New photo assignment

I got another email from Stephanie today asking if I could now take pictures of the different habitats found on the refuge to go along with the snails, birds, and mammals I had previously taken.  I told her I’d give it a go before I move on.  My plans today were to force myself to work on the education program office work, which I did.  NOT!!!   It was a no brainer for me… sit in the rig and work on the computer, or go out taking pictures!

 

I packed up Emma and my camera, and off we went!  I decided to take my own vehicle so Emma could go along.

First was a trip around Shoveler Pond to get pics of a fresh water marsh.

Stephanie and I had agreed that I would take plenty of pictures, and she would later determine the exact kind of habitat.  I’m not sure I know all the fine nuances between the different habitats.  To me, it’s just a vast marsh.

Next we headed down to East Bay on the large Galveston Bay.  This is where I took the snail shots a while back.  I was hoping for high tide, but it turned out to be low tide.

It seemed like Emma had to sniff out each shell in this 4’ pile of oyster shells located near the shore.  It made me think about those shell piles or mounds that can be found in Florida.  I believe those came into existence from the many shells shucked by early Native Americans.

If I ever get a picture of a river otter, this would be a likely spot to find one.  About a thousand snow geese just happened to be flying overhead as I reached this spot.

Of course, I couldn’t pass up the chance to get shots of the pied-billed grebe and common moorhen as we were making the habitat rounds.  :)

They were both found working their way along this ditch next to the road.

Hard to notice in this shot of the moist soil units, but out there are thousands of ducks, geese, and shorebirds.  Notice how flat everything is around here?  Just so you know, the altitude of Anahuac NWR is 7’.   I’m thinking that’s at it’s highest point.  :)

Last, but not least, is this shot of yellow rail marsh.  It just goes on and on, and harbors all kinds of rails out there.  I sure wish I could have another air boat ride over the marsh.  It’s hard to visualize it’s vastness from the side of the road.  Maybe I’ll suggest just such a thing to Stephanie so I can get the ultimate marsh picture.  She’s kept me pretty land locked this year.  :)

 

On a final note for tonight, I’d like to mention that something called Picnik has shown up on my Picasa 3 photo editing program.  I think I kind of remember RICK talking about this program in one of his posts, but I’ll have to check.  I haven’t had time to tinker with it yet.  Anyone else tried it?

 

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