Wildlife Reguge in Town by the Bay

For the last couple of weeks, off and on, I've been watching a particular bird and hoping to see two of them. In the past we've had several appear in our area of Texas, then...become scarce.  If I did see two, perhaps they'll stick around during the breeding season long enough for me to see, in person, the breeding plumage of this species. So far, I've only viewed the more colorful plumage in guidebooks and online. Well, this week, I DID SEE TWO. Have they paired up? Are they one of each gender? I don't know...but, I will keep watching for them, and hope they don't leave the area before their courtship begins if they are indeed one male and one female. On a few of those days the past weeks, I've seen ONE for sure that's been 'out in the open' more. They're being quite elusive right now...remaining well-hidden in the foliage along the banks of the feeder canal.

They're Anhingas [an HING ahs]-the 'hing' is like king] - Also known as Snake Birds. Their very long neck, when swimming in the water, is exposed making them resemble a snake. Unlike most water birds, their oil glands are not quite as developed as most, so most often, when out of water you will see them drying their wings by either expanding them in the sun/air or grooming to dry their feathers.

This one, I believe is the female [I hope]...all the time I stuck around, it remained partially hidden and finally went further back into the cover while the other one....

...which I believe is the male, remained less concealed, keeping busy, preening.



COOPER'S HAWK

From the observation deck that is on the shore of the bay area I spotted a Cooper's Hawk far away along the tree lined trail. That instigated me to walk the trail in hopes of getting a closer photo of the hawk. By the time I reached the area in the trees where the hawk was located from far away, it had left. But here's what else I saw. And yes, I've spotted some of the surveillance cameras as the signs clearly state. Dunno if the cameras are operative tho. lol

Moonshine and Sunshine in the palms

...spending only a couple of hours at the park, I still had to get to the grocery store and stop to pick up some lunch. It was going to be a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine and mild tolerate temperatures.