This Great Blue Heron flew in and chased several other birds off the tree. He was quite anonyedPhoto Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears. - SundownIsland's Photos

2009 Annual Bird Census for Colonial Waterbirds on the Audubon Bird Sanctuary, Sundown Island (POC). Included in this gallery are photos taken by Tim and Peggy Wilkinson in March 2009, the beginning of the breeding season for colonial waterbirds.

To read more, visit http://www.sundownisland.org.

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SundownIsland > The counters assemble on the dock before leaving to count the birds. Snake guards, mosquito spray, gear and water all have to be dealt with before anyone takes off. Photo Credit: May 2009, Peggy Wilkinson.

SundownIsland > Tim Wilkinson (on the back of the tractor), Warden Chester Smith's son-in-law, puts on his snake guards before leaving with Chester (driving the tractor). I'm (Marcy Spears, volunteer) waving at Peggy Wilkinson, who was taking the photo. Photo Credit: May 2009, Peggy Wilkinson.

SundownIsland > While the counters were "counting" I lodged myself in front of two nests. One had two Great Egret chicks and the other had three Brown Pelican Chicks. I was hoping to catch a "feeding photo" but did not get that lucky. What I did see was an "amazing amount" of sibling rilvary. These two chicks look pretty docile, but believe me, the one on the right was definately the larger, dominate chick. Photo Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > These are the same Great Egret chicks as in the last photo. The smaller one is resting (or playing possum or giving up??) while the other one is having a fit. Photo Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > To the right of where I was sitting (the Egrets were on my left) there were three Brown Pelican chicks on my right. This is one of the parents. I never could tell if there were two nests or one. I suspect—two. Photo Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > The younger, smaller Brown Pelican chick nestles up against the older chick for some shade. Notice the beak of the third chick behind the larger one. It was very hot in the middle of the island where their next was located. Photo Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > When one of the parents returned to the nest, the first thing the chicks did was jockey for shade under the parent. Photo Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > Beau Hardegree, Fish & Wildlife Services, moves ahead of his counting group. Notice how dry the vegetation seems. Although there were some sunflowers they were not nearly as thick as we have seen them in he past.Photo Credit: May 2009, Peggy Wilkinson.

SundownIsland > Finally...I captured a flying Roseate Spoonbill. Most of the Roseate's like to hang out on the West side of the island. This one was flying across the field I was sitting in. Photo Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > This lone Great Egret was standing off to himself having chased another bird off the tree.Photo Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > Robyn Cobb, Fish & Wildlife Services, stops to review her count. In the forground are lots of Silver-leafed Sunflowers, but not so many flowers, due to the drought.Photo Credit: May 2009, Peggy Wilkinson.

SundownIsland > This Great Blue Heron flew in and chased several other birds off the tree. He was quite anonyedPhoto Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > Left to right, back row (Ray Guse, Nancy Posey, Wade Harrell, Petra Hockey, Brush Freeman and Diane Nunley; middle row (Chester Smith and Marcy Spears; front row (Beau Hardegree, Amy Hanna, Andy Kasner, Tim and Peggy (not in photo) Wilkinson and Robyn Cobb). Photo Credit: May 2009, Peggy Wilkinson.

SundownIsland > Andy Kasner, Ph.D., Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon Texas, waits by the second boat to begin loading for the trip home. Photo Credit: May 2009, Peggy Wilkinson.

SundownIsland > Chester Smith, Warden of the Audubon Bird Sanctuary on Sundown Island, Port O'Connor. Chester was waiting for us to finish loading the boats for the trip home.Photo Credit: May 2009, Peggy Wilkinson.

This Great Blue Heron flew in and chased several other birds off the tree. He was quite anonyedPhoto Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

SundownIsland > This Great Blue Heron flew in and chased several other birds off the tree. He was quite anonyedPhoto Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

This Great Blue Heron flew in and chased several other birds off the tree. He was quite anonyedPhoto Credit: May 2009, Marcy Spears.

original size: 3533px x 2286px |

Current: 600px x 388px |

Other sizes: S • Medium • L |

filename: IMG_1857 |

Keywords: adult great blue heron

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