Literally! Some readers, who have been journeying with me for quite a while, know that this will be my fourth time volunteering at this refuge. My blog posts are generally full of bird pictures from here since it is a refuge for birds. :)
The volunteer coordinator, Stephanie, doesn’t want any grass growing under my feet, so she sent me off this morning with the folks that are presently doing this year’s bird survey route. When I get back from my cruise, I’ll be working on this as well.
There were four of us in the vehicle, and since I was just along for the ride, I sat in the back. Of course that meant I didn’t get to see very much. At one of the stops, I got out for this pic of a young double-crested cormorant. I liked how the bird and the dead tree both seemed to be flowing to the right. Seems funny to see a bird with webbed feet perched in a tree!
As I was taking the cormorant picture, this fellow stealthily made his way from one side of the road to the other by swimming through the culvert pipe. I was happy to see about a half dozen alligators on today’s drive. They are the survivors of the devastation of hurricane Ike. Many of the ’gators’ were drowned in the 15 foot high storm surge that came five miles inland. This guy was about four or five feet long.
After the official bird survey was over, we did a little birding on our own. The sora, a type of rail, was working the shallow water along the levy. Don’t you just like the white dot camouflage?
As we walked a short distance of the levy, this elusive marsh wren kept hopping in and out of the reeds while keeping up a buzzy chatter.
Lots of waterfowl are out there on the wet areas of the marsh, and many of them took flight as we drove along the back roads. Hunting season begins soon, so they’ll be even more skittish as time goes by.
I felt like Jeff Corwin as I tried to sneak up on this big old guy. :) Yes, I’m back at Anahuac NWR, and happy to be here, mosquitoes and all!
Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later, Judy
Posts
