On the Road–Texas Wading Birds

tanjabrittonwriter 76 Comments

I always claim that my favorite bird is the one I’m watching at any given moment and while I stand by that statement, some birds undeniably have an added aura of attractiveness.

Such is the case with wading birds. Sleek and slender with varying degrees of long-leggedness, lovely color combinations, and accent plumes, they are grace and elegance personified (or rather, avified). Most stride or run through shallow water along the shores of lakes or ponds or banks of rivers, where they forage for aquatic insects, crustaceans, or fish (though their diet might also include small amphibians, reptiles, even mammals or other birds). Many have dagger-like bills that strike at lightning speed and impale the clueless victims. Others probe the mud or filter water for edible morsels.

The sheer number and variety of wading birds stood out during our Texas trip this spring. In the part of Colorado where we reside, I occasionally see small clusters of Snowy Egrets, a dozen or so Great Blue Herons in a rookery, or a handful of Great Egrets during migration, but the White Ibis, Little Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, Reddish Egrets, and Roseate Spoonbills that populate the Texas Coast year-round and often gather in large groups were special, especially since I encountered the last three species for the first time in my life. The out-of-the-way, and splendidly plumaged American Flamingo in the featured photo above was an unexpected bonus.

I hope you will enjoy the portrait gallery of Texas wading birds.

Least Bittern (Botaurus exilis)/Indianerdommel. I missed out on seeing American Bitterns.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) on a mangrove/Kanadareiher auf einer Mangrove, weit weg von Kanada

Little Blue Heron, juvenile (Egretta caerulea)/Blaureiher

Little Blue heron, adult (Egretta caerulea)/Blaureiher

Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)/Krabbenreiher. I also missed out on seeing Black-crowned Night Herons.

Great Egret (Ardea alba)/Silberreiher

Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) with “golden slippers”/Schmuckreiher mit “goldenen Pantoffeln”

Western Cattle-Egret (Egretta ibis)/Kuhreiher. Unlike the others, this bird prefers fields as opposed to streams and forages near the feet of cattle, feeding on grasshoppers and other animals.

Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor)/Dreifarbenreiher

Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor)/Dreifarbenreiher

Reddish Egret, dark morph (Egretta rufescens)/Rötelreiher, dunkle Form

Reddish Egret, white morph(Egretta rufescens)/Rötelreiher, weiße Form

White Ibis, juvenile (Eudocimus albus)/Schneesichler

White Ibis, adult (Eudocimus albus)/Schneesichler

Roseate Spoonbill, 2nd year (Platalea ajaja)/Rosalöffler

Roseate Spoonbill, adult (Platalea ajaja)/Rosalöffler

Green Heron (Butorides virescens) on a nest with beautiful bluish eggs/Grünreiher mit Nest. I hope those eggs have hatched and the juvenile Green Herons are eagerly exploring their new world.

If you are interested in my previous posts about our road trip, you can find them under the Texas tab in the menu.

76 thoughts on “On the Road–Texas Wading Birds”

  1. Ich genieße Deine Vogelbilder aus Texas sehr, wie Du weißt. Die Least Bittern habe ich nicht gesehen, alle anderen liefen mir auch vor die Kamera. So wunderschöne Erinnerungen. Und den Green Heron im Nest, wie schön das Bild ist. Texas hat noch sehr viel Natur zu bieten, besonders Vögel, wir haben aber auch ein Wildschwein gesehen, einen riesigen Eber im Naturschutzgebiet Aransas, wir waren damals erschrocken.;-)
    Wir haben ein paar Tage Urlaub im Osten gemacht, dort ist die Natur noch mehr intakt als bei uns. Ich hatte auf der Merlin App viele Vögel, die es hier gar nicht mehr gibt. Gesehen habe ich sie allerdings nicht 😉
    Liebe Grüße
    Maren

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  2. Liebe Tanja.
    Es gibt so viele interessante und hübsche Vögel auf der Welt.
    Es ist bezaubernd.
    Danke für die Vorstellung und wunderbaren Aufnahmen!
    Leider darf ich wegen einer Schulterüberbelastung durch das Fotografieren unserer Vögel hier im Lande keine Vögel mehr “schnappen”
    Aber gucken und hören geht ja weiterhin.
    Ich wünsche dir viel Vergnügen weiterhin beim birding.
    Liebe Grüße Brigitte

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    • Liebe Brigitte,

      Das hast Du gut zusammengefaßt. Unsere Lieblingswesen (neben Buddy, natürlich!) sind interessant, hübsch und bezaubern.

      Es tut mir leid zu hören, daß Deine Schultern die schwere Kamera nicht mehr tragen kann. Wenn Dir das Gucken reicht, ist es gut. Wenn aber nicht, gibt es viele Kameras, die nicht viel wiegen und trotzdem gute Bilder machen.

      Auch Dir weiterhin Freude und Beglückung beim “Birding”.

      Dir und Buddy ein angenehmes Wochenende.

      Herzlichst,

      Tanja

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  3. Liebe Tanja, dein Bericht und die Fotos sind wirklich beeindruckend! Besonders die Bilder der Watvögel fangen die Eleganz und Anmut dieser faszinierenden Vögel perfekt ein. Die Vielfalt der Arten, die du während eurer Texasreise entdeckt hast, kommt auf deinen Fotos wunderbar zur Geltung. Wirklich super ist das Foto des amerikanischen Flamingos! Wie schön, dass du die Gelegenheit hattest, solch prächtige Gefieder in natura zu sehen. Danke, dass du diese besonderen Momente mit uns teilst!

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    • Liebe Rosie,

      herzlichen Dank für den netten Kommentar. All diese Vogelbegegnungen haben mich sehr beglückt und gleichzeitig die Traurigkeit darüber vertieft, daß so viele Arten nach und nach verschwinden und der Wille und Einsatz fehlen, das zu tun, was nötig wäre, um ihnen ein Weiterleben zu ermöglichen.

      Sei herzlich gegrüßt,

      Tanja

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  7. It’s easy to see you made the most of your birding visit to the coast.

    I looked up the German word for ‘heron,’ Reiher, and found it developed from Old High German reigaro, which turns out to have been an alternate form of Old High German heigaro. You can trace that even farther back, and see how English heron is related, in Wiktionary.

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    • Thank you. Many of these birds did not mind posing, which was a boon for all of us photographers.

      I can see why the Roseate Spoonbill would be a favourite–it’s hard to argue with anybody who doesn’t mind wearing bright and unabashed pink.

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  19. Tanja, you were able to check off a myriad of wading birds on this trip. I bet you are still processing and sorting all of the photos you didn’t publish.

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    • Thank you, Brad. It was very gratifying to see such a wonderful variety of wading birds.

      I have thought about wrapping up my posts about Texas birds in order to focus on what’s been happening in the here and now, but I think I need to do at least 2 or 3 more about our trip. I have plenty of photos to do more, but I feel the need to be done soon.

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      • Tanja, I think the photos are done when they are done, and not before; we all want to see the stories attached. As Brian tells me, it’s not only the photos but the story that goes with them. I’ve found more than a dozen stories from a single location, so too should you if the photos suggest it. Plus, they don’t all have to be done now. Use them as a reward, or a break, from the everyday here and now stuff. Hey, maybe that’s why Brian claims he has such a backlog of photos… 🙂

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  20. Hi, Mrs. Tanja-

    I thoroughly enjoyed your amazing photos!! Thank you for sharing them. I especially loved the Roseate Spoonbill since I think that their beaks are just so fascinating. Once more, it looks like your trip to Texas was a success for sure. 🙂

    Blessings,

    ~Gavin

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    • Thank you, Gavin. It makes me happy to know you enjoyed these photos.

      Isn’t it fun when a bird’s name reflects one of its main characteristics? The spoonbill definitely fits that bill (pun intended). I also love that dazzling pink plumage.

      More photos of birds to come . . . 😊

      Enjoy your weekend,

      Tanja

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  22. What a fun post! I’m so glad you were able to see so many of the birds that inhabit my world on a daily basis. I was especially interested in the photo of the least bittern. I’ve seen American bitterns a few times at the Brazoria refuge, but I’ve yet to come across the least bittern. Another I’ve yet to see is the white morph of the reddish egret. I’m not sure I even knew that one had a white morph.

    Just for fun, on Friday I made a list of the herons and egrets that were sharing the large boatshed where I was working. In the course of the day, these showed up: great blue heron, great egret, black-crowned night heron, green heron, snowy egret, and a little blue heron. The bitterns, spoonbills, yellow-crowned night herons, tri-colored herons, and cattle egrets never show up around the marinas: no doubt because of lack of cover and too-deep water.

    One of my favorite series of bird photos involves a black-crowned night heron that began roosting in a tree by my home parking area. Being able to shoot upward offered an unusual and unbelievably cute perspective on the bird.

    It’s been wonderful to follow along as you discovered all these Texas treasures!

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    • Thank you, Linda. All these long-legged beauties count among my favorite memories of our trip.

      How lucky you are to see so many of them on a regular basis, eg. when working on boats.

      We saw 2 or 3 Little Bittern at Estero Llano Grande SP; it was actually the first time that I was able to get close looks at them, prior to that day, I had only heard them in the cattails.

      I’m pleased to know that I remember your post about the night heron. I just double-checked–I liked and commented on that post from January 2020 (where, oh where, does time go?!).

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  23. What a wonderful collection of birds, all beautifully photographed! We get a few grey herons and little egrets on the river here. (They make a change from the more usual swans and ducks, which we have lots of!)

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  26. That is fine representation of the Texas shorebird variety Tanja. Of course, the first shot is the prize in my opinion and 2nd, well it has to be the least bittern. If you only get to see one bittern, the least is the one you want as it is far more secluded and harder to find than the American (Leona was always the go to place for the American, but in recent years, it has been absent and replaced by the Least). The funny thing is, based on the settings of these shots I can probably identify where you took the shots ha. Nice job!

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