from Ingleside on the Bay, Texas

During a recent trip to Ingleside on the Bay and Corpus Christi Bay, we were able to watch some beautiful herons as they enjoyed the gulf region as well. And the gulls were just comical!

Birds on the Lake

©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Birds on the Lake (9-12-11). Pen in large handbook sketchbook.

I was lucky enough to see some water birds when we were taking our last boat ride on the lake for the year. There is a family of three swans (two adults and one juvenile) that I've been noticing swimming around the lake. After doing some reading, I think these are mute swans because they have a knob on their forehead. At the bottom of the page, I sketched some ducks, which look like little blurs because they were moving so fast.

I also spotted a heron on the water's edge (lower right). This particular heron likes to walk along our shoreline and fish from our dock. Before we took the boat out of the water, I spotted it climbing onto the boat to fish! Even though he moves very slowly, I was still only able to make stick figure like sketches of it (see below).


©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Heron on the Move (9-13-11). Pen in large handbook sketchbook.

June 2011: Herons and Egrets Tree

June 2011: Herons and Egrets Tree, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

I recently found this amazing alley of trees with dozens of birds nesting. Surprisingly very loudly! I was able to identify egrets and black crowned night herons and enjoyed listening to the conversation for a little while trying to make out where nests were.

Sketching Water Birds at Pinckney Island WMA

I had the good fortune to meet and bird with Kelly, of Red and the Peanut blog this week. I sooo love meeting blogging friends :)

Our destination was Pinckney Island Wildlife Management Area, Hilton Head Island, SC. This wonderful place is just about 6  miles from my house and I'm ashamed to say I just don't get a chance to go there that often. We walked to Ibis Pond. Kelly has a keen eye and pointed out many a bird treat.  The first was a Boat-tailed Grackle, Quiscalus major, nest built within the cattail reeds - a beautiful, deep structure constructed from dead cattail reeds and woven into living cattails.

Kelly captured this sketching moment for me :) My scope is just in front of me. I love sketching with a scope. My sketching combines both blind and modified contour techniques.

The Grackles were flying above us, sounding like helicopters. Just as I was about to move on, I saw a Grackles beak rise above the side of the nest!

I moved a bit more to the left and started to draw a pair of Ibis. The Funky Ibis on the left side of the page was totally blind contour.... thus it's beak is a bit on the funky side :) This one was perched above and to the left of a nest, the other laying on the nest. Just when I was going to start sketching the Ibis on the nest, they traded places. Dang... But, it was fun to see the changing of the guard :)

Then I spotted two juvi Tricolored Herons, Egretta tricolor, with fantastic 'bad hair' heads. Oooo they are so fun!

We moved around to see the more densely populated trees. Just amazing. Kelly said the bird numbers are actually down from her visit here last year.  We are in the midst of a drought which directly affects nesting. I can't believe how much the cattails have filled in the pond since my visit in 2009.  It's a wonder there's any open water. 

Here's a taste of what we were viewing...

White Ibis, Eudocimus albus, in rookery

This short video of Little Blue Herons, Egretta caerulea, shows adults flying in to feed their babies.  Immature Little Blues are always white. Their feathers will start to darken after their first spring. You can distinguish them from Snowy Egrets, Egretta thula, by noting coloration of their beak (pale grayish green) and legs (pale dull green). I shot this with my little Nikon Coolpix.  I so love this camera :) Kelly's doing most of the narrative. She's so funny!

And, the completed journal page... I added color at home.

It was so good to finally meet you, Kelly!! Let's do this again :)

Amazing August--Cathy Johnson

Great Blue Herons are among my favorite birds, and I got to watch this one for almost an hour on Saturday. I'm glad I had the small pair of binoculars that lives in the Jeep!

He had a fish when we arrived and dispatched it with great concentration; then groomed himself thoroughly after his meal. He appeared to take a brief nap, but was awakened by the sound of a VERY large fish jumping. In minutes he was on the hunt again, stalking through the shallows as in the small picture at the bottom of the page.

You can read more about these big, prehistoric-looking birds on the Missouri Department of Conservation website, HERE.

It was so incredibly peaceful...I loved being out at Rocky Hollow with only a few other people; it's a small lake but wondrously unpopulated for a cool, sunny weekend.

The view at the top COULD have been at the lake, but in fact it's a bit of landscape sandwiched in between our library and the local radio station. I sketched it while Joseph went in to return our books...