Wading in a pond is not only a way of getting food, but also a way of staying cool on hot New Orleans afternoons. These two Ibis were at Lafreniere Park in Metairie --- the 150-acre park is built around a central lake and birding habitat that rivals anything in the wild. It features Ibis, Egrets, Canadian Geese, Black Swans and more -- I have even seen a pair of Roseate Spoonbills there.
Okay, you can take back what you said about being stupid as a bird. Take it back.
This feathered fellow was faced with an obvious problem. "If I can't fish, I can't eat and I will starve to death." So he put some good old bird-brain power into it and decided to panhandle to earn enough for some bird feed. The Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron wasn't getting any takers, but he had stick-to-it-ness. He was standing like this for about an hour while I was there. ("there" is the rookery on Oschner Island at Audubon Park in New Orleans.) I figured he was just one of the indigent species here.
An Great White Egret navigates through the top of the trees at Oschner Island in Audubon Park, New Orleans, to zoom into its nest. Once there two hungry chicks will fight and make a big ruckus over who gets to eat first. Mom will thrust her beak down the beak of the chick to deliver a delicious concoction of digested insects and other creepy things.
This is an Io Moth caterpillar that was hanging just a couple feet from me the other day in New Orleans. These caterpillars like their space, if you get stung by one (by touching it), you will give them that space from then on. Notice the red and white strip that is an identifying characteristic of these caterpillars
The rain finally stopped just short of noon. It was the 7 a.m. to about 9 a.m. time frame that did the damage. For a while, rain was coming down at the rate of about 5 inches per hour. The garage roof, just outside my window was a sheet of water -- not water trickling down, a SHEET of water. Then, it stopped and the sun came out. sparkling the leaves, evaporating the drops on their bright surfaces.
The end of the slide has come and you now slip into another feeling, another being. You let the water surround you and shoot past your face. You slide into the colorless world of your new aqueous being. Mouth closed, you hide your life-giving air tightly inside you while you explore your new watery existence.
Hey, its what being a kid is about. Exploring your world in all the ways you can. But never too far from mom.
Our grandson, Sullivan, forgot that he had become a fish at the end of last summer, but he quickly remembered that was what he was in his first visit to the deep. The fisherman becomes the fish.
The site is a water park in College Station, Texas
Okay, you have climbed and climbed. You've justled and pushed. You bounced past all those other water drops. You're at the top. You've won. Now it's time to look down. Let gravity have its way. You've had your day. It's time to let go and find your destiny below. Don't hit the ground in vain. Push and bustle your way down to smash on your target. Find a kid. Splash him. Grand style. Do it.
This picture is from the Triathlon at Moody Gardens on Galveston a couple weeks ago. The center rider is our son, Charli. The small group comes in for the finish of the 28 mile bike ride and prepares for the 6.1 mile run to finish the Quarter Iron Man.
At the beach in Galveston, our grandson practices the fine art of wave jumping. Our daughter, Vicky, and our son-in-law Aaron, also dip their toes in the salty waves of the Gulf of Mexico
