Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
4:00 A.M.*
OSO BAY and Suter Park Bird Sanctuary
As you walk along the path, and toward the bay, you would come upon a boardwalk that juts out into the marshlands before hitting the water. Lots and lots of waterfowl you'll see if you're lucky. This photo, of course, is the walkway. As you walk along, every so often, you can stop and sit...the wooden structure has a few bird blinds where you're nearly hidden from the view of the birds. Field glasses are a good thing to take with you....but the day Bud and I walked along the shores and over the boardwalk, we carried with us nothing except for the cellphone. We happened upon several ducks in the marsh, an unknown species at the time, before I got home and looked them up on wikipedia, of black web-footed huge birds that were grouped together along the water outlet that runs into the bay, and a beautiful white one that was hidden [or so he thought] in the reed.
Off to our left, near the stream was a group of nine black web-footed birds. From our bird book that I have here in our library, I find that they could possibly be
immature Cormorants. Look closely at the photo [embiggen it...it will open in a new window] and you can see all the black along the banks and perched on the wood. Those are birds. Sorry, the cellphone camera has no zoom!! Wish it did! The birds above, flying, are seagulls of course and a couple of ducks. The buildings you see over the marshland and on the horizon are part of Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. Way to the right, out of the lens viewing is part of the Naval Air Station where they have a test landing strip for Navy Pilot Training.
Along the way to the bird blinds at the end, near the opening of the bay's shore, I spotted a
Great White Heron hiding in the reed, patiently waiting, hunting. As I stopped to photograph it, his eyes followed my every movement. Altho, he stayed put. These birds can become quite large at maturity. Some 50 inches or more. Oftentimes they are confused with the egret. The color of the legs usually can help you recognize which. They eat fish, snakes, frogs, and small mammals such as rodents. The image here shows you the view from the boardwalk...the 2nd one I cropped to get you a closer view....tho somewhat blurred from the actual enlargement.
The cropped photo:
...more to come on Tuesday for my Heads or Tails "Case" post. Stay tuned. <><><>
...and the Oscars.
Erik told me over the phone Friday that when he is here for the weekend he'll have to leave about 5 PM in order to get back to H-town before late hours, so again, tonight, I'll be glued to the TV for 3 to 4 hours watching the annual program that I have not missed in decades. But, this year it's a bit different. I've not seen many of the nominated films. The only ones on the list of nominees/nominated pictures are WALL*E, The Black Knight, Kung Fu Panda. I would have really liked seeing a favorite actor of mine, Sean Penn, in "Milk"...but it never ceases to amaze me, our town...so much protesting about the fact too. The fact: Seems there was a lot of censorship by the theater managers here and not too many people were happy with the outcome of it all. They [the managers] finally got the movie to show here, but when it was here, we were unable to get to the theater for its shortened run. I'll be sure to see it when it comes on DVD tho. We've purchased Changeling [DVD] last week at Wal Mart, starring Ms. Jolie which she has been nominated for best actress I believe, but have yet to sit down and watch it. Maybe Erik would like to see it with us if he hasn't seen it at the theather [both our kids are avid movie goers ...wonder where they picked that trait up?] In fact, I tend to think that will be the way I see movies mostly any more, on DVDs. Of course, when I go to the movies, even if it's the discounted matinee prices, the snack counter prices are so outrageous....and I need my junk food [popcorn, soda and Jr. Mints] when I see a film, I just can't see spending $30 for a movie, popcorn and soda. So, I'll save hundreds of dollars by buying the previewed movies that are 4 for $20 from Blockbuster, and buy the snacks for home at the grocery store instead!!
I'm still a fan of the movies!!! And I'm also a fan of watching all the glitz and glamour of the celebrities on this occasion tonight. I love to see the gowns, and be the fashion judge [LOL] of the color choices, the jewels, the amount of cleavage...etc. etc. etc. Not to mention this year....we have ummmmmmm, Hugh Jackman emceeing? Whoa!!! I'm predicting it will be quite political once again with Slumdog taking home the movie of the year trophy. If not, I will be totally, completely surprised. Seems these days Hollywood becomes involved in the politics keeping it more 'correctness' than fairness. We'll see. I do hope that they open their eyes and make Heath Ledger the winner for his role as "The Joker". He did one marvelous job of it. Otherwise, this year, will be just for the gowns and the ravishment of design of it all for me.
*this blog was composed Saturday morning & presceduled
