Brazos Bend State Park - Thanksgiving Morning

[DHaass]

Wow. Managed to have a few brief minutes of a peeping through the fog sun, then it disappeared until 9:00am. The park has received more rain in the last few weeks. Things are starting to pick up nicely. It's still not where it was last year, but the birds are coming in and staying for a time.

I've noticed it has gotten considerably noisier behind the island located to the right as you hit 40 Acre Lake trail, coming in from the north side of the parking lot. A lot of the birds seem to be hanging out on the back (south) side of it.

I've seen more Pied-billed Grebes and Teal than what I've been used to over the last several months. Good numbers of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks are flying in and over 40 Acre and Pilant Lakes on a regular basis. Shot my first Bittern while seeing smaller numbers of Snowy Egrets, White Herons, Little Blues and Great Blues. I also shot this one White-faced Ibis I saw. Light was bad and my flash decided to quit working, so no beamer shots, all natural light.

There is a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks that have been pretty much camped out around Pilant and 40 Acre Lake for the last few months. You can hear them talking back and forth to each other if you pay attention to the sounds while you are at the park. One of them is perched, at some point during the day, on a dead tree sticking up almost due north of Observation Tower.

If you are patient you can get some nice shots when they fly in for a meal at 40 Acre. Birds in flight, or even on the ground for that matter, were a stretch with the fog being so heavy and a lack of sunlight to create any contrast.

Great weather and moisture for shooting spider webs and dew covered plant life. I should have spent more time doing that on this trip.

[Shadow]

Great light! The American Bittern is a particularly nice find.

[DHaass]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Great light! The American Bittern is a particularly nice find.

Thanks Bruce. As long as I've been going out there I had never seen one. The tight shot was only a hair smaller than full frame. I had two small distracting pieces of out of focus grass that I cropped out. It let me crawl within minimum focus on my 500mm with 1.4x on it. It also was the best light of the morning (for what I wanted to shoot).

[TxPhotoShooter]

Well done series Doug. Love #4. I need to take my camper there for a few days.

[ttusa]

Wow light on the Bittern of the next to last image is outstanding!

[MichaelW]

Very nice shots, all of them. I do need to make a trip there.

[wwong]

#6 Warm, side-lid bittern shot is awesome!

[Tim T]

Very nice shots Doug. Glad to hear that they got some rain. Also a fan of the last Bittern shot. Good work.

[David Alaniz]

You really captured some good light with the Bittern. Good set and thanks for sharing the info about the park.

[DHaass]

Thanks everyone. I had a few more of the Bittern I left out of this post, not wanting to load 'em up. I'll wait a day or so and pop the rest of the shots in another post.

David...I've been trying to get people back out there, hoping my recent posts would generate some interest. It was certainly noisier on this trip than my last few. More birds out there now than have been for several months. I've been concentrating on 40 Acre Lake, but need to stretch out and try some other areas. Creekfield comes to mind...maybe Sunday.

[corralup]

I like the natural light! Sorry to hear about your flash. I know how it is. American Bittern is one special find! I also like the color in the blue heron pic. Not sure if it was the sun but your other photos are a little on the warm side. Not that it doesn't work for me but that is just what I'm seeing. Thanks for sharing your special morning!

[DHaass]

Originally Posted by corralup

I like the natural light! Sorry to hear about your flash. I know how it is. American Bittern is one special find! I also like the color in the blue heron pic. Not sure if it was the sun but your other photos are a little on the warm side. Not that it doesn't work for me but that is just what I'm seeing. Thanks for sharing your special morning!

It was strange with the flash...just quit working with ETTL period. I can still use it in manual, but decided to not use it altogether that morning. White balance was cloudy. Daytime was too cool for them when processed. As you said, much of that is personal taste. I don't take umbrage at the remark.

[Bayskiff]

All great shots Doug, enjoyed them!!!

[DHaass]

Originally Posted by Bayskiff

All great shots Doug, enjoyed them!!!

Thanks Johnny.

[houtex01]

Very nice series Doug...like the Bittern...still trying to get my first one...also great feather details in #5...glad to hear that the water level is improving and that bird activity is increasing...

Ron