Brazoria Again

.
When I returned to Brazoria on Saturday afternoon, the ponds were still busy with Great and Snowy Egrets and White Ibis.

It wasn't long, though, before I spotted the bird I was hoping for: a Wood Stork.

Unfortunately, I saw only one Stork and it never came close enough for really good photos. Also, there was no sign of the other species I was looking for, Black Skimmer. So I would have to return early the next day.

Sunday morning the visitor center pond was deserted except for an alligator.

Out at Olney Pond the islands were hosting Great Egrets.

Further back, Roseate Spoonbills added a nice touch of color to the bird scene.

However, the younger Spoonbills were as white as the White Ibis.

As I was watching the Spoonbills, a Black Skimmer flew by holding a fish.

I settled down to wait until the Skimmer started fishing the water on my side of the pond. It took a while but the bird eventually got nearer.

Getting really sharp photos of a fast-moving bird isn't possible with my camera equipment but I managed a few reasonably clear images. 

After that, I turned my attention to herons. Only one Great Blue came close enough for a photo.

The roadside ditch held both Green and Tricolored Herons. I never managed t6o get a shot of the Green but one of the Tricoloreds was more cooperative.

There were several more Tricolored Herons out on Olney Pond.

However, the Tricoloreds were greatly outnumbered by Yellow-crowned Night Herons. I counted over 60 of these birds in one area alone. Some were adults or close to adults.

Most, though, were younger birds.

Many of the younger birds were standing with their wings partly open and facing the sun.  

By now it was time for me to go back to the motel to pick up Dee. Our plan was to drive over to Quintana to look for shorebirds and then to head to Galveston for lunch.
.

Brazoria Rediscovered

.
On Saturday we headed down to Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. This used to be one of our favorite birding sites but it was so badly affected by Hurricane Ike that we stopped visiting about three years ago. This weekend's trip was prompted by seeing birding reports from there posted by other birders.

First impressions weren't good! The entrance road was dry and empty of birds. The pond by the visitor center looked dry also ... 

but it turned out to have some water in it.

A Least Bittern disappeared into the reeds before I could get a photo. An alligator wasn't so shy. 

Several White Ibis flew over, followed by a much more interesting bird, a Wood Stork.

Parts of the auto-loop were depressingly dry.

However, Olney's Pond had plenty of water - and plenty of birds.

Most of the birds seemed to be of three species: Great Egret, Snowy Egret and White Ibis.

Great Egrets were easy to pick out because of their height.

Snowy Egrets were fewer in number.

Many of the White Ibis were adults and therefore almost completely white. However, there were quite a few juveniles also.

Not surprisingly given the crowded conditions, tempers sometimes frayed a little. Here two adult White Ibis got into an argument that was more dramatic than truly violent. 

A careful look over the pond turned up several other species: Great Blue Heron (below), Little Blue Heron and a dozen or more Tricolored Herons.

Among the most numerous birds were Yellow-crowned Night Herons, almost all immature birds.

Here and there, Roseate Spoonbills added a splash of pink, although some Spoonbills were juveniles and therefore still very pale.

As the heat was brutal and the light was very harsh for photos, we decided to leave Brazoria and to head for the coast, stopping off at the Texas Sea Center in Lake Jackson on the way. We limited our visit o a walk along the very attractive boardwalk at the front of the center. 

I would have missed this Little Blue Heron if Dee hadn't pointed it out to me.

A White Ibis was much harder to miss.

Two other White Ibis were grazing nearby.

The only other birds visible were a family of Black-necked Stilts.

When we arrived at Surfside, we found that there was an entrance fee to drive onto the beach. As we were only going to stay for a short while, we drove a few miles further east until we found a free beach.

A drive along the beach turned up very few birds, except for the inevitable Laughing Gulls.  

Several Ruddy Turnstones were wandering along the sand, sometimes accompanied by Sanderlings. 

The Turnstones looked particularly splendid in their breeding plumage.

A solitary Willet prowled along the water's edge, stopping occasionally to dig for food.

When walking, Willets are very nondescript birds. However, when they open their wings, they are anything but nondescript!

By now it was almost 3:00 pm, the check-in time at our hotel, and so we headed back up 288 to Clute. The plan was for Dee to rest up in the hotel while I drove back to Brazoria to take some more photos.
.

Brazoria NWR (1)

.
On Monday, Dee and I spent three hours at Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. Thanks to the 12" of rain that the area received last Thursday, the refuge ponds were in a much better state than they have been in for a long time.

The pond near the Visitor Center

As I have to lead 6 hours of teacher-training workshops in Houston tomorrow, let me just mention one of the highlights of the Brazoria visit here. Then I'll add more comments and photos later in the week.

Black-necked Stilts

One of the most common birds we saw at the refuge was the Black-necked Stilt. This has long been a favorite bird of ours; in fact, we've loved them ever since we first saw some in Hawai'i over 15 years ago.

Most of the Stilts we saw at Brazoria were fishing in the ponds but took to the air as soon as we approached. We then stood and watched as they circled us, complaining loudly about our presence.




However, one Stilt refused to fly when we parked right next to it. It shrieked at us but held its ground.


We looked around and soon found out why it didn't fly away: It was guarding a chick that was prowling around in the water nearby.


At first glance, the chick didn't look at all like its parent.


But when we looked closer, we noticed that the chick definitely had its mom's beak!


Not wanting to stress the parent unduly, we moved on as soon as I had grabbed a few photos.
.