The Nature of Things

Texas is blessed with a number of wonderful state and national parks and national wildlife refuges. It's one of the things that makes our area a paradise for birders. And birds. Last Saturday, our family spent most of the day at one of my favorite parks and birding spots, Brazos Bend State Park . The occasion was a celebration of our older daughter's birthday. The park is near where she and her husband live and celebrating her birthday there has become an annual event.  After our cook-out luncheon, we went for a walk around Elm Lake, one of the several lakes within the park. And, of course, I managed to get in a little birding along the way. Birds were not as plentiful as they will be in spring and summer, but there were still a good number of them about.  One can always count on seeing American Coots at any time of the year at any wetland in the area. And the Common Gallinule is truly common. There were scores of noisy Black-bellied Whistling Ducks around the lake. It was ...

American Coot   White Ibis  Purple Gallinule chick  Anhinga  Snowy Egret  Little Blue Heron Green Heron  Great Egret

The Purple Gallinule is one of the most colorful members of a rather uncolorful family, the rails. Specifically, they are part of the order Gruiformes , family Rallidae . It is a family with many extended relatives, including some rather famous ones like the Whooping Crane. Purple Gallinules have some much closer and more common relatives in the American Coot and the appropriately-named Common Moorhen. The gallinules share body-type and many lifestyle habits with these two birds. Common Moorhen. Note the very red bill with its white tip. The American Coot, on the other hand, features a white bill with a white frontal shield on the forehead. Both of these birds are more common in our area than the Purple Gallinule. The gallinule is more of a tropical bird, but it can be found in the eastern third of Texas and all along the Gulf Coast in summer. In recent years, a few of the birds have spent their summers at Brazos Bend State Park and they were my main reason for wanting to vis...