Goal: 165 miles walked in 11 weeks
Week 1: 15 miles
Week 2: 15 miles
Week 3: 16.75 miles
For a total so far of 46.75 miles
These birds always make me smile on my walks, with their oversized orange beaks. This is a Royal Tern.
And if you have a smart phone (Droid or iPhone) there are some pretty cool pedometer apps that are free. Anything to make exercise more “fun”.
–Sue
I was able to spend three weeks in Port Aransas the latter part of October. We had picture-perfect weather every day. EVERY DAY!!! Some favorite bird pictures from this trip…a small snowy egret chasing the little fishy snacks in and out of the Gulf
A tri-colored heron at the birding center:
A duck at the birding center:
Tomorrow I’ll show the pictures of Paradise Pond. Get your tissues out, Winter Texans…
Sue
A glimpse of a dolphin…I tried to get its face, but I couldn’t quite anticipate the timing just right. He was appearing right alongside of us at Robert’s Park in Port Aransas, Tx:
Dolphin
A seagull found a tasty treat at the beach:
Seagull
And at Paradise Pond, a Black-Crowned Night Heron (juvenile):
Black-Crowned Night Heron
Also at Paradise Pond, a Great Blue Heron takes a break from tending his/her nest high in the trees to take a stretch:
Great Blue Heron
This time of year, there are long, long strings of pelicans flying north in formation:
Pelicans
That’s it for now…
–Sue
It’s so good to be back on line! The sleet and freezing rain in Texas knocked out our internet and cable for a couple of days. There was starting to be a lot of grumbling and worrying about whether we would have TV in time for the Superbowl — we have a lot of Wisconsinites down here — but our services were fully restored today. *whew* A riot avoided.
We had four days with lows well down into the 20s and the highs barely into the 30s. Today I went to the three birding areas in town: Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, Paradise Pond, and Charlie’s Pasture. There are ducks. There are turtles. There are a few Great Blue Herons. Not much else. I think most of the birds flew south to Mexico!!! I hope all the other birds are okay — there were a couple of turkey vultures circling Charlie’s Pasture that bothered me a little…I tried to look healthy.
My 2.5 mile walk on the paths through Charlie’s Pasture and back out was rewarded with a nice long look at this Reddish Egret. I think this is a juvenile. He doesn’t have the long shaggy feathers of an adult, but he definitely has the rust and blue-gray feathers.
He was so much fun to watch! He was fishing in this pond, and he takes a few slow steps, then a full-out run, then stops. Repeat. Sometimes he would raise his wings up umbrella style as he was running. Very showy.
Reddish Egret, Juvenile
It was so good to get out of the condo and enjoy the sunshine today. I think we’ve all had quite enough cold, windy weather (although most of January was quite mild). I didn’t see or hear a single Black-Crowned Night Heron at Paradise Pond, so hopefully they will be back this month.
And Carol, I’ll do a turtle post soon — just for you!
Sue
I’ve always considered myself a quilter who happens to like to take bird photos. And bug photos. And flower photos. And travel photos. But when we have a holiday get-together with family, I’m horrible about taking people pictures. I just forget.
Tuesday I made a visit to Paradise Pond and the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center (two different spots, only about 1/2 mile apart). I was so excited when I arrived at Paradise Pond because there were no other cars in the parking lot. That rarely happens. And when you have a number of people walking up and down the boardwalks, sometimes visiting with each other, you don’t see many birds up close.
I got to the end of the boardwalk and there’s a bench where you can sit, semi-shielded from the birds. You could hear the loud brwawk of the Black-Capped Night Herons. I could tell there was one really close, but I couldn’t see it. I sat on the bench, and waited. And waited. It was the first time I felt like a real birder.
And I was rewarded! A Night Heron flew down to a low branch, and stayed there for several minutes.
Black-Capped Night Heron
And a close-up shot of that red nocturnal eye (they hunt at night and rest in trees during the day):
Up Close
–Sue
The birds yesterday were really enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather, and there was a whole lot of splashing going on! The trees were rocking with bird tweets, whistles, clucks and honks, and the pond was one giant duck bath.
Green-Winged Teal
–Sue
Our weather on the Texas Gulf has been changing as frequently as, well, the weather. Today started out lovely and warm; then this afternoon a cold front moved through. Brrrrr. I’m not complaining TOO much, though, as I am following the temperatures at home.
I did get in a visit to Paradise Pond today though, and the birds were out and on display. Is it any wonder these guys are my favorites?
Great Blue Heron
–Sue
As we were walking down a dark, narrow street in Assisi, Italy, we had this quick view up through an archway:
That was so typical of our experience. I found myself looking around me as much as I could, I was so afraid I would miss something!
–Sue
When I was at the Birding Center Thursday, the Roseate Spoonbills took most of my attention. A little sideshow, however, was the Dowitchers. They had been congregating, intermixed with some Spoonbills, on the other side of the reeds and cattails from me.
Suddenly, they rose up together like a swarm of Texas mosquitos:
How would you like to be the air-traffic controller for that mess? Then they circled around the water on the far side of the cattails…
…before settling back in amongst the Roseate Spoonbills. This cloud of birds was really quite a sight. I’m heading over there again today, so who knows what I’ll see? Every day is a new adventure.
–Sue
Port Aransas, TX, is a fun place to be this time of year. There are all kinds of migratory birds passing through, and from day to day, you never know what you will see.
Last week, we went for a walk with friends through the newly developed “Charlie’s Pasture” area on the island. From a viewing tower, we spotted what looked like a Great Blue Heron wading/fishing a distance away. The only thing was, the nead and neck were kind of pinky colored. I zoomed all the way out on my camera, hoping for the best and took a couple of pictures. When I got it up on the computer monitor, I knew it wasn’t a blue heron — but what was it???
Okay, I know it’s a pretty bad picture, but it was enough to identify this critter. It’s a Reddish Egret. It’s so much fun to see something new, and I hope I get to see one again close up.
Today at the birding center, I saw some of the American Avocets in the water. I usually see them on shore, so it was fun to see them swimming.
A single Roseate Spoonbill was hanging out on the same point where the alligator was a week ago or so. There were many avocets, ducks of all kinds, dowitchers, black-necked stilts, and turtles on this little point also.
Today I stopped over at Paradise Pond and THAT’s where all the Great Blue Herons were hanging out.
They weren’t wading in the water, but rather they were mostly in trees, with one deciding to fly over the pond, which was pretty exciting. It’s hard to beat blue herons for for picture-taking. The bird that circled overhead is the one that is picture up in the bare tree branches. That was a rare treat; I’ve never seen one of them sit up there before. Then he decided to get down lower into the brushy part of the tree, and kind of crashed and thrashed his way down through the branches. For such a graceful looking bird, he moved through the tree like a gawky teenager!
Wonder what I’ll see tomorrow?
