The highway's sky beckons

This was driving home last night into a serene sunset.  The sky was swept with a beach-sand rippling that turned into an rusty ocher as the sun played out its last rays from below the horizon.  These are the kind of drives that make you want to hit to open road.

Great Egret spends time in self reflection

A Great Egret, Ardea Albus, finds that fishing is a great time for self-reflection.  The shot is at Shangri La Botanical Gardens in Orange, TX

--steve buser

Great Egret, Ardea Albus, Texas, nature

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Egret chicks get first world view

Take a gander down at the bottom in the middle of the pictures. That's where the little chicks are just starting to peek out of the nest. They are just starting to get a glimpse at the wide world out there. Well, at least,they are getting a look around the small lake that acts as their heronry at the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Preserve.
--steve buser

Orange, Texas Heronry
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Eye-popping

This eye-popping iris was in one of the hot-houses at Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange, Texas

--steve buser

Shangri La Botanical Gardens, Orange, Texas

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Latch nest chicks

Where's Mom? She said she was just running to the store for a few minutes. She should be back by now.

A couple egret chicks wait for food -- they seemed to stay in a state of hunger -- not realizing how long it takes mom how long it takes to get the food they need.

The photo is from Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange, TX.

--steve buser

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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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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

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Okay, I'm stumped.

You could help me out here. Oh, you're stumped, too?

Did that ever happen to you. Take a picture and you can't remember what it was about it that captured your fantasy at the time? I could have been thinking that nature was acting against her own best interest. I could have been thinking that nature was stepping in to see that the sign did not blow away (after all, the Orange area where this sign is located on a bayou off of the Sabine River, has been hit by three hurricanes in four years).

From the looks of that lettering, nature will be holding onto to a blank sign if one more hurricane comes around.

Hmm. Did I spark your memory or imagination any?
--steve buser

nature, hurricanes, sign, Sabine River, Orange, Texas

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The lumber days of old

Built in 1894, when lumber was king, the Queen Anne style W.H.Stark House in Orange, Texas brings back to life those early times.

This was the house I showed a piece of a couple of days ago. (With the egrets flying overhead)

The 14,000 sf mansion, was the home of the famous lumber baron and philanthropist. Mr. Stark was involved in many other businesses from a Rice Mill, bnaking, a papermill and a land company. The restored home still whispers of those high society days in Southeast Texas. It is now a museum that gives and outstanding look back.

Unfortunately, they do not allow photos inside.

--steve buser

W.H. Stark House, Orange Texas, Museum, High Society

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Stark wonder

I think this goes a little beyond serendipity -- when you are searching for something and you unexpectedly find some other valuable thing. We've talked about that before.

But this? Way beyond that.

I was shooting a picture of the famous Stark House in Orange, TX the other day. Then I thought I would get some shots of the details. That's when I shot this.

I didn't even look at the picture till just now. I saw it just a few minutes before you. - the three egrets flying past.

Now, I don't believe this is seredipity, because I was only shooting a picture. Its as if you were shooting a picture of the Mall in Washington, D.C. and the President walks up. No way you can say, you're being in Washington allowed that to happen. It did of course, but that was just the smallest cog in a bunch of cosmic gears that would allow something like that to occur.

These three cosmic actors puzzle me. I suspect there is something going on in this universe that I cannot comprehend. Somehow, that comforts me.

--steve buser

Stark House, Orange Texas, egrets, serendipity

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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

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

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