Houston
As fate would have it, we ended up in Houston after abruptly leaving Seattle. I visited two wetland parks -- my favorite stomping ground Brazos Bend State Park (more on this later) and Cullinan Park in Sugarland, which I view as a mininature Brazos Bend -- it has similar habitat and a wooden boardwalk with an elevated observation platform as well, though smaller in scale (on the plus side, it is also free!). It is a nice place to stop by for an hour or two, although I had to cut my walk short because of the unbearable heat and humidity.
(Click on each image to see the high-resolution version)
There were several different sepcies of dragonflies in the wetland. I think these are Halloween Pennant and female Eastern Pondhawk respectively.
But the most interesting are the clusters of pink eggs clung to the stems of aquatic plants, and sometimes the boardwalk posts. Pretty as they are, I later found out, these are the eggs of the invasive applesnails, see more on this site for their environmental impact and how to control them.
A different dragon fly flew across the sky -- a plane that was to land in the nearby Sugarland Airport.
I managed to go back to Brazos Bend State Park again. I managed to get there early in the morning, before the steamer kicked into its high gear. Live Oaks draped with Spanish Moss, the scene is quintessentially southern at 40-acre Lake, which is where I usually start my walk.
I did not get any new bird on this day, but took pictures of some long-familiar ones. This Great Blue Heron greeted me from a tree branch.
Common Gallinules and their chicks were browsing the aquatic plants.
The Black-bellied Whistling Ducks are my favorite ducks, they look goofy and humorous (but that may be just my mental projection) and make musical whistling sounds, very enchanting.
There were also many Yellow-crowned Night Herons, both juveniles and mature ones.
Of course, the White Ibises are ubiquitous throughout the park.
A slightly surprising finding was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in the tree branches. I was mostly expecting water birds, so was pleasantly surprised with this sighting.
Near the end of my walk around 40-acre Lake, I witnessed a Little Blue Heron catching and swallowing (or trying to swallow) a large fish.
Of course, I had to take a picture of an alligator.
And of the blooming lotus flower.
A very large spider made a web hanging from the Live Oak trees, I believe this is a Golden Silk Spider
Yet another dragonfly, I think this one is a male Eastern Pondhawk .
Finally, a couple of shots of a very active squirrel.
Dragonfly -- Halloween Pennant?
Dragonfly -- female Eastern Pondhawk?
Applesnail eggs
Plane
Live Oak
Live Oak
40-acre Lake
Great Blue Heron
Common Gallinule
Common Gallinule
Common Gallinule
Common Gallinule
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
White Ibis
White Ibis
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Little Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Alligator
Lotus
Spider
Dragonfly - male Eastern Pondhawk?
Squirrel
Squirrel