1st hours in Galveston

adult Brown Pelican, digiscoped through Leica APO Televid 77 scope

with Leica D-Lux 3 camera, pier 21, Galveston, TX 3/28/07

I'm admittedly a birder first and photographer second (maybe even 3rd or 4th). However, once in a while if I'm in no great hurry, have good sunlight, co-operative subjects, and all of my gear with me (the last part is likely a constant!), then I find myself really enjoying just sitting in one spot for a while. Although, I'm usually too hyper for that! When I first arrived in Galveston, I had to kill some time before I could check in at my hotel, plus I had a hankering for a good latte, so decided to hit the Starbucks near the Strand and see what birds were hanging out near the shrimp boats.

adult Brown Pelican, Pier 21, Galveston, TX 3/28/07

If you've been following at home then you read about my observations between the Brown Pelicans and Laughing Gulls, but this was just the tip of the iceberg. I had to wait 2 hours, it was a real nice day with no good conditions to produce a migrant fallout, and I was uncharacteristically content to just sit and watch the antics of a handful of local bird species.

immature Brown Pelican with American White Pelican, Galveston, TX 3/28/07

Large American White Pelicans with their flashy black flight feathers dwarfed the smaller Brown Pelicans and were definitely the dominant species on the rocks near Pier 21.

American White Pelicans squabble for the best perches amongst the rubble

As I killed time, I found myself really enjoying the antics and behaviors of the birds that were offering outstanding views. These ranged from comical...

American White Pelican offers a unique view, Galveston, TX 3/28/07

...to artistic. I'm no Julie Zickefoose mind you and can barely draw a bird stick figure, but I found my left brain a bit more active this day. Perhaps too much sun, lack of sleep, or hopped up on caffeine, but I was actually thinking about things like composition and was having fun with the photos!

sleeping American White Pelicans, Galveston, TX

Take a pair of close American Pelicans resting on shadowed rocks, throw in some dark shadowed water behind, a touch of wind, and all of a sudden I believe I'm in touch with my inner "artiste"!

adult Double-crested Cormorant, Galveston, TX 3/28/07

Widespread and familiar Double-crested Cormorants mixed with the smaller, local Neotropic Cormorants offering great opportunities for studying average plumage and structural differences.

adult Neotropic Cormorant, digiscoped Galveston, TX 3/28/07

The Neotropic Cormorants average slimmer and longer-tailed than the larger Double-cresteds. I'm now ready to finally find one of these critters in Florida (as of yet, no one has proven their occurrence here oddly)!

adult Neotropic Cormorant in high breeding plumage

Most of the adult Neotropics were displaying signs of their "high breeding" plumage with white tufts above and behind the eye and a more pronounced white border behind the gular pouch below the bill. The fewer adult Double-cresteds that were around sported bright orange bills and gular pouches. Both show turquoise eyes!

adult Double-crested Cormorant, Galveston, TX 3/28/07

This adult Double-crested appears absolutely thrilled to be photographed. In this close view though you can see the 2 indistinct feather tufts that add to the "crested" appearance for which they were named.

immature Neotropic Cormorant bathes Galveston, TX 3/28/07

Immature Neotropic Cormorants were nearly entirely brown with similar proportions to the adults, while the young Double-cresteds showed light necks and breasts with prominent orange gular pouch and bill!

immature Double-crested Cormarant rests, digiscoped image, Galveston, TX 3/28/07

At any rate, after a fun couple hours I had a BUNCH of nice photos, had some great studies of similar species, and was able to observe some fun behaviors. Some times it's OK to just cool your jets and sit for a while, huh?!?...