Tag: Reddish Egret

I’m Too Sexy for my Plumes (and some Brags)

We are quickly approaching another page turning on the calendar. Normally I feel a bit down when this time comes as it marks another month gone, never to be recovered and the inevitable “I could have done more” feeling that has nagged me most of my life. In this case.. bring it on, this weather is too damn COLD!! Sorry, I’m not conditioned for these Midwest Tundra Februaries anymore ha. Before I get into today’s “redemption” post, need to get some brags out of the way. Ruger and Raven had their end of the year award recognition event last week and they wanted to show off their trophy plaques.

Raven has had a pretty incredible agility career over his 11 years so far and likes to hold it over his younger brother that he is on his 4th board. Those plates represent all his Agility Titles including Championships with a Tricks title thrown in – “Eat my dust Ruger-child!“.

Raven Dog Agility/Tricks Awards 2025

Ruger likes to point out that he is only 4 and already filling a 2nd board with his Agility Titles including Championships along with his FastCAT Championship titles (100yd dash) and a Versatility in Poodle Certificate – “Suck it old man Raven!“

Ruger Agility/FastCAT/Versatility Awards 2025

The brag bickering these two do back and forth on a daily basis is nearly insufferable. Don’t tell them or their heads will get bigger than they are, but we are very proud of both of them. The Boys and I are also very proud of “Mommy” who puts in all the work to get each of those plates. Well done everyone!

Okay, we need to get to today’s post which is really a companion piece to my last post.

Reddish Egrets found at South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center in January of 2025

So, I got a lot of feedback on how sad they felt for the male Reddish Egret that was embarrassingly rejected in front of all the locals at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center (link here). It just so happens another encounter was occurring further south of there. Hit the jump to see if this meeting turned out any better.

Continue reading I’m Too Sexy for my Plumes (and some Brags)

Love Hurts

Before I go ANY further…

CONGRATULATIONS to our men’s and women’s Olympic hockey team players/coaches/staff – you did us proud!!! What the men did for the Gaudreau children is the antithesis for today’s post. Okay, back to the regularly scheduled programming (as I wipe away a few tears of joy).

Since I lost my voice thanks to “our” (I am sure I helped in some way) OT win this morning, figured I would sit quietly down and put the finishing touches on a post I was planning on putting out back on Valentine’s Day. Traditionally, I feature the “red” feathered birds for that special someone’s day – problem was I didn’t have one of those ready to go, so I went with a series that played out last year at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. After getting most of it ready to go, I decided that wasn’t a good time to feature courtship rejection.

Love hurts, love scars
Love wounds, and marks
Any heart, not tough
or strong enough

White Morph Reddish Egrets found at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, Port Aransas, TX in January 2025

You will understand after the jump.

Continue reading Love Hurts

Gentlemen Prefer Gingers

By the time you are reading this, we will be off to southern Texas. Believe this is the first time we have visited our favorite state at this time of year. By now I am sure everyone is aware we spent lot of our vacation time on the Gulf Coast and down along the Rio Grande Valley during our corporate years. We have continued… and extended our time there now into our retirement years. Our company would shut down between Christmas and New Year’s (initially started to reduce costs at our manufacturing facilities). No longer bound by the designated vacation days, we have been spending all of January in that warmer climate – well, up until this year when we decided to try out Arizona instead – regretted. Having missed our time in Texas, we are making our first Spring visit and excited to try out a new birding season. There is a bit of concern about the tourist competition being in the midst of Spring Break for many of the schools across the nation. Time will tell, but honestly, it is hard for us to ever be disappointed down there. I may be a bit sparse as we chew up the miles and I also know Brad will be heading back out on assignment soon, so apologies in advance for the expected delays in responses. The good news is we have plenty of material ready to go to keep everyone entertained while we are out and about.

Without further delay, how about we get to today’s featured feathered friend!

Hit the jump to read more about our ginger feathered specimen.

Continue reading Gentlemen Prefer Gingers

Somewhat Red for Xmas

I can tell Christmas is almost here by the signs of growing stress while out and about. It all really starts on Black Friday … let me take that back, thanks to greedy merchants and blunt force trauma of Christmas advertising campaigns it really starts in mid-October. This premature blitz causes some serious angst with me as it is a clear war on my favorite holiday Halloween. Pretty sure the Kringle capitalists want to dispense with the orange and black and force a solid 3 month barrage of sleigh bells and, god forbid, horrible version after horrible version of Santa Baby. It may just be me, but by the time this traditionally festive time comes to a head I am worn out. Sure, I like to entertain myself by spending time at popular merchants observing frantic people desperate to fill the void under the tree or get that hot item that sold out … in October, but you have to feel a bit saddened to see the impact a once joy-centric event now has on society. Linda gives me a hard time about my tradition of going to the stores on Christmas Eve to experience this devolution – this is what psychology enthusiasts do for fun. I cannot speak for other countries and cultures, but if you happen to live in the US, take a look around and start assessing the happiness of those around you, especially on the road, in the parking lots and especially in the cashier lines – what percentage give the impression they are glad to be there? If they do look happy, they are probably psychology majors ha! Feel bad about the downer opening, but really just hoping you can take a breath and remember the holiday should really be about family, relaxation and well, blogging!

Finally worked up a long series for my other blog (ironically focused on Halloween), but before investing in that effort, thought I’d get another bird post out for my wildlife readers. Going with one of the big boys today.

Reddish Egret discovered at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge January 2017

The Reddish Egret is not the largest of the shorebirds, but still tower over the standard peeps and plovers whose shorter legs force them to forage closer to the shore. In fact, just the three toed foot of the Egrets are larger than some of those birds. Those other shorebirds don’t seem to be stressed by the size different, since I have never seen a Reddish, or for that matter any Egret, waste their time harassing the smaller birds – probably worried some stressed out piper trying to get a last minute Xmas gift will go medieval on them. Nope these Egrets are calm, cool and collected as they keep an eye out for an unfortunate frog (now, frogs do have a legitimate reason to be stressed).

Reddish Egret discovered at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge January 2017

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of the two-toned Egret!

Continue reading Somewhat Red for Xmas

Trifecta Scores One

Welcome back everyone! Hope everyone had a good holiday and didn’t go too far overboard on eating.  Always a tough holiday for me since I have a bad habit of doing the math on what it will take to work off every dessert that I opt to enjoy.  You gotta splurge every once in a while otherwise all those workout sessions start being …well w o r k rather than an opportunity to enjoy some sweetness.  Been a busy holiday for me so decided to take a quick break and rest the legs – fingers were itching to do something, so brought up the WordPress dashboard and away we go.

Today’s post doesn’t feature one bird… not even two birds, rather THREE birds.  A true birding trifecta.  Let’s start with this pretty Heron.

Heron shot near Galveston, TX in November 2013

That my friends is a Tricolored Heron.  It was shot while on our Texas birding trip back in November 2013.  In fact, all three birds in this post were taken on that particular trip.  My apologies, but I cannot remember the exact location this one was taken at.  Maybe Linda can remember and let us know in the comments.  I do recall that there were a number of small channels that were being used by kayaks – possibly a state park.  Likely somewhere near Galveston.
Heron shot near Galveston, TX in November 2013

Hit the jump to read more about this bird as well as two other large waders.

Continue reading Trifecta Scores One