Back to work

Today was my first official day on this volunteer assignment at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. Even though I have volunteered here two times in the past, quite a bit has changed due to hurricane Ike's arrival in the fall of 2008.

The building on the right, with half of it blown away, was the Visitor's Information Center (VIS) the last time I was here. The temporary VIS, on the left, is a 10'X12' shed where I will work once a week greeting and informing the public. Besides demolishing most buildings, Ike also eliminated about 90% of the alligator population. There are no bullfrogs any longer in the pond behind the VIS. Shoveler Pond, on the auto drive loop has very little birdlife on it. In the past, it was teeming with waterfowl, turtles, gators, and other wildlife.

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After stopping in at the VIS to visit with Collin, another volunteer, I decided to drive all the roads in this part of the refuge to familiarize myself with what changes have taken place so I can be knowledgeable when I work the VIS tomorrow afternoon. Before and after my drive, Collin brought me up to speed on operating the VIS so I'll be comfortable tomorrow.

Since I'm back on a National Wildlife Refuge, you know I'm going to have more bird pictures to post. ;-) This is a tri-colored heron. Too bad he wasn't on my side of the fence

I drove down to the Bolivar Bay boat launch and found this cooperative Willet.

Willets are abundant on the refuge.

Two kinds of vultures occur here; this is a turkey vulture.

I snapped a fleeting photo of a female Cooper's hawk approaching one of the overlooks. There were also plenty of great blue herons, great egrets, killdeer, and snowy egrets around, but they weren't in the mood to pose. There are definitely less birds around than in the past, but I shall endeavor to seek them out for you.

Here's a quiz for you. What kind of sparrow do you think this is? If you guess the right answer, you just could win another diamond willow walking stick! I'll post the results at a later date. It's been about 9 months since I've run a quiz, so I thought it was about time.

The temps last night got down into the 20's, so my hose was frozen when I got up this morning. I switched over to the fresh water tank so I could brush my teeth, etc. Hopefully, I'm safe for the next week or so with the temps. The snowfall here yesterday, which quickly melted away, was the earliest snowfall on record for the Houston area. At this rate, I'm thinking my propane supply won't last through my ten weeks here. :(

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy