Back to Brazos

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Since coming to Texas, we have always visited Brazos Bend State Park at least a couple of times each year. So I was surprised to realize that our visit yesterday was our first and only one of 2015.

Our most recent previous visit, in December 2104, had turned up comparatively few birds and yesterday's visit was unfortunately rather similar.

A leisurely walk around 40 Acre Lake produced only a handful of large wading birds: a Great Blue Heron, two Great Egrets, a Snowy Egret and three Little Blue Herons (below).

The park is a reliable place for seeing Anhingas and, sure enough, we came across one at 40 Acre Lake.

The lake also had a couple of Double-crested Cormorants and Pied-billed Grebes (below).

A family of Common Gallinules were pottering around in the shallows.

A 15-minute walk along the edge of Elm Lake was even less successful, producing only brief looks at a Red-tailed Hawk, three American Crows and a couple of Eastern Phoebes.

The main entrance path to Creekfield Lake was blocked but the trees nearby had their usual complement of Black Vultures. 

If the lakes we visited were quiet for birds, they certainly had plenty of alligators. An island in 40 Acre Lake had four good-sized  ones.

 

We encountered several more adult gators as we walked around the lake.

 

 

Later in the day I had a lucky meeting with a park volunteer, who explained that the Creekfield Trail was blocked off because there was a nest of alligators next to it and the staff were worried that the mother might not take kindly to people walking next to her babies.
He then offered to show me the nest.

Standing well back from where the mother alligator was lurking protectively, we counted 25 babies on the bank and in the water.

My final sighting of the day was of a couple of American Coots, cruising around unconcernedly between the mother alligator and her babies.

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An Old Friend

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Saturday we headed over to Brazos Bend State Park. We've visited this park so often over the years that it feels like an old friend. We meant to go there several weeks ago but the park was closed because of flooding and it did not re-open until last Wednesday.

While there wasn't much sign of flood damage on the main trails we explored, many of the smaller trails were closed.

Forty Acre Lake was partly obscured by water lilies (below) and invasive water-hyacinth.

Perhaps because the recent floods had displaced them, birds were few and far between both on the lake and in the wetland areas immediately next to it. Yellow-crowned Night Herons were present, though, including several juveniles (below).

For the first time ever we noticed that the trees well back from the 40 Acre Lake trail were full of large nests. Many of scores of visible nests belonged to Cattle Egrets but many others were occupied by White Ibis (below). 

The occasional young White Ibis wandered across the trail ahead of us.

Alligators were fairly scarce. We saw only five on or around the lake.

Red-eared Sliders were, of course, plentiful and I enjoyed getting down to photograph this one's face.

Creekfield Lake was as beautiful as ever. Unfortunately, though, I couldn't spot a single bird there. Even the scores of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and Black Vultures that normally hang out there had vanished, presumably displaced by the flooding to another part of the park or the surrounding countryside.
  

Elm Lake was a little busier, although there certainly weren't anything like as many birds there as usual. Of course, here like at 40 Acre much of the surface was covered with vegetation.

I explored one corner of the lake and scared up a couple of Cattle Egrets, which flew off before I could photograph them. A Black-bellied Whistling Duck was less skittish. 

A Little Blue Heron also ignored my presence.

A Purple Gallinule beat a hasty retreat. I'm not sure if two chicks in the same area belonged to the Purple Gallinule or whether they were the offspring of a Common Galinule that was hiding in the vegetation.

A little further along the Elm Lake trail I came across a pair of Common Gallinules (formerly Common Moorhens) that seemed to be doing nothing much at all.

It took a couple of minutes before I realized that they were keeping their eyes on their two young chicks, who were exploring among the lily-pads nearby.

As birds were comparatively scarce and the weather was hot and sticky, we only spent two hours in the park on this trip. No doubt we'll be back there later in the year for a longer visit.
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Brazos Bend: 40 Acre Lake

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Thursday morning we met up with friends at Brazos Bend State Park on what turned out to be a beautiful spring day.

We started our visit with a walk around 40 Acre Lake, which contained more water than we'd seen there in years. However, the lake was less busy with birds than usual. Several Double-crested Cormorants were gliding smoothly across the water.

Pied-billed Grebes paddled around, disappearing as the dove to feed on plants below the surface.

Dozens of White Ibis perched in nearby trees, very distinctive with their white plumage and curved, scarlet beaks.

Alligators rested along the sides of the path.

The marshy area across the path from the lake had many Red-eared Sliders.

Turtles usually dive into the water as soon as anyone approaches them but here they seemed oblivious to the people walking by just a few yards away. Presumably these ones are so used to visitors that they have learned it is safe to ignore them.

The marshy area also had plenty of birds. Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets stood motionless in the shallow water as they waited for prey to appear. By contrast, numerous White Ibis, Common Gallinules and American Coots were constantly on the move as they grazed.

We took the path towards Elm Lake. 

The path was lined with scores more White Ibis, as well as more alligators.

Here a few ducks - Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers - swam or waded among the other waterbirds.

I was hoping to see Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons along this path but instead had to settle for a Little Blue Heron.

After reaching Elm Lake, we headed back past 40 Acre Lake to retrieve the cars and to drive over to where we planned to have our picnic lunch.
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