange beams across selected sectors of the sky.  Then as he sunk over the horizon, he was leaving embers behind from his fiery gallop across the vault of heaven.

--steve buser

Sunset, Beaumont, Texas, sundown

Powered by ScribeFire.

Back to nature, back in time

Brakes Bayou is an secret nature preserve in the heart of Beaumont off of the Neches River. The bayou, which used to serve as an important commercial link for the city in historic times, is now a rarely accessed excursion back in time. This Cardinal and his lady were branch hopping about half way up the bayou. I suppose that for a bird, this is perfect setting. Most of the bayou is surrounded by swampy, fertile areas.
--steve buser

Neches River, Beaumont, Texas, bayou

Powered by ScribeFire.

No where to go

We were near the very end of the TenMile Canal in the Big Thicket National Preserve when we ran upon this guy floating on a leaf. Not knowing much about spiders, it was hard for me to tell if he was just resting or trapped on a desert island. He had a couple of legs dangled on top of the water. On the other side, just out of this picture, the leaf was losing its battle as a flotation device. So much for the "in case of a water landing, use your leaf for a flotation device" rule.

--steve buser

Spiders, Big Thicket National Preserve, Vidor, Texas, Beaumont

Powered by ScribeFire.

Still standing after all these years

Tenmile Canal is an old logging waterway that runs off of the Neches River north of I-10 into the Big Thicket National Preserve. Before the logging days of old, and before the River made another turn, Tenmile Creek used to run up through the area.

The loggers would go back into the the canal and then dig little canals fanning out a little further to pull the logs down to tie them together and float them out. Most of that is grown over by now.

This tree sits out in the canal a short ways from the shore just past its entrance. Why did they take it down? Maybe because of the spiral shape that didn't meet their standard of "beauty" or "utilitiy."

You know what they say "One man's trash is another bird's home."

--steve buser

Big Thicket National Preserve, Beaumont, Vidor, Texas

Powered by ScribeFire.

You are cleared for landing

Helicopter pilots have nothing on these guys. Drying to drop on those round pilings at the Bolivar Peninsula Ferry Landing, in a stiff wind is nothing to take lightly. Besides, helicopter pilots don't have a big beak to get in the way as do these Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis). Hey, we all got our peaks to carry.

Notice though how carefully this feathery flyer works -- trimming his flaps up on one side and down on the other. Looks like he's be doing it all his life.

--steve buser

Brown Pelicans, Pelecanus occidentalis, Bolivar Peninsula

Powered by ScribeFire.

10-mile canal

Ten Mile Canal, up in the Big Thicket National Preserve by Vidor, is an old logging canal off of the Neches River. The canal is in the area where Ten Mile Creek used to run, though I think that has silted over.

The canal runs back through Tupelo Cypress swamps into some beautiful nature views. The day we went the canal was muddy because the water in the river was high and running pretty hard from recent rains.

Birds were all around us as we venture deep down the mostly straight sections of the canal. But seeing them was pretty difficult. You had to satisfy your self with trying to make out the various calls.

--steve buser

Vidor Texas, Big Thicket National Preserve

Powered by ScribeFire.

Flashy bird

Here's the strange thing -- this looks like it was shot with a flash right? IT WAS!

This Mocking Bird sat there and let me shoot shot after shot. It started when I slowly closed in from behind him shooting shots. After about the 7th one, I decided to see if I could get a flash shot. "I'm only going to get one," I thought, because it would surely scare him away. It didn't.

So I moved slowly around to the front. Well, not quite the front, but close enough. I clicked off a few shots sans flash, then decided again to go for that one last shot, this time with the flash. I took my time to check all my settings. I was still pretty far away, so I bumped the flash to maximum.

I clicked the shot. TO my surpise the Mocking Bird was still there. I edge close and shot a another flash. Again and again. Maybe 8 shots total. This is the second to last shot. Finally, our fair featherd fried decided that he had had enough posing and flittered off into the gathering shadows.

Amazing to me that he didn't fly off on the first flash.

By the way do you see two feet? Me neither.
--steve buser

Mocking Bird, Beaumont, Texas

Powered by ScribeFire.

Checking out the visitors

It seemed there were three. Maybe more. Most of them did their best to avoid us. This fellow, even though he kept his distance, did sit and watch us for a while.

The others may not have been Yellow-Crowned Night Herons, like this one (Nyctanassa violacea). They seemed to have larger wing spans -- perhaps Great Blue Herons -- hard to say because they kept their distance back among the trees.

One thing is for sure, this old logging canal off of the Neches River by Vidor, TX, has some great birding treasures.

--steve buser

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, Vidor, Texas, Neches River

Powered by ScribeFire.

A Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) floats through the air along the dark shore of the Neches River in Beaumont Texas. The egrets and herons seem to find the eastern side of the river a good eating place.

--steve buser

Web of activity

This is going to take some concentration, so focus please.

Follow the petal of this spider lilly that goes to your left --about half way out you will see just a trace of spider web. To the other side follow the petals that go up to the right -- where they split, if you look real closely you will see a small grasshopper.

Lot of activity on this spindly little flower ain't there. Seems with a close look, there is always more than meets the eye.

The flower was on one of the "canals" off of the Neches River, above the I-10 (part of the Big Thicket Nature Preserve. I was out this weekend with Dr. Richard Bothel with the Environmental Learning Center. Beautiful stuff out there.

--steve buser

Neches River, Spider Lilly
Powered by ScribeFire.

Peeking up

Sophie and Sullivan peek up at the stingrays swimming above.  It was at the Houston Aquarium.  Lots of unusual things to see and lots of unusual ways to see them
--steve buser

Houston, Aquarium, kids, sting-rays

Powered by ScribeFire.

Glass mountains

I didn't really like this photo when I took it. It captured the towering hiehgts of the buildings in downtown, but doesn't have the feel of life and vitality you feel there. So I put it aside. A freind saw it and told me I needed to use it. So here it is.

--steve buser

downtown, Houston, Texas, skyscrapers
Powered by ScribeFire.

Measure twice, shoot photo once

Despite what you might have heard... there is such a thing as "too close" when taking a picture of a cow. We were out at the ranch meeting our freind Jenna's goat (a school project). Yours truly had the idea of getting a close of the cow which was about a foot away. One should always as a cow to stick out his tongue for a measurement, rather than assuming you're far enough way for safety.

It took quite a few squirts of lens cleaner to restore order.
--steve buser

cow, tongue, ranchPowered by ScribeFire.

Cuter farther away

He just came wondering up a few feet from where I was sitting. Granted, I was sitting very still and away from the passing crowds and near a little nature figure. Still, his presence shocked me. More so, the lady he came up behind.

I guess the only time I ever saw a possum before was when they were scurrying not to be seen. That's precisely what this guy did -- he didn't like the notoriety. The whole thing took place at Moody Gardens on Galveston Island while we were watching out son, Chuck, race.
--steve buser

Opossum, Galveston, Moody Gardens, Texas, animals, nature.

Powered by ScribeFire.

More than a mouthful

A Willet gets a good meal from the shallow waters of Galveston Bay -- a small crab. I think he is probably wondering, what do I do with something this big? Hey, he opened his mouth, er... bill. He's got to be more careful about that kind of thing.

--steve buser

Willet, crab, Galveston Island, Galveston Bay

Powered by ScribeFire.

Brown Angels

These Brown Pelicans seemed to be doing their Blue Angels impersonation as they cruised the beach along Galveson, TX

--steve buser

Brown Pelicans, Beach, Galveson, Texas

Powered by ScribeFire.

Beach biking

It was a windy day on the Bolivar Peninsula, but you can't stop a kid from doing what a kid is going to do. It this case, it was riding a bike on the beach. THe beach is still a little rough from the rubble of the recent hurricanes, but is returning rapidly to its sifted-sand appearance.

--steve buser

beach, bikes, kids, wind

Powered by ScribeFire.