I met up with a friend at Brazos Bend State Park (just South of Houston) for some photo therapy. It was a gorgeous autumn day and we got some great photos...
Autumn colors in South East Texas
The water was so calm....
A young gator, so pretty!
We had fun watching it and taking photos. He/she did manage to catch a small fish while we watched...
I just liked the reflection...so calm and peaceful.
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Common Moorhen, and I thought my feet were huge!
There were small gators everywhere....
I was told they open their mouth as a territorial thing...
I am watching you...
Water Hyacinth (Water Orchid, River Raft) I don't think I've ever seen this bloom before.
Lots of turtles too...
Arrowhead aka Duck Potato
Native Americans ate the roots of this plant.
I was taking photos of this fly on the flower when a German tourist asked me what I was taking photos of...When I told him the yellow bloom with the fly on it, he said where? I pointed to it and then showed him a photo I had taken on the camera, he was like Wow!!
My friend likes to photograph dragonflies. I spotted this one and was trying to tell him where it was so he could take a photo...he kept saying I don't see it. So I took a photo to show him...See it now? Yes I was being a smart alack!
Then my friend got me back when he spotted this turtle and I didn't....It took me awhile but then I finally saw it peeking out of the duck weed.
Crow on the path...
Grebe
Yellow Lotus seed pod...I kind of chuckled to myself. If my Mother had seen these she would have wanted me to go pick her some as she used them in dried flower arrangements...and being in a state park in the middle of a swamp I would NOT have done it....kind of like when she asked me to pick her some prickly poppies...Not happening! They are called prickly for a reason!
And old dude soaking up the sun!
I absolutely love whistling ducks. Seldom do I see them in the wild. The very first one I ever saw was in a tree on the river walk in San Antonio. Yes they like to sit in trees. When they fly they make the strangest whistling noise...I see them a lot at the zoos here in Texas. We were walking the path and I glanced over at an island. I saw the orange beaks at first and thought Moorhen but then got to looking and was like YeeHaw!! Whistling Ducks!! A whole flock of them, I counted 13 all together!!
They weren't flying off but they were wary of us and watching...
Look at those big old legs!
They were well camouflaged in the trees.
Preening...so glad we spotted the whistling ducks. It made my day to get some good photos of them and to be able to watch them for a bit too.
Turtles, Turtles everywhere and covered in Duck weed.
This guy was totally relaxed with his huge webbed feet stretched out behind him...
There were a lot of butterflies too...
White Ibis...such cool looking eyes...
Just to show you I don't always get the photos, oops!
Common Moorhen
The birds were spectacular!
American coot, they have red eyes!
This Great Egret was fishing and managed to catch something...
It didn't eat what it caught but flew off...and then lost it's food!
Oh so pretty!!
We had a great day! It was so nice to spend time with a fellow photographer and friend walking in the sunshine and enjoying the wildlife....I need to do this more often!
