More Zoo

Late breaking  Zoo news!

Emi Lane, the pregnant giraffe has given birth.

 

A heartfelt THANK YOU! to dedicated and expert Birdacologist  ERIN for identifying most of the exotic avian species  found in yesterday’s post. Although Erin has left very little for JUDY to do,  there is one mystery bird remaining.

This sweet and quite stunning  pigeoney creature remains elusive. With “her” pale, creamy white feathers,  matching pale blue feet and beak, and her tres chic navy tail feathers… she needs only a navy leather Chanel bag, a sting of pearls and a Galoise Bleu dangling from her bill.  Coco would approve.

 

---

Where else but Texas would you give a guy a hippo for Christmas?  I wonder how they gift-wrapped the poor beast.

From Wiki:

“In 1965, Lufkin Industries President, Walter Trout, received a 500-pound (230 kg) Hippopotamus as a Christmas present. The hippo was boarded at the Monroe, LA zoo until a hippo pen was completed 18 months later. The present zoo was built around the hippo pen, and was opened in 1967. Since 1989, the Lufkin Kiwanis Club has helped with projects at the zoo. To date, thirteen projects have been completed, totaling over 3200 person hours of donated time and $35,000 of donated materials. In 1999, the Maasai Giraffe and White Rhinoceros exhibits opened. These were followed by a Nile hippopotamus exhibit in 2002 where visitors can view the animals both above and below the waterline.^”

  Yep, that’s a hippo alright. And yes, that water was chilly.

The lighting at the Flamingo enclosure was very interesting, dark, mottled and moody.

 

They are almost, but not quite, as gorgeous as our Texas resident Spoonbills.

  

 

 

There were a bunch of other animals that were not birds. Whatever…

 

This porcupine stunk to high heaven. With that aroma, one has no idea why he needs quills.

 

The Zoo has a pair of Galapagos Tortoises and one skinny Rhino.

 

I have omitted the reptilians to avoid creeping out the squeamish.

There were Komodo dragons, but they remained huddled around their heater, still too cold to come outside.

 

A couple more Peacock shots, just because they are so darned gorgeous.

 

Lastly, a compilation for our recovering Bird Lady of Blogland .

The end, the end, the end.  (of pain!)

Ellen Trout Zoo

Our trip to Big Bend delayed, we took advantage of a rare good weather day with a trip to our local ZOO.

For a small town zoo it does a decent job of giving you a pleasant half day’s worth of entertainment.

The stars of the show, hands down, were the Peafowl. The place was infested with the creatures.

The Peacocks were displaying and calling all over the place. It was very amusing.

They strolled down the paths, totally oblivious to us humans.

 

They filled the trees with raucous conversation.

And there was no limit to the number of “The End” shots available. Talk about shake your bootie…

This Zoo has very few signs. Perhaps they were being refurbished or replaced, but aside form the obvious eagle, flamingo, hornbill… I have no idea what these birds might be.

Judy, since you’re temporarily grounded maybe you could help identify the exotics?

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Eagle, Flamingo and the Victoria Crowned Pigeon we recognized.

This post is awfully heavy on pictures, so more flamingos and the other animals, (yes there were other animals beside birds, but I hardly noticed them) next post, hopefully tomorrow.

If the weather continues to improve we are out of here (finally!) on Thursday.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a peaceful, happy holiday.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Snug in my bed.

Gull with an attitude.

The little guy is saying “Pardon me…”

The Fishing Pier at Matagorda

Here is a little more information about MATAGORDA BAY NATURE PARK. It’s entirely possible that all the garbage on the shore this year is a result of aberrant water currents, a garbage barge capsize, an oil rig disaster… who knows. Perhaps the LCRA was  just getting ready to do a big clean-up event. I certainly hope that is the case. Regardless of the less than pristine shoreline, this is a terrific campground and a fascinating environment. These rough Texas beaches are a far cry from the well maintained, well groomed beaches of Florida. Keep in mind, we are still the wild frontier.

I scared the bejezzus out of a whole slew of fisherpeople by climbing on to the rock jetty during low tide and making my way back toward shore via the fishing pier. People either stared at me or hunched over their rods and reels trying to become invisible. It wasn’t until later that day that I realized my outfit,  black vested, official looking cap, binocs and whatnot… had the crowd thinking I was about to start checking fishing licenses and giving tickets. Tz called it my “Narc Officer” outfit. Didn’t realize I had it in me to be so intimidating!

If it rains as predicted tomorrow, I’ll show you the dunes, marshlands and the other jetties.

 

 

Here is a snippet from the LCRA web site:

“Matagorda Bay Nature Park is a 1,600-acre park and preserve at the mouth of the Colorado River on the Matagorda Peninsula. LCRA developed the park to provide recreation, education, wetlands preservation and economic benefit to the region.

The park has about two miles of Gulf of Mexico and two miles river frontage and hundreds of acres of coastal marshes and dunes. It is one of the best birding areas in the nation. LCRA acquired the property in 2001 as part of its commitment to preserve natural resources for future generations and to provide science education, recreation and nature tourism opportunities.
Campsites
• 22 General Camping Sites: These sites back up to FM 2031, located adjacent to the RV Park. These sites have both 30/50 amp electrical service, sewer connections and a picnic table.
• 5 Pull-Through Sites: Located on the interior roads of the park, these pull-through sites have an obstructed view of the river, have both 30/50 amp electrical service, sewer connections and a picnic table.
• 24 Preferred Sites: Located on the the interior roads of the park, these sites have an obstructed view of the river, have both 30/50 amp electrical service, sewer connections and a picnic table.
• 19 Waterfront Camping Sites: Located on the waterfront, these sites have both 30/50 amp electrical service, sewer connections and a picnic table.”

The Reluctant Blogger

Is there anything worse than a person that takes but does not give?

Many Bloggers write with clockwork regularity, in some cases daily. They share tips, ideas, park reviews, fantastic photos, and funny stories. With generosity and a sense of purpose they open their hearts and minds. How I long to be one of those bloggers. I really do want to share information and be helpful, but alas, it is simply not to be.   Live Writer gets opened only when I’ve injured some busted-up old body part and need to sit still for a few hours.  Today is a good example. Sloshing around in my head you can find the ”Matagorda-in-review post”, the “Pelican post”, the “fishing post”, the “Seagull poop-attack” post, the “posing girls” post… I could go on and on. But I have only a short time before dinner prep begins, so in lieu of an entertaining or informative post comes an admonition.

Our beaches are a mess. We visited the Matagorda Bay Nature Park a year ago. The amount of trash, most of it plastics, has grown exponentially in just a year. It was so shockingly bad I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture. On a happier note, the dunes were in much better shape, as were the herds of cows. There was just enough additional rainfall in 2012 to plump up the cattle and the succulents, to restore, however slightly, the wetland foliage.

The birding was still wonderful down there, so I chose to look up and see these guys instead of looking down on all the garbage we dump in our oceans.

 

 

We’re heading to Big Bend in January. I’ve gotten past the point where I can tell you to “stay tuned”.  A person could die of boredom waiting for a blog posting from BlunderZ, but the Big Bend area is so remote and so fantastical it would be a shame not to share the information.  Reluctant I may be, but with good intentions, and certainly not averse. I would willingly share all we see and do if it didn’t require my two hands on a keyboard. Le sigh.

And for Sherry,  the other shadow woman. Better late than never.

Testing Blogpress

Being an undisciplined, easily distracted creature, sitting down at the laptop and creating a proper blog post seems daunting. But if Erin can manage to post on her very first day, after working so hard to get moved into the Phaeton... I'm rather ashamed of myself.
I just went and shook some coins out of the piggy bank and bought Blogpress. I've had it exactly four minutes. Looks easy and quick so far. Perhaps this will help to create more spontaneity. Time will tell !

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:My bed