Duck, Duck, Goose

Thanks to Our Eyes Open for hosting the Bird Weekly challenge and indulging my obsession. This week’s prompt is ducks and geese. The featured mallard found himself ditched.

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Flight Day

While fishing with our granddaughter down by the falls, we are joined by an osprey, also looking for a catch. None of us has any luck, and the osprey moves on. We decide to follow him back to the nest. Mom and babies are in residence when we arrive, and after a bit of observation […]

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New Baseball Fans

Baseball is big in our town. Home to the Baseball Hall of Fame, we have several diamonds, attracting ball fans from far and wide. This year, we have a family of new fans with a view of their own. When we first spotted the nest, there appeared to be one young osprey peeking over the […]

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Drama in the Woods

A high-pitched chirp caught my attention the moment we entered the park. We’d come to Stratford for a meal out and decided to check up on the swans. Ric found a bench by the river, while I wandered in search of the source of the incessant note. It seemed to be coming from a clump […]

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Sparrow Study

As common as these little birds are, did you know there are about thirty-five different sparrow species in North America? Personally, I love sparrows: their happy chirps, and perky presence always makes me smile. The featured bird and this younger version above nest in a creeping vine on a nearby carwash. Although, I am in […]

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The Rookery

There is a small wooded area, really just a patch of Live Oaks, that grows between the main highway out of Rockport, Texas and the waterfront. We’d passed it many times, and hadn’t noticed, until friends pointed it out. It’s a rookery: the place herons and egrets come to build nests and nurse their young. […]

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Birding Heaven

Port Aransas has a birding centre that was damaged during hurricane Harvey. The new facility opened this week and it’s incredible! A flock of sandpipers fly in just as we arrive. I search across the marsh to see where they’ve landed, now camouflaged among the reeds, mud, and shallow waters. I follow the sidewalk to […]

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Paradise Pond Take II

Warmer weather encourages us to get out. We take the short ferry ride across to Port Aransas on Mustang Island. Paradise Pond is our destination. Many others have had the same idea and gather around the opening to the boardwalk. I look for what has caught their attention and spot a bird rapidly flitting about […]

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Tule Marsh

“Have you been to Tule Marsh yet?” our new neighbours ask the moment we tell them we like birds. “The Whistling Ducks are there.” I’ve been wanting to see the Whistling Ducks! The Tule Marsh spans both sides of Highway 35 in Rockport, although apart from some small signs, it is hard to spot, which […]

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Paradise Pond

In Port Aransas, just off one of the main roads, is a driveway that cuts through a Mexican restaurant. Behind the restaurant are high fences and a boardwalk leading into a secluded area. This is Paradise Pond. On our first visit, we met locals who described the importance of the area environmentally, and alerted us […]

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