The Texas coastal county of Matagorda boasted the highest number of bird species counted in the USA during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count in 2007.
Some really serious Birders counted 235 species in one day! This could never happen for me, since I rarely get up before the crack of dawn and I can’t tell my Whimbrels from my Godwits…yet.
One can visit the Matagorda County Birding Nature Center. This complex has 34 acres that sit right on the Colorado river and offers nature trails, wetlands, woodlands, native prairie, gardens, boardwalks and bridges. Or one can sit in a lounge chair at the Matagorda Bay Nature Center RV Park and let the birds fly to you. Your choice.
The RV Park has various fishing piers, wetland kayaking, 70 FHU sites, (many are right on the Colorado) a nature center (mostly for kids) and 22 miles of drivable, walkable beach with pretty shells. Full details on the RV Park in a future post, but be aware that the few pull-thru sites are HUGE and although not directly on the water, allow a lovely view out the front window if you’re in a big Class A.
Enjoy the Birds, and please feel free to help identify.
Spoonbill
Willet
Snowy Egret
Boat Tailed Grackle
Ruddy Turnstone juvenile (?)
Collared Dove
Gulls.
Clapper Rail (or possibly King?) Chicks were black.
Willet #2
Snowy Egret. Look at those silly feet.
Common Terns ?
Tri-colored Heron, Sanderlings, Semipalmated Sandpiper.
European Starling? There was quite a large flock.
Killdeer
Long billed Curlew
White Ibis
Brown Pelicans
Curlew
Overview of environment.
Zoom!
White Ibis
Little Blue Heron
Fishing.
Heron flight.
And scores of others, too fast, too tiny, too elusive to capture.
What a Birder’s Paradise.
There were gallinules, coots, cormorants and many different passerines. The herons were everywhere. Most of my pictures were blurry, unidentifiable or lost.
The alchemy of Duke, surf, sand, wind, memory card accidental erasure and somehow getting the camera color settings on “EWWWW” all add up to a noxious combination. A photographer I’ll never be. Good thing I can cook.
3 comments:
My motto ... if I get 10 shots out of a 100, it's a good photography day. I've done the EWWWW setting a couple of times ... it was the impetus to switching to RAW ... not that it did me any good with the lost photos :-)))
Like the ibis with the reflection (of course), but the snowy egret with the clown feet has got to be the winner :-))))
P.S. You need to come out of the closet and have Judy ID these birds for you :-)))
I just may do that :)
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