CyFair Campus

.It has continued to be fairly quiet for birds around most of the campus this week, although a pair of White Ibis strolled along the drainage on Wednesday.

By contrast, the retention ponds have been busy. Apart from our resident Great Egret and a couple of Snowy Egrets, the ponds have been hosting a large group of American Coots and a smaller group of Pied-billed Grebes. The two species seem to co-exist quite happily.

I caught this Grebe just as it was preparing to dive.

On Thursday there were also several Redheads mixed in with the Coots and Grebes.

Late on Thursday morning I was talking with a colleague at the library entrance when I notice a bird start climbing up the trunk of a young pine tree. I rushed over and, yes, it was a Brown Creeper, a new bird for our campus list!  

The bird let me walk right up to it, and it didn't fly away even when I gently touched its tail feathers. What a great chance for a photo - if I hadn't left my camera in the car. As the bird seemed settled where it was, I ran the couple of hundred yards to where my car was parked, grabbed my camera from the trunk and rushed back to the tree. The bird was still there!

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