The Flight of the Great Blue Heron

On our last camping trip we had a beautiful campsite right next to the water and enjoyed watching the beautiful Great Blue Herons each day as they waded along the edge of the lake. My husband was lucky enough to capture these pictures as one took off and landed further down the shoreline.

San Augustine Park - Lake Sam Rayburn, 

Pineland, Texas

Because of their size (3.2 to 4.5 feet) and wide wingspan (5.5 to 6.6 feet) it’s really amazing to watch them in flight.

We see these birds every time we go camping and even here in town along the canals. I love watching them as they patiently wait for their next meal. 

Sandy Creek Park - Steinhagen Lake, 

Jasper, Texas

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.  

~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday

Sandy Creek Park

Due to some busy days during the last couple of months I haven’t done much blogging but hope to get caught up soon. We’ve found a place to camp that is only about an hour and a half away so we’ve been there a couple of times lately. It’s called Sandy Creek Park and is a Corp of Engineers Park. Of course right now our government has “shut down” all Corp parks so we can't go back until they re-open. We have reservations to go to another Corp park later this month, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully an agreement will be reached by then, but it’s not looking too good right now!

This is looking back at our campsite which was located by the fishing pier.  It's a beautiful park with lots of wildlife and birds to watch. One evening as we sat by the campfire it was like an animal parade passed right in front of us!  First a possum walked by, then an armidillo, and after that we saw a whole family of racoons.  In other parts of the park we saw deer but I didn't have my camera with me when we saw them.



Great Blue Heron

Caught in action - taking my birdseed!

One night we left some dog food out as a treat for these little guys and they ate every bite!

 

 

 

 

We took our boat up the river one day where the water was as smooth as glass.  It was a beautiful day but quite hot so a boat ride was a good way to cool off.

 

 

This was a small alligator that was watching us fish.  He probably wanted us to get out of his territory!

The Great Blue Heron had better luck fishing than we did!  The pier was covered with bugs.  I think they were mayflies.  They were awful!

We had beautiful sunsets almost every evening we were there. 

“God never made an ugly landscape. All that sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild.” ― John Muir

Busy Summer Days and Rain At Last!!

Do you ever look around and realize that you have so much to do that you just don't know where to start???

I seem to be having one of those days today.  Makes me feel like I'm losing my head!

I really don't know what happened in this picture.  I think he had put his head under his wing.  This photo is not edited.  (weird huh!!)

Don't worry!  I'll get myself back together soon and be ready to fly far away!

Whether the weather be fine,

Or whether the weather be not,

Whether the weather be cold,

Or whether the weather be hot,

We'll weather the weather

Whatever the weather,

Whether we like it or not!

Author unknown

This week we've had about 3 days of rain and enjoyed every single drop of it!  Now they say we are going back into the hot/dry cycle again.  It is so amazing to see the extremes in weather across the country lately!  It's too bad the states that are having so much rain can't just send part of it to the states that are suffering from drought and wildfires.

Hope you have a good weekend and that you will weather the weather whatever the weather!