Smith Oaks Rookery 2

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As well as the Great Egrets and Roseate Spoonbills that held most people's attention, the rookery also had several other species.

A handful of Cattle Egrets were looking splendid in their breeding plumage.

 

Snowy Egrets, too, were looking their best.

Now that nest building was largely complete and so there was no longer a need to compete with other birds for branches and twigs, there were comparatively few displays of aggression in the rookery. However, one of these Snowy Egrets had clearly done something to upset the other!

Over most of the rookery, birds of one species seemed content to nest next to birds of different species. However, we noticed that Double-crested Cormorants (and a few Anhingas) had decided to monopolize one area.

One of the Cormorants had been unlucky and its body was being carried away by an alligator.

As it was now lunchtime, we headed back to picnic at Boy Scout Woods, stopping along the way to admire a few other birds, including a Hooded Warbler and a couple of Green Herons. 

After lunch Joy and Mark headed for home via Galveston while Dee and I drove over to Anahuac NWR. We'd heard that the refuge had finally largely recovered from Ike and that it was hosting lots of interesting birds. As I'll report tomorrow, we were absolutely delighted with what we saw there.
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