Birding March 5 on the Island

Skip and I popped over to the Birding Centre yesterday a couple of hours before sundown. We'd had a flood warning on the island due high tides and strong winds that blow the water down the Laguna Madre. We'd never seen so much water on the flats.

Over to the left, were about 10 roseate spoonblills.

On a little rise of land a double-crested cormorant dried its wings.

Quite far off, a reddish egret was doing its jerky, hunting dance. The diagnostic is the pink beak with the white tip and

down below was a snowy egret with its bright yellow feet. It is remarkable how close we can get to the birds here. They must sense that they are safe at the birding centre.

You'd never get this close back home.

Skip watches a great blue heron from the boardwalk

Out on the north pond (these bits of water all have names but I don't know them), two female buffleheads pigged out.

 They're so busy, they're really hard to photograph with the head above water.

This normally-elusive sora walked around in the open long enough for several of us to get shots of it.

The 'teenage' gator was the only one we saw.

Red-wings are here and when we get home, they'll be there, too.

Waaaaayyyyy across the north pond I saw a black-crowned night heron behind a few weeds. This picture of it grooming itself was the best of the bunch I took.

The tricolour heron flew up and posed nicely for us. I just noticed how the two white feathers on the back of the head curl up.

The 'golden hour' was great for catching the subject's blue tail patch just right. The bright yellow bill indicates that it is a male mottled duck. It looks a lot like a female mallard but there is no other colouration on the bill.