An Alligator on My Way

 Recently I went to take pictures of birds at the Brazos Bend State Park. I wanted to take pictures of birds flying in the evening sun, so I planned to head to one of their observation towers. On the way, I encountered an alligator hanging out in the middle of the trail. As soon as I spotted the alligator, I stopped. The trail was surrounded by water, so there was no way that I can detour and continue walking on the trail. There was also no time to go all the way back to the starting point and choose a different trail to get to the tower because by the time I get to the tower, it is going to be too dark to take pictures of flying birds. I waited from a distance for a while to see if the gator will go back to the water ... or nicely look at my camera so that I can capture his wild face. The clock was ticking ... I was losing evening sun every minute.

After 10 minutes, I gave up. It was already getting too dark. I decided no to go to the tower. There will be another day I can try to capture the birds in the evening sun from the tower.

On the way back, I stopped by an observation deck where I can see hundreds of water lilies. The flowers were closed up, but I noticed beautiful color on the water. It is always amazing to find out how evening sun can change the color of water.

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By the way, here is a link to what the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department recommends when you see an alligator: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/alligator/safety/index.phtml

Make sure you read them before you go to photo-shoot in an area where alligators live.

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Yawn, Sunbath, and Hunt

Have you seen a bird looking like the one in the picture? They are called Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, one of the commonly seen relatively big water birds (about 60cm - or about 2 feet - tall) in Texas. Many of them live in wetland but I saw one along the San Antonio River Walk in Texas, a very populated (by people) beautiful park along the river in the middle of the city of San Antonio too. When I was taking pictures in Brazos Bend State Park, I saw many of them standing still like a statue, like the one in the picture above. I waited and observed them about three hours or so to see what they are doing.

It was a very hot and humid day in Houston, and I imagine it was not an easy day for any water birds to hunt for food. Most of the living creatures in the water -- alligators, frogs, fishes, etc. -- avoided the hot-tub like water temperature around the surface and stayed closer to the bottom. Under the beating sun, the herons were standing still and patiently waiting -- at least 15 to 20 minutes at one spot -- for their prey. The one in the picture flew to the next spot after he couldn't find any food.

He decided to land on a deep muddy water and look for his food. After a while later, a movement happened.  He ambushed his prey by throwing himself in the mud --but unluckily (and lucky for his prey), he missed it.

As the sun went down, the temperature dropped a little bit. A nice breeze came through the wetland in the Brazos Bend State Park. One heron was spreading his wings, enjoying the breeze in the evening sun (I posted about this yellow-crowned night heron spreading his wings and enjoying sunbath earlier too) -- or was he drying his wings? Either way, he looked very happy.

It was getting dark, and I was on the way to leave the park. I noticed a heron standing very close to me, again, waiting for his prey. He looked serious first, but then -- he yawned. Maybe he is tired of waiting for his prey. I would be sleepy too if I were him.

Then all the sudden, he was alerted. He made this serious face. I wondered if I can finally see the moment a heron catches his prey.

A few minutes later, he slowly looked away. Then suddenly turned around and jumped in the water. What did he find?

He caught a big frog! Unlucky for me, he was facing away from my camera when he swallowed it at once. But soon after he turned around, I noticed his cheeks were still full. And I took this picture.

After he finished his meal, he again seriously started looking for his prey. His hunt will continue.

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A lost baby duck

Yesterday when I was checking my friend's Facebook update, I saw a picture of ducklings swimming together with their mother duck. The picture reminded me of a baby duck I found in Village Creek Drying Beds in Arlington, TX back in April. He was alone, lost from his family, trying to find some bugs to eat. After he finished his meal, he started taking a nap like a human baby. This is one of the pictures that I took when he was about to take a nap. Later a local guy came and took him to a nearby pond where many ducks and ducklings were swimming, hoping he is going to be reunited with his family again.

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Wild Kansas: Rocks from 80 million years ago

I was going through some of my pictures that I took last December. After I left my newspaper job in New York City in November, I was not sure what kind of photography I want to pursuit. On the way back from Denver, CO to my home in Houston, TX, I decided to stop by this not well known National Natural Landmark which became one of the eye-opener landscapes for me. It's called Monument Rocks, and the formation goes up to 70 feet. Apparently the formation was formed 80 million years ago!!


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