Little Blue Heron Comes Calling

Friday, 31 October 2014
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 79F (26C) / LO 63F (17C)

There is a little blue heron that frequents our pond.  Generally, he’s a shy character, flying off when he senses any movement.  On this occasion, he not only tolerated my presence — I approached quietly from the patio on the neighboring site, and made myself as small as possible before sitting down in the shade of a fan palm — but he showed off a bit, too!

I love it when wild critters let me sit with them.

On the Hunt

Saturday, 27 September 2014
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 84F (29C) / LO 69F (21C)

Nearly 2½ inches (63½ mm) of rain fell between today and yesterday.  Any other time, we might not like getting all this wet stuff, but we don’t mind under our present circumstances.  For one thing, we’re home — I like the sound of the rain; the moodiness of it.  For another, Mui just finished putting some new plants in the ground — a good soaking or two should do wonders for them.  And of course there is still the matter of the drought.  Even though the September rains thus far have taken us slightly above the norms for the month, there’s still a deficit to make up for the year.

Work on the finishing touches for the new land- and hardscaping continues here at Site 408.  Add to that some great meals and a few happy hour gatherings with friends — new and old — and the days are whizzing by.  October is right around the corner; which means our departure from GWRVR is that much closer.  The pressure is on to get our projects completed.

We had a tricolored heron visit our pond a few days ago — an immature by the looks of it.  It was on the hunt, but if it got lucky, I didn’t see it.  Every time the heron lunged towards the water, it came up empty … at least while it was on my side of the pond.

Darn!  Missed again!

Just for the fun of it … can you see the dragonfly that photobombed this image of the tricolored heron?  Too bad I wasn’t using my DSLR; it probably would have shifted focus from the bird to the dragonfly!

Photobombed by a dragonfly!

Back to more productive work — like doing laundry!

A Contortionist Moved in Next Door

Wednesday, 3 September 2014
Gulf Waters RV Resort  — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 90F (32C) / LO 80F (27C)

A highly-skilled contortionist moved flew into the neighboring pad today!  I promised myself that I would not take any more Great Blue Heron photos while we’re here, but I couldn’t resist when it started putting on a show ;-)

This GBH is a frequent-visitor at our pond.  Recently, it has taken to flying into the site next door, which has been empty for two weeks.  It seems to like perching on the windbreak in the BBQ area, probably because the wall provides a high vantage point from which to scrutinize the fish-action in the pond.  It’s quite habituated, and if you approach slowly, you can get quite close without scaring it off.  I opted to leave it in peace to groom itself after a sudden downpour, and used my Canon SX50 for zoom captures from the edge of our pad!

Now if only the Snowy Egret would be as cooperative!