This weeks shots

The killdeer are having trouble keeping their babies in line. She herded them all over yelling at them the whole way.

At this stage they are only 2 inches tall. Really, they look like toys.

The resident Scissor Tail at the Visitor Information Station.

just passing through on a beautiful day.

A Great Gray Hereon fishing on Shovelers Pond.

They still move the Cattle the old fashion way.

Lots of noise and dust .

Another sleepy Night Hawk out in the middle of no where on a sunny day.

A Crested Cara-Cara Coming into have a conversation with a friend.

These birds are just awesome to see in motion.

Even the Lily Pads are starting to flower .

This guy was singing up a storm when we caught him sitting .

Too tired to fly.

So undecided as to which way to go.

All the Daisy's  are in bloom .

This area is usually called Deep marsh. There hasn't been any real rain here in 20 days and the Refuge is starting to dry out in many areas. This area was full of Snow Geese just 3 months ago.

The Salt Cedars are starting to go into their blooming and they are not quite flowers but not cones either.

Killdeer eggs in her nest by the RV Pads. They only nest in stones that look like their eggs.

It's home.

Some of this mornings clouds on our way to the Refuge.

Setting up this mornings program with our Volunteer Coordinator. This part of the program takes place on a Pond and we teach about the importance of wetlands and how important they are for the environment. We spent about 45 minutes with them netting small critters from the fresh water pond and trying to identify them.

On East Galveston  Bay with our 95 4th graders this morning . Here we now take the children into salt water and try too keep get them from getting to wet and do the same style program we did at the fresh water pond. Net small critters and try to identify them. Here it a little easier as we get shrimp and small crabs. Lots of net bugs and such. The Kids actually caught some type of sea creature that no one could identify and we took pictures of it for the future when we can try and look it up. Lots of neat stuff. At this program I believe I have more fun than the kids and this was our last school program here for this Season. 

It was a Beautiful day for this Wonders of the Wetlands show.

Everyone watching as Stephanie gives her wetlands filtering demonstration.

Some Pics from the last few weeks.

This is how they seed and feed the rice fields in this area.

He can turn it in an amazing close turn and come right back. He lands on really short run ways in the middle of the fields and two days ago on our way to open up the VIS we were driving down FM1985 and Lauren was watching him make a low pass and you could see his face as he was at eye level with the car. Gives you a whole new respect for small plane Pilots.

One of our resident Night Hawks. An odd bird as they hunt at night and then rest during daylight hours as if nothing else is going on.

Just passing by.

We took a little road trip to a refuge for as the sign may say Prairie Chickens. There are only 135 left in the wild on a 35000 acre Refuge so we did not see any of them but we did see some other cool stuff.

Lots of wild flowers were in bloom on the Prairie , about 35000 acres worth. It was just beautiful.

Lots of Butterflies.

The wings were going so fast they almost were a blur. 

Another view.

Just thousands of white and blue butterflies every where.

Not sure what this bird is but we saw hundreds of them.
 

The low bushes were just full of singing birds.

A Crested Cara-Cara watching us approach,

As he flew away we stopped and saw what he was eating. Two almost empty turtle shells lay below the post.

A Great Blue Heron trying to balance on the bush in the wind.

A Purple Gallinule just plodding along and then he saw us. 

Off he went.

You just have to look at those great feet.

Just some water and some Lilly Pads.

A Scissor-tailed  flycatcher on the new fence in front of the new VIS.

He just new that this sign was put there for him.

One of the many Virginia Rails we have on the Refuge. People travel from  all over the World to try and see these birds.

Hunting in one of the many Moist soil units at Anahuac.

A Sora Rail . A very rare bird and its cool to get to see one.

Intent on a good sized piece of plant root.

I just wish I knew how this happens. It is very neat.

One of my favorite Red Wings just hanging out.

A good hunt once again.

The two Black-faced Vultures we have been watching for the last 4 months and we believe they now have a young one hanging out with them.

A few Red-Faced Vultures resting and drying out their wings, When we first saw them all three had their wing extended .

A Swainson's Hawk just resting on a limb and taking in the beautiful day.

A Heron hunting on Shoveler Pond.

This is my domain and I will just enjoy the view from my grassy perch.

A Scissor-tail passing by.

Ready for a landing with his tail opened up .

A Night Hawk with his eyes almost open.