Christmas 2014 short trip to Texas

During Christmas, 2014, I made a short, family trip to Texas.

(Click on each image to see the high-resolution version)

I first managed to squeez out a couple of very short tript while in Houston. First I stopped at Cullinan Park (for less than an hour, really just 20 minutes or so). The only decent picture I got was of a Pied-billed Grebe.

Pied-billed Grebe

On Christmas Eve, I made a trip to San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. Although I had to this park before, and had "first hand experience" with the mosquitoes there, I was still caught by surprise by the number and ferocity of these flying insects there. I thought the recent cold spells had put them to sleep for the year, but I was wrong and had to cut my visit short. The birds were rather scarce during my visit, but I managed to take a few pictures of flying herons and waterfowl (the duck is a Lesser Scaup, I believe).

Tricolored Heron

Cattle Egret

Scaup

One thing I had noticed before, and confirmed again this time, was that this refuge has a nice concentration of American Kestrels. Many of them perched on the powerlines along the road leading into the park. Unfortunately, they are also somewhat jittery and did not allow a close approach. The following picture was the best I've got.

American Kestrel

Then I took a longer tip -- a rendezvous with a friend in Fulton/Rockport to see the famous Whooping Cranes. Once pushed to the brink of extinction (only 21 remained in the entire world), these majestic birds made a comeback, thanks to the great efforts by conservationists (now they number in the 500s, still a tenuous number, no doubt). We were to take a boat tour to see them, but on the way there, I stopped at the "Big Tree" in Goose Island State Park and saw a family -- two adults and one immature -- in the field adjacent to the park (the field belong to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge).

Whooping Cranes

Whooping Crane

The next day we took the tour anyway. I was afraid that the weatehr would be bad -- thunderstorms were forecasted. In the morning, it looked as if luck would find us -- the sun even peeked out of the clouds. I grabbed a couple of shots in the harbor and on the boat.

Sunrise

Fulton Harbor

But the sun would hide behind the clouds as we approached the cranes, which was a great pity for a photographer.

Whooping Crane

I managed to get another new bird (in addition to the Whooper) -- a Long-billed Curlew.

Long_billed Curlew

At one very brief moment, the sun came out again. It was as if the stage light was turned on momentarily. Luckily we were near a mixed flock of white birds when they took off.

White Ibises, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets

Here was also where we saw another magnificent bird -- the American White Pelican.

American White Pelicans

Compare with the smaller Brown Pelican:

Brown Pelican

But there was one more show awaiting us -- we saw a Peregrine Falcon on a nesting platform, apparently eating a duck. This was a pleasant surprise of the trip.

Peregrine Falcon

The weather continued to worsen. I made one last stop on the way back to Houston to take picture of a group of meadowlarks. I believe they were Eastern, rather than Western, Meadowlarks.

Meadowlark

Meadowlark

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