DW and I went to the Rookery at High Island, Texas yesterday. The primary viewing area is an island about 600 feet long and 100 feet wide. Just about every fork in every tree and bush has a nest. There is another large area to the right of this one that we didn't get to cover.
The trip starts with a ride on the Ferry Boat from Galveston to Bolivar. DW feeds the Black Headed Laughing Gulls. A great tailed Grackle watches.
2 of 14.
Great Tailed Grackle hitches a ride.
3 of 14. The big picture, first look at Rookery.
Cormorant nesting.
5 of 14. Nesting Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Roseate Spoonbills.
6 of 14. Great Egret with stick for nest.
7 of 14. Snowy Egret.
8 of 14. A pair of fuzzy headed Snowy Egret chicks.
9 of 14 The nesting mixer.
10 of 14. Roseate Spoonbill display.
11 of 14. Snowy.
This message was edited Apr 7, 2007 11:17 AM
12 of 14. Snowy display.
13 of 14. Roseate shopping.
14 of 14. Sleepy Roseate. Their mating plumage is much more white than at other times.
trois, nice series of photos .... looks like you had a good trip.
I.m no expert on bird identification but aren't some of the photos you identified as Snowy Egrets actually Great Egrets. Other than the color of the bill, I don't know how to tell the difference. I identify the ones with a yellow bill as Great Egrets and those with a black bill as Snowy Egrets. Whatever, they are very attractive birds. I actually ran into a small flock of Snowy Egrets yesterday.
Thanks for sharing your trip.
I had that same problem with ID. It seems the colors don't mean as much during mating season. I finally decided by beak thickness and black legs. I could easily tell them apart when they were flying.
I am likely wrong about some.
trois
Thanks for all the nice pics of your trip. Felt like I was there; good job!
You are welcome, but I forgot to mention the skeeters. LOL
Glad I could take the trip this way then,lol.
What a wonderful time you must have had! Great images!
Thanks tigerlily! It was nice. The only complaint was bright sun. The contrast was very harsh. The Spoonbills were highly reflective in the white areas.
Fabulous!
Just checked through (I'd not really looked closely before!), pics 7, 8, 11, 12 are all Great Egret: yellow bill, black feet (whereas Snowy has black bill, yellow feet).
Resin
and if the Snowy gets facial breeding colors, it is pink not the green of the Greats
Great shots Trois, that looks like a wonderful place to visit! We just went to one of our rookeries this past weekend. Got to see our first Blue Heron babies of the year
