Osprey stare down, Whoopers at Lamar, and Rosette Spoonbills

It been a while since our last entry, because we have been finishing jewelry and necklaces for our space at the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Show. It’s the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral's 60th Show, and as usual will be held at the Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas. We decided we needed a break and so we grabbed our cameras for a quick trip to Lamar. There are not many places in the world where such beautiful and endangered species are so easy to spot. After crossing the Copano Bay Bridge we headed down along St Charles Bay and found three whooping cranes watching a feeder.

As you can see one is telling the others something but as we don’t speak bird language we can only guess… Leaving the three cranes we next headed to Eighth Street where we spotted a large flock of Rosette Spoonbills with immature sand hill cranes feeding among them.

The spoonbills are in their breeding colors, which are shades of bright pink, a palette of unique colors in nature. You can also see that a couple of the birds have claimed a spot for their nests.

Driving further we had a stare down with an osprey, watching us as we took its picture.

Ospreys always seem to have a glare on their face as they decide if you prey that is just too big to eat.

As we watched another set of whoopers. we saw one doing its stretch. It’s a common whooper stretch that they often engage in after taking an afternoon siesta. There were a lot of people around, (President’s Day), and so we didn’t see much else. An Eastern peewee hunted near Big Tree but didn’t pose long enough for a good picture.

Reaching the shoreline, we saw a woman flyfishing but she didn’t catch any fish while we watched. Four kayakers were also fishing but again we didn’t see any sign of action. Still it was a productive birding trip and a good break from our jewelry benches, (a tv table in front of the couch and the dining table. Today we are going to Robstown to set up. Clear skies