Last Week

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The only birding trip we managed last week was 30 minutes watching hummingbirds at the Kleb Woods visitor center. I didn't manage a photo of any of the Rufous Hummingbirds we saw but some Ruby-throated birds were less skittish.

Later in the week I got to check out the ponds behind the medical center at Huffmeister and 290.I was hoping for baby Black-bellied Whistling Ducks but all the BBWDs I saw were either adults or juveniles.

At one point while I was photographing the ducks, I looked up to find that a Great Blue Heron had appeared out of nowhere.
 

I turned away to look at another duck and, when I turned back, the Heron had disappeared. How do they do that?

I didn't do any birding walks on the CyFair campus. However, I had a couple of nice sightings while walking from my office to other buildings. On one day, the artificial river was being fished by a Snowy Egret.

The next day it was a Green Heron that was fishing there.

The Heron seemed to be having more success.
 

 Our resident Mallards have been raising four ducklings this summer and I have gotten used to seeing the whole family together. Last week, though, I kept seeing just the female with two of the ducklings.

I hope nothing has happened to the other half of the family!
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