Staying i Texas for a little longer.

A Night Heron  giving me a great pose .

Just hanging out , most of the other Herons have already moved on as we have had a couple cool days and it has triggered the migration south .

Our duck families are almost done with their training and are enjoying the pond . With most of the other ducks having moved on we now await the arrival of the ducks from the north on their southern migration.

Just a joy to watch as they feed .

These Vultures are enjoying the fresh cut grass and are sunning themselves . They are also looking for the little critters that didn't make their way out from the grass cutters .

With the Alligator hunt over the ones who were in hiding are now making their presence known again.

Just a sunny day and all is good. Cooler nights and warm days make it perfect for them.

My favorite subject , I have been taking pictures of this one for the last several months and I'm always in awe as to the grace it displays as the hunt goes on in it's daily routine . 

A new born sunning itself .

One of those really still days and it's just perfect for a flight over one of the Refuge bayous .

Another one of the larger family groups on a little walk along the pond .

In the last week tens of thousands of Black birds have been passing through on their southern migration and the racket they make is just so beautiful to hear. It makes us glad to see the birds in such large numbers again . It brings back memories when I was little and the bird migrations would fill the skies .



Had a really still morning on the way to open the VIS in the Refuge yesterday morning  and all the spider webs were covered in dew with the sun just starting to light them up . All covered with natures jewels .

A spider checking out the early morning catch.

A different pattern in this web . It's a shame the goldenrod tore  a hole in the center.

A controlled burn going on in the Refuge . They are getting the marshes ready for the fall migration of ducks and geese . In the next two weeks more RV families will arrive and the Refuge will become a very busy place. First the Raptors will arrive in large numbers and then  ducks and geese by the tens of thousands, soon after that the song birds . So many different migrations . At least they do arrive a little spaced out . But it's just so wild when there is a hundred thousand birds of different species here .



This mornings Sunrise , it was just so awesome . The temperature here was 54 degrees and with no humidity it was a joy to be outside . This is the beginning of the weather change here and it's a welcomed relief . It's weird to have the AC cycle . The silence is weird after it running nonstop for the last 6 months.
So here we are in Texas still and we assume we will be staying awhile longer as we still haven't resolved Laurens medical issue. We met with a new doctor and he has put her on a new drug to see if we can clear up her problem without having to do surgery. It's a ten day regiment so we will once again have to be patient and wait for the outcome.