A Banquet for the Birds

 On Monday, January 10, Stan and I plus two or our new volunteers, Steve and Tracy, joined local volunteers to put in a hard physical day on cleaning up our island gardens in the parking lot. Later I went to see how our resident birds were faring after two days of clouds and some rain and high winds. My first surprise was in finding two large alligators out in the wind that was so cold, I had to run the car heater to be able to shoot out the windows. Then, almost across the street, the normally empty ditch and the land on either side of it was full of birds sheltering from the wind and hunting their evening meal. Great egrets  and great blue herons mixed with snowy egrets, ibis, roseate spoonbills and neotropical cormorants.

Alligator Pair

Roseate spoonbills and great blue heron hiding from the wind

After several minutes of enjoying the interactions of the birds, I slowly continued to Olney Pond, where there were piles of white birds, along the edges, and the pond, now dramatically lower than when I saw it the morning before, was full of swimming and wading birds.  Herons, egrets, spoonbills, greater and lesser yellowlegs, white and white-faced ibis,  dowitchers, plovers, sandpipers, all the resident duck species, and even a few species of gulls were feeding or loafing.  It looked like a major party, complete with drunk fights. 

I thought these would be pelicans instead of white ibis

Four species together

I was able to get closer to many greater yellowlegs

Gulls also were hanging out closer than usual - this one was sitting in a bush at the side of the road

I took the dowitchers but got a gull and  green-winged teal

Several little blue herons were hunting in the ditch across the road from the pond

This is only the back half of the view - I accidently set the camera to an effect that blurs the
foreground so cropped this to just the back half. These are gadwalls and wigeons.

Not all white birds are egrets - this is a first year little blue heron

This group of white-faced ibis flew in and found a little space in which to feed

My prize bird - first shot of a lesser black-backed gull

These two appeared to be dancing as they fed

I enjoyed watching a white ibis catch a crab.  Then mayhem ensued. A bully gull saw the ibis catch the crab and decided to relieve him of it. Two other gulls saw the action and decided to join in the chase. I shot wildly, but only got a few pictures of the chase. The birds flew behind the car before I learned who actually got to eat the crab. 

Ah, dinner at last

Then a bully gull spotted the successful bird and leaped after the ibis

A chase ensued

The ibis thought it could stop but the gull kept up the chase

Other gulls joined the chase  and soon four gulls were harassing the ibis. They flew behind the car and I didn't see the end. 
But I'm sure that crab ended up in some gull's stomach.

I found a few more birds on the rest of the refuge, most notably the first kestrel I've seen here.  THAN, the sun kicked in with a gorgeous sunset, All in all, it was a most satisfactory day.  

Male kestrel

I had time to get back to our fishing spot on Bastrop Bayou for a front seat view