Blackbird Murmuration December 13

South of Winnie on Hwy 124

 50 Shades of Alfred Hitchcock...

the wires were heavy with birds

the sky was filled

the trees were studded with them

they perched on every available twig

the boughs bowed under the weight

almost spooky

is this a gaggle? 

You shouls have seen the ones that got away!

December - 2 more weeks on the Refuge

Trying to cram in all the last minute stuff in the last 2 weeks. Time seems to slip away so fast.



Bolivar Peninsula signage...

Cheap dirt Dirt cheap!

Rollover Pass low tide

Marbled Godwit

Semipalmated Plover

Snowy Plover

                                                                                  I never tire of the surf

Beach Front Anahuac NWR on Bolivar

Greater White-fronted Goose South Pear Orchard Road

Consensus was Western Kingbird on Entrance Road

Texas City Dike

Common Loon

We were totally shocked to find this guy, had to get confirmation from TexBird FB, didn't expect him this far south and not out on the dike. 

Lapland Longspur

Longspur

Longspur

Halfmoon Shoal Pavilion Texas City Dike

San Jacinto Monument and Battlefield

Roseate Spoonbill from Mexican Camp Overlook

White-tailed Hawk

Sunset Winnie maintenance facility 

Traffic Counter McFaddin Beach

McFaddin Beach Gulf of Mexico

Chili Day Hunter Check Station

December 14 was our last day at Anahuac NWR, we manned the VC. Three months seems to go so fast. Spending a few days in Livingston before continuing to Laguna Atascosa.

November highlights

Lake Anahuac from the boardwalk at Texas Chenier Plain Headquarters. 

Originally called Turtle Bayou, now primarily a freshwater reservoir to supply irrigation for rice fields.

 The Cyprus forest surrounding the boardwalk provides a fantasyland of gnomes and fairy houses.

 Hairy Woodpecker blinked showing a clear nictitating membrane.  

King of the Cyprus Forest

Wearing a green crown

Highlights of Shoveler Pond

Pied-billed Grebe

Common Gallinule

White Ibis

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Great Blue Heron

Trash pickup at Frozen Point

Raft of Eared Grebe, Frozen Point

Cattle drive on FM 1985

A weekly occurrence

Immature Vermilion Flycatcher

Prescribed burn on the refuge

Rice harvest on South Pear Orchard Road

Red-winged Blackbirds

Snow Goose Migration

Cottonmouth 

Red-eared Slider 

Alligator mother with nine babies sunning in the grass

Snow Goose Blizzard

Bald Eagle

Krider's Red-tailed Hawk

American Pipit

Brown Pelican - his bill can hold more than his belly can

American Oyster Catcher

TOS Hooks Woods High Island