Decided to spend a few hours, a couple of weeks ago, wandering one of my favorite parks here in the Austin area - Brushy Creek Lake Park. I was able to capture images of an amazing variety of birds.
A very interesting gangly bird that kind of looks like a combination of a goose and loon. They have orange/yellow skin on their face and throat. They didn't get super close to me so my images are from a distance. It was fun to watch them as they are very active in the water splashing around. I hope to someday get close enough so I can capture their incredibly colorful blue eyes on camera.
Gallery of Cormorant Pics
A small bird that loves to dive and has a surprisingly long neck when you catch them extending it. They use their chunky bills to kill and eat large crustaceans along with a great variety of fish, amphibians, insects, and other invertebrates. They are very unique looking and remind me of a baby dragon!
Gallery of Grebe Pics
They behave like ducks but are actually chicken-like birds and are very recognizable with their white bill, dark body and very red eyes (which are hard to catch on camera). I haven't been able to see one on land yet to spot their interesting long toes as they do not have webbed feet. They spent all their time dipping down in the water eating aquatic plants and splashing around.
Gallery of Pics
I had seen this beauty as I was up the river and as I got closer it flew off. I was pretty bummed.
Decided to continue hiking along the river and about 30 minutes later looked up and there it was in the tree! I crouched down and was able to watch it for quite a while as the sun came/went behind clouds which made for cool lighting changes in my images. Just a stunning white bird with it's long feathers against the backdrop of the trees.
A heron that's lightly smaller than a Great Blue Heron. Great Egret's were hunted nearly to extinction for their plumes in the late nineteenth century sparking some of the first laws to protect birds. They hunt in classic heron fashion, standing immobile or wading through wetlands to capture fish with a deadly jab of their yellow bill.
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