Birding in Baytown on Thanksgiving

I did what every self-respecting birder did on Thanksgiving, and use the day off to go birding! I decided to go to the Baytown Nature Center, on the way to my parent-in-laws for dinner.

First of all... when you go on a photo scavenger hunt, you need to remember the memory card from your camera! Pam and I pulled up to the Baytown Nature Center, I pulled out my camera, and I got the dreaded "No Memory Card Inserted" error. We turned around and went to her parents, and I borrowed a memory card from her dad, and we went back to the nature center with her mother.

It was much nicer with a camera. Since I only have two pairs of binoculars, my wife and my mother-in-law each got it, and I only got my camera. So most birds I could see had to be seen through the eyes of my camera. It follows then that I had a hard time seeing any small flightly birds, but I got some great shots of larger birds, like this Great Egret:



And this was the fifth Great Blue Heron I saw that day, probably the most I had ever seen in a single day.



Even though Laughing Gulls are a dime a dozen on the coast, I had to take its picture for the scavenger hunt, because all the participants inland would have a hard time getting this one.



The most memorable incident of the day was this Osprey with his fresh catch of the day. Even more great was the look he gave the nearby Double-crested Cormorant, which was a classic "get away from my food," that you see so much in the wild.



Overall, a great day. I increased my Harris County total by 2 (even though I'm over 100).