Early Birds

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One of the best things about going to work (on the CyFair campus) in the winter is that I get to see Cedar Waxwings almost every day. On sunny mornings they perch on the top of trees by the nature trail.

One bird that is always present everywhere on campus is the Northern Mockingbird. I'm so used to seeing them that I rarely give them a second glance. However, the other day I just had to stop to admire this one as it took advantage of the first rays of morning sunlight.

The campus has at least one resident Great Egret. It usually keeps well away from the main buildings when classes are in session. I get to work early, though, and so I often see it near the library. On Thursday morning it looked very pretty perched right by the cafeteria

On Friday, I arrived before sunrise and was surprised to see our Great Egret exploring an area that is being cleared of vegetation preparatory to the construction of a new building.

When the sun appeared, I noticed that our resident Great Blue Heron was hanging out right at the edge of the cleared area.

Given how antisocial Herons are, I was surprised to see that this one seemed totally unconcerned by the backhoe that was ripping up trees and bushes just 50 yards away from it.

As this bird has lived on the campus for years now, I suppose it has gotten used to all the habitat destruction and building/parking area construction work that goes on there.
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