The boardwalks at Smith Oaks are well positioned to observe the amazing rookery of Roseate Spoonbills, Great and Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, and Neo-tropic Cormorants. I spent the entire morning just watching and photographing the birds. It was so cool being here basically alone with the birds after the place was so packed with people yesterday. Very interesting to see how they interact cross species.
Every now and then a large alligator would mosey up close to the shore and make like a log. I know he was thinking that a non-suspecting spoonbill or egret would amble by looking for a stick or a crawdad and Mr. Gator would have a nice feathery breakfast. After a while he would give up and try the same thing at another location and so on and so forth. I never saw that it paid off for him.
Later on we drove down to Rollover Pass and Bolivar Flats where we found lots of cool shorebirds and terns. It was pretty funny because in the middle of all this birding Torrey had an exam and took it on the beach in the back of the truck. That's not the way we done it when I was in school.
Afterwards we drove back to High Island and hooked up the trailer (which has taken on the name of Pooh, cause it's called a Micro-MINNIE and made by Winnebago) and we took off for Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge.
Nice shots!
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