High Island, Texas, Smith Oaks Rookery, April, 2017
Could the Snowy Egret be my favorite Egret. Possibly! They are beautiful with long white plumes on their head and neck. Their facial color, during breeding, is mostly yellow. And, they have bright yellow feet! They are fun to watch being both silly and elegant. Their babies began to fly after 20 days and their life span is at least 16 years.
oOoWatching
I didn’t notice a lot of them, perhaps I was focused on the Great Egret babies.
High Island, Texas, Smith Oats Rookery, April, 2017
Roseate Spoonbill
The Egrets were ahead of the Spoonbills in nesting and raising chicks. They were still gathering sticks to add to their nests, sitting on the nests to hatch more chicks, and hunting for food to feed the chicks they had. Not sure how many chicks are hatched during a breeding season, but probably not very many of them make it to adults. 😦
The Spoonbills were chasing each other, mating, and vocal. Howard captured the sounds at this amazing place, which I will share in a future post.
A pairoOooOoSweetA funny photo, mirror images!HuntingBird Hotel
It would have been a treat to see Spoonbill chicks!
It must be a real drag to sit on the nest for hours at a time.
Nesting Great EgretStand up, stretch, lay back down. Poor girl!“Did I just lay these?”“Hey, I need a break!”“Okay, its your turn.”Day Dreaming and looking pretty.“Hurry up and hatch!”“Looking good”A small section of the rookery.
Birding, one of my favorite hobbies, can be enjoyed just about anywhere. All you need is a pair of binoculars and if you like a birding book to help you identify what birds you are spotting. It is a good way to get in some hiking as well.
When traveling across Texas it isn’t difficult to find interesting, diverse and beautiful, birding spots.
High Island, Texas not far from Beaumont, is world renowned for its birding especially during migration periods. I love to visit Smith Oaks Santuary to see what is going on. And, this time of year it is a busy place!
You can read about the birding opportunities in this area at the web-site below.
I was able to capture this Great Egret flying over the rookery carrying nesting material. His nest sitting mate was patiently waiting for him to bring her this gift.
A pretty big stick.
Notice he has the main branch of the stick and the smaller branch in his bill. Doesn’t want to drop it after all his work on finding it.
I didn’t see where he finally landed with his prize.
What a beauty, with his colorful, breeding face.
I was using my Tamron 600mm lens, Canon 70D camera on a tripod. These two birds are males.
We are staying at Hidden Lake RV Park. It is a very nice RV park located off of I-10 on the west side of Beaumont. We have enjoyed walks around the lake several times. From here we can easily drive to High Island and are just 4 miles from Cattail Marsh (more on this lovely birding spot later).
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