Mellow marsh menagerie on display on Gulf-side boardwalks

The walkways over the marsh at Sea Rim State Park give an up-close view of these "next-to-the-Gulf" habitats.

Great Egret nest at Trinity River Rookery

We stopped by the Trinity River Waterbird Rookery this morning just to see was was happening.  This was a pretty scene with a Great Egret looking over two little chicks in a tree in the middle of the lake finger and about sx feet above the water.  You can see how strong the wind was from the way the moms feathers are flowing.

The rookery is just at the descending foot of the I-10 Trinity River Bridge if your heading from Houston, though you have to exit the I-10 and circle under it and under the Trinity River Bridge to get back to it.

Egrets, herons hunker by the thousands

On the drive home from Baton Rouge to Beaumont the other day, I was watching several flocks of egrets heading west along side of me.  They seemed to slow up at the next intersection, so I decided to pull off the I-10 there to see if I could catch a picture of a passing flock..  When I  pulled to a stop, I found a fly-in taking place for thousands of birds which filled nearly every branch of the trees for a couple football fields in length.  They were mostly cattle egret, but a few anhingas, ibis and blue heron were mixing in -- apparently, unable to pass up a fait do-do.


They were still flocking in from the south and east, circling the feathery fete and then trying to push their way in for a branch -- occupied or not.  There were bird feathers floating in the air and the loud cacophony of  the flustering cluster had the hum of a Texas football game after the Hail Mary fell just beyond reach.  I surmised they were gathering in advance of northern front  bringing lightning and rain. I was in a hurry to snap as many photos as quickly as I could since the rain front and the missing sun were racing to see who could bring on the darkness first.


As I was pulling back onto the I-10, I stopped again because the service road offered another vantage point where birds were bunched on de-leafed trees.  I-10 truck drivers, zooming past, who saw me shooting pictures, blasted their horns.  It took me about three of these passing blares to realize they were trying to stir up the birds for me to get a better shot.


I snapped off a bunch of shots, but it was hard to get close to the trees and the gathering gloom smothered all the camera tricks I tried.


It was an interesting diversion from a monotonous drive.

Green Heron practices hunting skills

It a small lake at the Aboretum in Austin.  I suppose that the competition makes  a bird like this green heron have to travel some days to find food. Nonetheless, he was patient, practicing all of his hunting skills -- the bank-side waiting, the shallow water-wading, the stealthy, slumped low warrior, the tree branch sniper and more.
--steve buser

Green Heron, Austin, Texas

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Happy is the hovering heron

This is the "survey the waterfront" pose for a juvenile Tri-colored Heron poached on a cypress stump at the heronry off the I-10 at the Trinity River Bridge  -- east of Houston.
The  seems to be just sitting there thinking, but when a fish or other tasty treat swims by, he slowly crouches into an attack mode -- edging closer to the water and leaning closer.
--steve buser

heron, tri-colored, bird

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Heron homework

This juvenile Tri-colored Heron (at the heronry on the I-10 by the Trinity River) was off on his/her own this day practicing his stealth techniques.  When there is no shoreline, the fish swim right up to the trunk of the tree. 

The secret for the hunter is to keep his feet out of the water so as not to tip off the prey.  Then she must stand perfectly still and become the tree.   Lastly, use those sharp eyes to follow anything that moves.  Lastly, you have a sharp beak to quickly penetrate the water without giving your prey and alert.   This young one was rewarded with several tasty catches. 
--steve buser

Heron, bird, Tri-colored Heron

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You want this branch? You and what flock?

On the right is where the action is in this fighting scene. Egret A is calling out Egret B --you will notice the crowd is looking on kind of stupified. After all, an good Egret worth his feathers wouldn't be hanging out on the outside branches as night falls. Then to fight over those miserly spots, on top of it. Makes a bird wonder where the world's coming to.

The scene is from the heronry I discovered yesterday near Kirbyville. It was an amazing gathering spot. This one tree was the focus. Apparently it is the address of choice for social climbing herons. Last one in at night has to fight his way into plush addresses.

I would still be shooting there, but I filled up my memory card, and I forgot to reformat the other that is on the blink.
--steve buser

Herons, Texas

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Egret unrest

It was crowded in the trees of this heronry near Woodville. This picture was before another wave of cattle egrets came swooping in for the night. I am sure there were more than 150 birds, most of the cattle egret, but there was what appeared to be a glossy iris, and another heron that I have not yet identified.

Did I talk about how noisy it was? Every bird to his branch. Except, none of them could decide whose branch belonged to whom, when the tree started getting crowded. There was the sound of flapping winds, and a low whooping sound. On top of that was the squawking over branches.

--steve buser

Woodville, Texas, Egrets, herons

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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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Divided attention (Green Heron)

On the road over to Lake Sabine a while back I ran into this Green Heron (Butorides virescens) with it's neck stuckout -- they usually hold it tight against their body. I suppose he was trying to decide between watching me or watching for dinner.
--steve buser

Green Heron. Butorides virescens, Port Arthur, 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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Little Green Heron

I am up in Austin today.  I waw wandering outside of the hotel just now and found a path down to the Aboretum, This Little Green Heron (Butorides striatus) was wading for his supper catch as the sun was getting ready to go behind the Austin hills. The Little Green is the smallest of the herons in North America. He had nothing to fear from me, but the group of people at the other end of the pond left with their duck-feeding kids and all the ducks, geese and grackle came flocking to see if I was so inclined. Pretty soon, our protagonist here decided to flutter down the pond a distance.
--steve buser

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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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
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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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