Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Thalasseus maximus

I am done with Gulls and Terns, at least from Day 4 of our 13-day trip. Next, it will be on to Bishop State Park for the last few photos. After that, I will be able to start on Day 5, which was a day trip to the enormous King Ranch. One of the highlights of that day was seeing a pair of Ferruginous Pygmy Owls, at the end of our private tour of the Ranch, as well as some new birds for us, such as the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and the Vermilion Flycatcher. Perhaps the highlight for me was when I caught sight of a little Texas horned lizard near my feet, something I had longed to see for a few years. As far as animals go, two nice sightings were a Javelina/Collared Peccary and six exotic Nilgai antelope from India that had been imported to the King Ranch in 1930. We only got a fleeting glimpse of their rear ends as they raced away through the trees. Day 4, 22 March, of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019, was a day of birding and also driving from Rockport, where we had stayed for three nights, to Kingsville. The 9 photos I have just posted tonight were all taken on the beach at Mustang Island State Park. We had driven there from the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Centre/the Port Aransas Nature Preserve. We loved the Birding Centre, getting great views of the various bird species, looking down from the new boardwalk that has been built after Hurricane Harvey destroyed the previous one in 2017. Lots of birds; even a huge Alligator. We spent some time on the beach at Mustang Island State Park, watching and listening to the Laughing Gulls. They are such fun to watch and to photograph. The Royal Terns are so beautiful, always looking quite regal in their posture. At one point, a man started feeding the Gulls down the beach, and they swarmed over and around him. Managed to get a couple of distant shots. "Mustang Island State Park is a state park located south of the city of Port Aransas, Texas, United States on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico that covers 3,954 acres (1,600 ha) and has a 5-mile (8.0 km) beachfront. The land was acquired from private owners in 1972 and opened to the public in 1979. The island takes its name from wild mustangs that roamed the island which eventually succumbed to ranching in the late 1800s." From Wikipedia. After our short walk along this beach, we continued our drive towards Kingville, where we were going to spend two nights at the Hampton Inn. We had time to stop at Bishop City Park before we reached Kingsville.

Photo-bombed by a Laughing Gull. Day 4, 22 March, of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019, was a day of birding and also driving from Rockport, where we had stayed for three nights, to Kingsville. The 9 photos I have just posted tonight were all taken on the beach at Mustang Island State Park. We had driven there from the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Centre/the Port Aransas Nature Preserve. We loved the Birding Centre, getting great views of the various bird species, looking down from the new boardwalk that has been built after Hurricane Harvey destroyed the previous one in 2017. Lots of birds; even a huge Alligator. We spent some time on the beach at Mustang Island State Park, watching and listening to the Laughing Gulls. They are such fun to watch and to photograph. The Royal Terns are so beautiful, always looking quite regal in their posture. At one point, a man started feeding the Gulls down the beach, and they swarmed over and around him. Managed to get a couple of distant shots. "Mustang Island State Park is a state park located south of the city of Port Aransas, Texas, United States on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico that covers 3,954 acres (1,600 ha) and has a 5-mile (8.0 km) beachfront. The land was acquired from private owners in 1972 and opened to the public in 1979. The island takes its name from wild mustangs that roamed the island which eventually succumbed to ranching in the late 1800s." From Wikipedia. After our short walk along this beach, we continued our drive towards Kingville, where we were going to spend two nights at the Hampton Inn. We had time to stop at the Bishop City Park before we reached Kingsville. I still have more photos from Mustang Island State Park to finish, and then will add a few from Bishop City Park.

Oh, boy, after tomorrow, we have four days of snow, according to the weather forecast, with around 15 cm of the white stuff. Not a welcome thought, after the brutal winter of 2018/2019. Day 4, 22 March, of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019, was a day of birding and also driving from Rockport, where we had stayed for three nights, to Kingsville. The 9 photos I have just posted tonight were all taken on the beach at Mustang Island State Park. We had driven there from the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Centre/the Port Aransas Nature Preserve. We loved the Birding Centre, getting great views of the various bird species, looking down from the new boardwalk that has been built after Hurricane Harvey destroyed the previous one in 2017. Lots of birds; even a huge Alligator. We spent some time on the beach at Mustang Island State Park, watching and listening to the Laughing Gulls. They are such fun to watch and to photograph. The Royal Terns are so beautiful, always looking quite regal in their posture. At one point, a man started feeding the Gulls down the beach, and they swarmed over and around him. Managed to get a couple of distant shots. "Mustang Island State Park is a state park located south of the city of Port Aransas, Texas, United States on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico that covers 3,954 acres (1,600 ha) and has a 5-mile (8.0 km) beachfront. The land was acquired from private owners in 1972 and opened to the public in 1979. The island takes its name from wild mustangs that roamed the island which eventually succumbed to ranching in the late 1800s." From Wikipedia. After our short walk along this beach, we continued our drive towards Kingville, where we were going to spend two nights at the Hampton Inn. We had time to stop at the Bishop City Park before we continued on to Kingsville. I still have more photos from Mustang Island State Park to finish, and then will add a few from Bishop City Park.

Today is 15 April 2019 - such unfortunate news from Paris, France. Historic Notre Dame Cathedral has been heavily damaged by a devastating fire today. Such an icon for that city/country, and so beautiful. I am finding it so difficult to tell which Terns are Royal Terns and which are Caspian Terns! I know I saw both species, and I think I have a photo of each kind. Tonight, I have added another 9 photos, again from Day 3 of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019. This was our second full day there, a day on a tiny boat, called Lady Lori, watching Whooping Cranes and other species. Having posted so many images from basically our first full day, I rather think I will have to be somewhat more 'disciplined" in my choices, or I will never finish : ) Mind you, I had a quick look through Day 3 photos last night, and discovered that a good many of them, especially of the Whooping Cranes, are very blurry - one disadvantage of taking photos from a little boat that is bobbing up and down. Thankfully, enough of them seem to be sufficiently sharp. The previous morning, Day 2 of our holiday, 20 March 2019, after our drive to The Big Tree and then along the Lamar Beach Road area, we went to the Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary. This is a small, 6.25 acre nature sanctuary that exists in Rockport itself. Such a peaceful place to wander, watching for plants and butterflies as well as birds. There is a small pond, where we watched a young White Ibis, a Great Egret and a Snowy Egret all feeding together. Lovely to see their reflections in the water, too. A couple of nights ago, I was Googling and came across an article from 19 March 2019, telling about a group of students who chose to spend their Spring Break week helping to tidy the Sanctuary. Good for them! After spending some time at this Sanctuary, we went to the Aransas First Cove Harbor Wetlands Sanctuary, followed by eventually finding the Newbury Park Hummingbird Garden. This was definitely not what we were expecting - just a small area of grass and trees with picnic tables. However, we did see a beautiful Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly and a small, purple Winecup flower. Afterwards, a repeat drive along Cape Velero Drive and area turned up some nice birds, too. Day 3 was a very different kind of day, spent on board a small boat with just my four friends (and the captain/guide) on board. This private tour was arranged in Calgary beforehand. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone! Aransas Bay Birding Charters: texasbirdingphotos.net/cgi-bin/p/awtp-home.cgi?d=aransas-... It was a very early start to the day, before sunrise, as we had a lot of water to cross in order to reach the area where the Whooping Cranes were. When we first arrived at the location, the Cranes were either asleep or just beginning their morning preening session, before becoming active. Too dark to get any decent shots of them in the dark, though I did post one yesterday morning. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't make up my mind which one or two photos to post yesterday, so I ended up adding a number of them. After a while, the Whooping Cranes starting slowly walking and eventually took flight. A bit later in the day, we came across three of them, in the sunshine, busily feeding. This little family consisted of Mom, Dad and junior (their colt). Junior was hungry and eventually, Dad found a crab, which the colt was determined to snatch and eat. Dad was wearing a numbered leg band on one leg; on the other leg was a tracking device. A delightful family group, that was so fascinating to watch from the boat. My photos taken of these three are nicer that the ones I've just posted. As well as seeing these amazing, endangered Cranes, Lori found all sorts of other bird species for us, including a pair of Oystercatchers (female was on a nest), Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew, Belted Kingfisher, Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Royal Terns, Caspian Terns, Ruddy Turnstone, Skimmers, and Cormorants, to name just some of them. One area, which was a rookery, had been badly destroyed by Hurricane Harvey, Wooden nesting platforms have been built to replace most of the original nests, and it was great to see Herons nesting on them. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we saw a family of three Dolphins, too.