Watching nature in Matagorda

Thanksgiving is over and the food was great and the family interesting as always. We took time out on the way from Galveston county driving 2 hours to Port Lavaca, Texas, for my Wife's family gathering and took a detour in Bay City, Matagorda Wildlife Refuge. We have stopped here many times and the birding is always rewarding.***************************************************************************************This time the adventure included my wife, Gayln, getting extremely close to a beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk. The photos are below. We also were very lucky to sit and watch a belted kingfisher catch a fish too large to swallow. For twenty minutes, he slapped and pounded that silver fish against the tree branch on the other side of the Colorado River. It was so awesome, because Kingfishers can be such elusive birds to watch.*************************************************************************************************We were lucky to encounter a trio of gorgeous wood ducks and buffleheads. Other species we got good views of were Brown Thrashers, chasing each other in and out of the foliage, egrets, a lone Roseate Spoonbill, flycatchers, yellow rumped warblers, vireos, and many others. We also took the easy photos of those swamp dwellers on logs, red eared sliders and other assorted turtles. This was the first time we failed to see any alligators but the day was slightly chilly.***************************The swamps, the woods, the ponds and river foliage, and the many vines and interesting trees all have spots in my mind's reference eye for future paintings. I did some sketches later in the weekend and I am pondering my next painting this week. Christmas is on the horizon and this time of year gets too busy for me and puts a damper on my art time. Hey guys, Thanks for READING!! Doug Hiser