Texas birding, final photos

Aransas NWR, 3-11-12. Whooping Cranes. Click to enlarge.

Note the banding on one leg and GPS unit and antenna on other leg

Wading across marshland

Cranes in flight

Ed......

I am delighted to see your photos from your trip. It looks like you truly got to see it all.....we need to get around and about more now to see some of these other places! i adore your photos.
carolyn

Hi Carolyn:

It was a good trip and I enjoyed seeing lots of wildlife that we don’t find in the Pacific Northwest such as the spoonbills. Also interesting to note that some species are similar to what we see such as your Whooping Cranes and our Sandhill Cranes; your American Oystercatchers and our Black Oystercatchers. Good source for viewing wildlife are the birding trail maps for the coast that the state hands out at visitor centers. Do you use them? I plan to go into more detail on my thread (Semiahmoo) about some specific locations that we liked for bird watching. Hope some cold fronts make it down your way before the heat really sets in. I do not miss that at all.

Hi Ed,

Actually I have only been to two birding centers on the coast - Aransas and St. Bernard. I guess I will put that on my list to do sometime- always super busy. Your pictures really made me smile.
carolyn

Ed, what a fabulous assortment of birds you captured on your trip Sounds like you had a wonderful time. The Whooping Crane looks rather uncomfortable with those very big pieces of equipment around both legs I like the Black Skimmers and have never seen one; I'll look for them and the Crested Caracaras when we visit the Caribbean Islands next month. We saw hundreds of Roseate Spoonbills on Bird Island in the Sea of Cortez 2 years ago. I'll check out your Semiahmoo thread later.

Hello Kay: I have the same thoughts as you regarding that crane and its banding. We watched it cover a lot of ground, however, and it did not seem to be hampered. I do understand why it’s necessary to band the cranes since they are an endangered species. I hope you get to see some Caracaras up close on your upcoming trip to the Caribbean. They are quite colorful. All my pictures were taken from a moving boat so could not get close to them. Good to be back out of the Texas heat and will be checking your threads later.

Forgot to mention, Ed, that I do want a bunch more cool weather. The heat here daunts me quite frequently.
carolyn

Hi Ed , your bird photos are awesome. One of the girls who was in Australia with me just got back from a 3 month road trip to the southern U.S. states. They spent quite a bit of time in the same area you describe.....the Texas Gulf Coast, Houston and also San Antonio (they loved San Antonio). They really enjoyed visiting the bird sanctuaries along the Gulf Coast. Marlene came over yesterday and I must say I think you both have photos of the same types of birds. She also has a couple of the beautiful Roseate Spoonbills, aren't they gorgeous! Did you know that they get the pink coloring from the food they eat...i.e. shrimp I love your photo of the Long-billed Curllew, he's cute .

Last night I received a note from the people we stayed with in Armidale, New South Wales. Their teenage daughter has her living space (large bedroom and bathroom) which is semi-attached to the main house and is where we stayed during our visit to their sheep farm. Well, looky looky who decided to visit a few nights ago.
An Eastern Brown Snake........very very dangerous glad we were there in the springtime and not the summer...... even though we were warned to be careful when walking in the grass to have a peek at all the newborn lambs.

YIKES!!!!!!!! this is the shower we used which is right beside the bedroom where we slept. Needless to say the drain now has a mesh covering over it.


the man holding the snake is very tall....another