Neighborhood lake with a congress of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks among other avian water species. Sugar Land, Texas. Pandion haliaetus. Hunting for prey over Cullinan Park, Sugar Land, Texas.
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. Cullinan Park. Sugar Land, Texas.
Been away for several months. White Lake recovering. Replete with Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. Nyctanassa violacea. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas.
Always an American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) in a Texas wetland. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas.
Always an American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) in a Texas wetland. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas. Apalone spinifera. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas.
Yellow-crowned Night Heron devouring a crawdad. Swallowed it whole! Near the lake at Sugar Land regional airport, Texas. Platalea ajaja. Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas. Egretta caerulea. Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas.
Wood Ducks Aix sponsa. Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas. Ardea alba. Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas. Bubulcus ibis. Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas.
The rookery at Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas. Ardea alba. Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas. Ardea alba. Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas.
(Stenella longirostris), Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) above. Texas City Dike.
Texas City Dike.
And a Brown Pelican, and Laughing Gulls. Texas City Dike. Thalasseus sandvicensis. A new one for me! Texas City Dike.
Texas City Dike.
At the Texas City Dike yesterday for an Audubon bird survey. Seen here are fisherman on a jetty near the dike. Fisherfolks on the dike outnumber birders 50 to 1. Nannopterum brasilianum. Flying behind the vegetation at Fiorenza Park, west Houston, Texas. The OM-1 bird detection feature actually works! Polygonia interrogationis. Polygonia interrogationis. Egretta thula. John Hargrove Environmental Complex (AKA Delores Fenwick Nature Center), Pearland, Texas. Bubulcus ibis. Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas.
The rookery at Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas. Other species, too.
Great Egret and Roseate Spoonbill at Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas.
Great Egret Ardea alba in the morning light. Alvin, Texas.
The rookery at Resoft County Park, Alvin, Texas.
Flamingo in Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, Texas.
Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas. Egretta rufescens. Actually a heron, native to Central America, The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast of the United States (primarily Texas), and Mexico. The egret is known for its unusual foraging behavior compared to other herons as well as its association with mud flats, its habitat of choice. Bolivar Flats Audubon Sanctuary, Bolivar, Texas.
Returning to the States after eight years in South and SE Asia, newly flush with Ektachrome and Kodachrome, and a budget, too, we toured North Africa. This raw leather bazaar (AKA "souk") was very much a wholesale enterprise, not a finished trade for the tourists, as depicted by the remarkable faces seen here, considerably improved by post-processing in Topaz.
Double Lake Park, Sugar Land, Texas Grus americana. Two dozen more to come, all the same crane who just flew around and around. Whooping Cranes really do whoop! Something must have disturbed it. Coyote, maybe. Goose Island Texas opposite The Big Tree. Anhinga anhinga. Turtle and duck, too. Edgewater Lake, Sugar Land, Texas. Aramus guarauna. Cullinan Park, Sugar Land, Texas Haliaeetus leucocephalus. It takes 5 years to grow the Anhinga anhinga. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas.
Roseate Spoonbills. Platalea ajaja. Suburban Edgewater Lake, Sugar Land, Texas.
Wild Muscovy Ducks can fly a mile at 60mph! Domesticated Muscovy Ducks not so much. This one is quite wild. Always amazing seeing them in flight. Edgewater Lake, Sugar Land.
Great Egret Ardea alba flying by a lilac bush. Edgewater, Sugar Land, Texas.
And the kids. Edgewater Lake, Sugar Land, Texas.
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks on the fence surrounding the pond at the edge of the landing strip at the Sugar Land Airport, Texas.
AKA Fishing Pier. White Lake, Cullinan Park, Sugar Land, Texas. Libellula auripennis. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas.
Ibis about to depart a pond at Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas Eudocimus albus. I thought I might see myself in the Ibis eye. Unfortunately, the nictitating membrane was closing. Or maybe not. Reflection of the white body, I think. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas. Eudocimus albus. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas.
At the Texas City Dike yesterday for an Audubon bird survey. Seen here are fisherman on a jetty near the dike. Fisherfolks on the dike outnumber birders 50 to 1.
Egretta rufescens. Actually a heron, native to Central America, The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast of the United States (primarily Texas), and Mexico. The egret is known for its unusual foraging behavior compared to other herons as well as its association with mud flats, its habitat of choice. Bolivar Flats Audubon Sanctuary, Bolivar, Texas.
Returning to the States after eight years in South and SE Asia, newly flush with Ektachrome and Kodachrome, and a budget, too, we toured North Africa. This raw leather bazaar (AKA "souk") was very much a wholesale enterprise, not a finished trade for the tourists, as depicted by the remarkable faces seen here, considerably improved by post-processing in Topaz.
Grus americana. Two dozen more to come, all the same crane who just flew around and around. Whooping Cranes really do whoop! Something must have disturbed it. Coyote, maybe. Goose Island Texas opposite The Big Tree.
Wild Muscovy Ducks can fly a mile at 60mph! Domesticated Muscovy Ducks not so much. This one is quite wild. Always amazing seeing them in flight. Edgewater Lake, Sugar Land.
Eudocimus albus. I thought I might see myself in the Ibis eye. Unfortunately, the nictitating membrane was closing. Or maybe not. Reflection of the white body, I think. Riverstone Wetlands, Sugar Land, Texas.
