While I wondered dark and dreary...

I was just wandering what it would look like if they dressed up the Stark House in Orange, TX, for a movie shoot. Maybe one of the old sinister, ghoulish movies. So, playing around in my digital darroom I came up with this for one of the peaks on the house. Hmm........ --steve buser

Glowing glory

Another lily from our recent visit to Shangri La a couple weeks ago.   One of these days I am going to start bringing a notebook along to capture notes,  like the name of the flower and other important details like that.  Meanwhile, just enjoy the beauty.
--steve buser

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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

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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
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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

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Cool Church

The First Presbyterian Church on Green Avenue iit was the first air-conditioned public building west of the Mississippi River and its dome is the only opalescent glass dome inside of the United States.

It was commissioned by Frances Ann Lutcher as a memorial to the Henry Jacob Lutcher family. The church, a strong example of the classic Greek Revival architecture, was completed in 1912.

It serves as a focal point of the center of Orange where the Lutcher Theater, the Stark Museum of Art, Lamar State College Orange and City Hall all sit nearby.

--steve buser

Orange, Texas, Landmarks

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