I’m at one of my favorite parks, Brazos Bend State Park in Texas. It was cold and clear when I got here, but it is supposed to be cloudy and warm (in the 70′s) most of my time here. Like before, it is crowded on weekends, but during the week there are not many people here. Have not seen any residual damage from the recent hurricanes in the area.

Above: pictures of a tricolored heron and black-bellied whistling ducks. There is a flock of 100 or more of the ducks here. They are found only in the southern states and Central and South America.

Below are birds that you expect to see here, at least I saw them here in my last visit as well as currently.

• snowy egret
• great egret
• common moorhen
• white ibis
• vulture

Below is a carolina wren that I saw at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, where I stayed before coming to Brazos Bend.

Moved on to Galveston Island State Park. There were no sites available by the ocean when I arrived, so I took one on the other side of the highway that looks out on a lake and bayous. After the weekend people left on Monday, decided to stay where I was. The wind is a lot less here and there are only a few other campers.

Two birds enjoying the sun at Brazoria Wildlife Refuge.

There are two wildlife refuges around 30 miles from Galveston: Brazoria and San Bernard. Brazoria is huge, with salt and freshwater marshes, sloughs, ponds and costal prairies. It looks like what I picture Louisiana looks like, with lots of water all over the place.

Glossy Ibis. A large group of them were at Brazoria.

A common moorhen.

American kestrel.

Another beautiful tricolored heron.

I saw something colorful moving in the marsh next to the road. Some kind of shellfish.