Spring Has Sprung

I wrote a post awhile back about Brazos Bend State Park  in the winter.  This post is about Brazos Bend State Park in the spring – well, almost spring – I visited 3 days prior to the official first day of spring (March 20).  I wanted to see if anything had  changed since my winter visit.  Plus, I didn’t have to return the Canon 100-400mm rental lens for two more days.

First thing I noticed:  water.  More of it.  In all the places that had been high and dry before.  In case you were not aware, Texas has been experiencing a horrendous drought.  Everything that should be wet and swampy, instead was dull  brown dirt covered over with  clumps of green dry slime that reminded me of  nori (seaweed).  For this visit, everything looked as it should look in a swampland.

I saw more spring flowers, like these primroses,

and this herbertia,

and these spider lilies,

and this sweet little purple flower which I can’t identify (I’m not very good with wildflower identification, even with two Texas wildflower books in my possession).  Anybody know what this flower is?  The photo at the very beginning of this post is a wider-angle shot.

I saw Indian paintbrush, blowing in the wind.

And these yellow flowers (which I can’t identify, either), in the swamp waters.

There were more alligators.  I overheard one set of walkers tell another set of walkers that during the mating season in April, the alligators get quite aggressive and can sometimes be seen clamped to each other’s necks, rolling over and over in the water or even along the pathway.  Now that would be a photograph!  All I saw were alligators lounging in the still, reflective swamp waters, posing for the tourists and looking menacing; it really doesn’t take much for an alligator to look menacing, and woe betide the person who so close as to elicit  a low, rumbling growl from deep within, as the alligator’s jaws gape open to warn the hapless visitor to back off.

I saw lots more birds.  It’s ironic that my photos of the alligators turned out better than my photos of the birds, since the birds were  the main reason I drove to the park that day  (0f course, alligators don’t’ move much, while birds move  a lot).  I saw three different little blue herons (you can tell they are the little blues by their brilliant blue beak),

Spying lunch:

Taking the plunge.

Crawfish catch of the day:

Lunch!

I saw a number of snowy egrets,

roseate spoonbills (way off in the distance, so it’s not exactly a stellar image),

cardinals,

red-winged blackbirds,

white ibis,

American coots,

turtles,

one moorhen in its breeding plumage (none of my photos turned out very well), and a number of other little birds that I could not identify nor could I photograph very well (they just won’t stand still for me, dammit!).

The next time I visit will be later in the summer.  We’ll see what other changes (if any) have occurred during that season.