Back to Day Trippin' Part II....

Addendum:  For those that are wanting to see photos of birds [Ruth mentioned cardinals...I will eventually show close up images I took on my bird blog.]  

To continue my morning at the park, I am sharing a few of the cardinals seen. As I mentioned in my previous post, the cardinals, both male and female, were seen just about every corner of the park's grounds. Their singing could be heard with each step I took! At the smaller pond, where we all stopped to watch/photograph the kingfisher, I also saw a sandpiper. I have yet to ID that one [three working the pond for food]. Sandpipers are a difficult bird to identify. Especially if the legs are not visible which is the case here. Most often the legs will give you a good idea of the particular species. I'm leaning toward stilt sandpipers, because one photo I took and uploaded from my camera card to the computer, their upper part of the legs were somewhat tinged green. Grayish-green. Other sandpipers are black legs, while still others have yellow legs -and the plumage pattern is near identical in all. But, the stilt sandpipers migrate to our area in Spring. I need to be near 100% sure before I share them on my bird blog. I also have close up photos of the cardinals, green jays, the kingfisher, ducks, egrets, cooper's hawk, scissortail flycatchers, and herons that will be show n tell eventually on that blog. But in the meantime, these will be posted here to give you an idea what I experienced on Wednesday this week. The one image with the pond, look close...find the kingfisher?...

There are two cardinals in the tree below...see them? And since the moon was part of the frame, I zoomed in with the zoom lens...

FACT SHEET:. Also seen with this particular outcropping of trees, I spied some mistletoe clinging to a branch. Did you know that mistletoe is a parasite!?!!

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant, meaning that it needs a host tree or shrub in order to thrive. The plant is actually considered hemi-parasitic because it uses photosynthesis for a short period of time while young. As it grows, it sends roots through the bark of the host plant and into that plant’s circulatory system. Once established this way, mistletoe stops using photosynthesis and collects water and nutrients directly from its host plant.
source

Next post, part III. Texas Bluebonnets