Wood Storks at Richland Creek WMA: July 2014

This was the second time Q and I went out to Richland. The first time Q had been very nervous. We had just taken a trip to the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center, which was not at all fruitful. Q was worried that we would repeat that experience. Richland was also a much farther drive than John Bunker Sands, and he really didn’t want to go all that way for a bust.

He started feeling better after we saw the bald eagle. And the anhingas. And all of the wood storks.

We went back two weeks later, which was this visit.

We saw over a hundred pelicans loafing on the shores of the wetland cells and swimming in the shallow water. Only a few of them were adults. Not needing to fly north to breed, perhaps some of the juveniles wintering down south decide to bum around the area until it was time to fly further south for the winter.

Juvenile American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) fly overhead at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

We’re gonna poop on the loafing logs at White Rock Lake! Richland WMA pellies RULE!

The wood storks were the stars of this visit. Q and I were able to get closer than we had on our first visit. They perched on trees and stood on the roads that crossed over the cells.

Wood stork (Mycteria americana) standing on a road at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

See a stork walkin’ down the street. She’s just the kind of stork that I’d like to meet. It ain’t her head, her claws, her feet. It’s something much more discreet . . .

Wood stork (Mycteria americana) standing on a road at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

There’s a wood stork on the road. And she would really like a toad. All toads on holiday: let your tadpoles play. If you let this stork walk by, sweet family will die. Wood stork on the road.

Occasionally we would have to drive on roads filled with wood storks, great egrets, snowy egrets, American white ibises, cattle egrets, neotropic cormorants, anhingas, and herons. They would amble away from the car, and when we got too close, they would fly several yards further down the road. When we caught up with them again, they would repeat their actions: amble and fly. We were never able to get close enough for good sharp pics, but I’d rather not get too close than seriously freak out the wild birds.

Wood stork (Mycteria americana) standing on a road at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

WHY IS THAT HUGE WHITE COW COMING TOWARD ME?

Wood stork (Mycteria americana) standing on a road at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Wood stork (Mycteria americana) standing in wetlands at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

A large number of wood storks were roosting in trees near the rookery. They are such weird-looking birds. I remember how I described them to Q before he saw one in real life: it’s got the head of a black vulture, the beak of an ibis, and the body of a pelican.

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) and American white ibises (Eudocimus albus) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: some wood storks in a dead tree.

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) and American white ibises (Eudocimus albus) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Hey, ibises! Lookin’ good! How about we all go for a nice flight around the swamp?

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) and an American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Despite Elena’s overwhelming desire to be a ballerina, she could never master first position.

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Juvenile male shovelers think that they are badasses? We will disabuse them of that notion!

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) and American white ibises (Eudocimus albus) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Ewww, is that wood stork STILL creeping on us? Let’s go find another tree.

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

The rookery was on private land that abutted the WMA’s land. Cormorants, anhingas, and all kind of egrets nested there. Although we didn’t think they nested successfully, there were also a few roseate spoonbills!

Roseate spoonbills (Platalea ajaja) perch in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) perches in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) perches in a tree at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

It was Q’s first time to see a roseate spoonbill. I had seen some at Merritt Island, and I had briefly seen one flying in a flock of ibises on our first visit to Richland.

Right as we were about to leave, a turkey vulture landed near the road. She was only there for a couple of minutes before a mockingbird harassed her so intensely that she took off.

Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) perches on a branch at Richland Creek WMA in Fairfield, Texas

We will have to go back sometime this winter and see who is there.

Juvenile Bird Day! Starring: Ibis! Heron! Egret! And Last But Not Least . . . Vulture!

It was July 6, a Sunday. Q and I were visiting the rookery at UT Southwestern. It was getting near the end of the season, and most of the birds had already left. We first had to check on the Thothlings, our collective name for the three juvenile American white ibises that had hatched that spring.

Juvenile American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) perched in a tree at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

PINK EYE IS PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR!

We loved watching those ibises. I liked them best when they were getting just big enough to squirm out from underneath their parent in the nest, and I liked watching the parent’s desperate attempts to keep them tucked under her/his body. They were so cute, with their black heads and small, black-and-pink–striped, curved beaks. Once the Thothlings were distinctive enough that I could tell them apart, I named them. At first I was worried that I might not be able to keep them straight because their coloration would continue to change, but I realized that they would be long gone from the rookery before that became a problem. Watching them explore their nest tree was always fun. Eventually that exploration changed to short flights to other trees, then flights above the rookery. Then they left.

Juvenile American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) perched in a tree at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

I AM CUDDLE MONSTER, AND I AM HERE ON JULY 6!

Juvenile American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) perched in a tree at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

Pink Eye stands proudly in her nest tree.

We could see Pink Eye and Cuddle Monster, but where was Zebra?

Juvenile American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) perched in a tree at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

I’M BACK HERE, SILLY HUMANS!

There were still a few large black-crowned night heron juveniles hanging around the rookery.

Juvenile black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) stands in a tree at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

Juvenile black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) stands in a tree at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

Juvenile black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) stands in a tree at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

And some not-so-large black-crowned night heron juveniles.

Two baby black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) sit in a nest at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

They look like tiny dinosaurs.

Throughout the spring several tricolored heron couples tried to nest at the rookery, but only three couples were able to make it to egg hatching. The most successful couple made a nest that, while visible, was far back in the foliage. The female in that couple was the first to lay eggs, and all three of the chicks survived to adolescence. The second couple had a much more visible nest near the ibis nest. The female laid at least two eggs. A few days after the first chick hatched and was able to move, I stopped seeing movement in the nest. By that time the second chick should have hatched. I hoped the babies were just asleep. The next day the heron couple had vanished, and a cattle egret was steadily pilfering sticks from the abandoned nest.

One day the adolescent tricolored birds disappeared. It happened right after a storm. I was sure they were dead, and although I never saw a corpse, I always kept watch for one. Q thought that the birds had simply grown too old for the nest and dispersed to other locations.

Q was right.

Juvenile tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor) stands in a tree at the UT Southwestern rookery in Dallas

I’M ALIVE!

After the reappearance, I only saw the tricolored juveniles when I was with Q. Maybe that was because we visited the rookery at different times when we were together than when I was alone. Or maybe they liked him better than they liked me. Once we even saw two of the juveniles flying to their old nest. That was nice.

As we were finishing our circuit around the rookery, Q and I saw a great egret juvenile wandering around near the Memorial Garden. Rescue time! The first time I rescued a great egret juvenile, I was concerned about the baby I saw staggering on the lawn in the hot sun, but I knew some types of juvenile birds would explore on the ground while their parent watched from a safe distance away. I didn’t want to interfere with that. I called up Rogers and explained my worry. “Do great egrets do that?” I asked.

“No. If a great egret is on the ground, the parents have forgotten it. It needs help.”

After that day, I started carrying a cardboard box in my car and plenty of towels in case I needed to make a rescue at the rookery.

Great egrets are shitty-ass parents. Really awful. If a bird falls out or is pushed out of the nest and can’t make its way back, it’s fucked. No one will help it. To make matters worse, like baby American white pelicans, baby great egrets often commit siblicide. Smaller/younger siblings who aren’t outright killed but who are still harassed may end up falling out of or intentionally leaving the nest to escape from their murder-inclined siblings.

By this time I had started carrying not only towels with me but a large bag I dubbed the “Birdie Bag.” If I found a bird too young to be on the ground outside the rookery, I would catch it, wrap it up in a large towel, and place it in the Birdie Bag to keep it secure until I got to Rogers. Using the Birdie Bag worked better than just holding a wrapped-up baby to my chest, and I hoped it made the experience less traumatic for the bird.

Abandoned juvenile great egret (Ardea alba) rescued and put in a bag for transport to Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center

The wandering egret juvenile secured in the Birdie Bag, awaiting transport to Rogers.

When Q and I got to Rogers, we went to look at their birds after dropping off the egret. A few great blue herons live there and have the run of the place. The first time I saw them, I was very nervous. They were so close! I felt strange walking by them: “Uh, excuse me? Wild bird that is just standing there? Don’t you need to move? Run away? May I please get by?”

I almost always get a kick out of seeing a “wild” bird chilling next to human-made objects. This was no exception.

Great blue heron (Ardea herodias) lounges next to an air conditioning unit at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center south of Dallas

The heron looks like she’s just skipped class to go smoke near the back of the high school.

One of the baby vultures was hanging out by herself in the shade.

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) lounges in the grass at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center south of Dallas

Greetings, humans!

THE STORY OF THE ROGERS VULTURES

Kathy Rogers told Q and me the story of the vulture family when we were at Rogers at the end of May. I’ve forgotten some of the details, but hopefully I can remember enough to do justice to the story.

Black vultures nest on the ground, in places with lots of cover. Ms. Rogers had noticed a pair of black vultures hanging around Rogers, and one day discovered that they had made a nest in a large cage that had been empty. Ms. Rogers said she was extremely excited to see the nest—because the birds nest on the ground, one cannot easily observe adult breeding behavior and juvenile behavior. She was looking forward to learning more about the vultures. She kept the cage empty for the vultures to continue using and observed them.

The black vulture couple laid two eggs. While they were incubating the eggs, Ms. Rogers received two abandoned black vulture eggs. She wondered if she could get the black vulture couple to care for the abandoned eggs/chicks along with the couple’s own offspring. Unlike great egrets, black vultures are excellent parents.

All four of the eggs hatched within the same week. Ms. Rogers introduced the extra chicks to the parents and supplied the parents with supplemental food to feed the new additions. The strategy worked: the parents accepted all four babies as their own and cared for them. Ms. Rogers said this news was especially excellent because the birds from the abandoned nest will have a pretty good chance of surviving in the wild due to the socialization and teaching they will learn from their adopted parents—black vultures are highly social and gregarious birds. For a while the babies had open access, but after they wound up in the woods, Ms. Rogers put them in a large pen with access outside to a “porch” where the parents could hop in and check on them. Once the babies got older, they had more access to the grounds. The last time I was at Rogers, they were old enough and strong enough to roost in trees and on roofs. They are heart-meltingly ADORABLE.

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) stands in shade at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

You can still see little threads of yellow down around her neck.

We left that juvenile and saw another hanging out by herself under a bench, although four more juveniles were lounging under another bench near her.

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) lies in the shade at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

Four juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) lies in the shade at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

An adult had been sitting near the foursome, but she got up and walked out into the sunlight.

A black vulture (Coragyps atratus) walks on the grounds at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

Walter M. Miller, Jr was right: I do lovingly feed my young.

A black vulture (Coragyps atratus) walks on the grounds at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

She is walking past a cage that has a black vulture in it. I always wondered how the caged black vultures felt about the vulture family. Glad to see conspecifics? Sad that they couldn’t move freely, while the other birds could?

A black vulture (Coragyps atratus) stands in the sun at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

The juvenile who had been lying by herself near the foursome got up and looked adorable.

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) standing in the shade at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

Then I realized something. The vulture family had four juveniles. When Q and I had first arrived, we’d seen a juvenile vulture. Then we saw the juvenile who had been lying down by herself. Next to her were the four juveniles resting together. The adult had joined another adult elsewhere on the property. That’s six juveniles and two adults.

I returned to all of the locations to see if any of the birds had moved—maybe I had mistakenly counted the same bird twice. Nope. Six juveniles. Four of them were obviously the Rogers birds, but who were the other two? Perhaps the count was four Rogers juveniles, one Rogers adult, and a different adult with its two juveniles who had come to visit the Rogers vultures. Do vultures even do that?! The next time I went to Rogers, there were only the four juveniles there.

UPDATE: I ran into a woman who works at Rogers (she was the person who taught me, after I had a near-miss experience, that egrets go for the eyes and I should wear safety glasses), and when I asked about the vulture family, she was able to make sense of what I’d seen. Not only had the vulture parents taken in the two newly hatched birds along with their own chicks, but later on in the season two more vulture chicks that had been abandoned were brought to Rogers, and the vulture parents adopted those birds as well. So there were six juveniles, total. The next time I was at Rogers and had only seen four, the two others might have been somewhere else on the property.

She also said that the vulture couple has been spotted visiting Rogers again with a couple of their offspring. She suspects that the parents might be looking to scope out the area for a possible nesting site. She said this year, they are only making one specific cage available to the parents to use, not the one the birds chose last year. It would be adorable if the vulture pair chose to raise young there again this coming year!

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) standing at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

All right you humans, listen up. My name is Fluffy, and I’m here to instruct you in the fine art of being a vulture.

Back where the majority of the juveniles were hanging out, the vulture who had stood up decided to hop onto the bench.

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) standing on a bench at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) standing on a bench at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) standing on a bench at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

The other vultures were still lounging on the ground.

Two black vultures lying on the ground at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

The vulture on the bench hopped down and went out to strut her stuff in the sun.

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) standing at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

I WILL BE SO SEXY WHEN I AM A GROWN-UP.

Juvenile black vulture (Coragyps atratus) holds wings out at Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, south of Dallas

WHY IS NO ONE PAYING ATTENTION TO ME? NOW I AM ANGRY! GRRRR!

Q and I went back home, where I saw a pretty black bee hanging out on my gaillardia blooms. Does anyone know what kind of bee it might be? It was small, much closer to the size of a honey bee than a carpenter bee.

Black bee on a gaillardia flower in Dallas

One last thing: I hope that anyone reading this will strongly consider donating to Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. They do excellent work rehabilitating and caring for birds.