Steve and Judy's Travels!

At the real zoo in Brownsville with Becky and Brian.

https://www.google.com/maps/@25.912582,-97.4966289,577m/data=!3m1!1e3

Siamang Gibbons.

Very talkative.

But without the signs to tell you what you’re looking at.

Driving past game ranches in South Texas.  We might spot an Axis Deer, native to India.

Or an Oryx from Southern Africa.

American Bison and Texas Longhorn from the American West.

With some small deer in front of them.

Tiny little antelope

Or this.

It’s not an ostrich.  It’s not a cassowary or an emu.  It could be a Rhea, a South American bird.

I misidentified a bird.

That least bittern I showed you yesterday.

It’s not a least bittern.  It’s a young green heron that doesn’t have its adult colors yet.

Here is what the least bittern looks like.

(Not my photo.)

Completely different from the juvenile green heron, right?

So, as I said yesterday, the least bittern is the most difficult to spot of the three birds I described.  Most years we don’t see one at all, and it turns out we haven’t yet this year either!

Out on Padre Island.

White Ibis.

They’re a southern thing.  Conspicuous.  Easy to find within their range.

Green Heron.

They have a broader distribution (but you don’t see them very often if you’re not looking for them).  They like water edges.

And Least Bittern.

You’ll hardly ever see this one, even when looking.  It looks like about the same range map as the green heron, but it’s generally secretive in marshes.  We only spot one once every few years.

Adjacent to a water treatment plant.  A lake for the effluent.  And a wild area preserved in the middle of the city.  Good walking.  Good birding.