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

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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

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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

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