When I stopped my car in front of the Pecan Grove, I could not help saying “Wow! Two Red-Shouldered Hawks were circling in the Pecan Grove, under the Pecan trees. They spread their wings fully without much flapping, flying in a big circle, using the entire space of the grove with strength and elegance. They are muscular birds compared to water birds. Their flight exhibits a natural artistic choreography. One hawk eventually perched on the trunk of a Pecan tree and other bird did the same on a tree branch near my car. Beautiful birds!
I heard voices, and the voice indicated that a Great Blue Heron was flying toward the river. The bird was busy exploring this morning.
At the boardwalk, the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron was perched on the same railing as yesterday. I noticed that a feather was dangling down from its wing.
Then, I saw a duck like bird fly down beside three American Coots. From the white patch line of its wings, bright brownish/reddish back, and distinguished orange/red beaks, at once, I noticed that it was a Black-Bellied-Whistling duck. Last summer, I saw a Black-Bellied-Whistling duck with a flock, but it was solitary this morning. The Black-Bellied-Whistling duck was friendly to the American Coots, but the coots were shy. They stopped hunting and gathered, but the Black-Bellied-Whistling duck did not mind. The bird hunted near the American Coots for a while, and then flew away towards the river.
When I was watching the Black-Bellied-Whistling duck and three American Coots, the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron flew toward the dead tree branch that is growing towards the water at the left side of the boardwalk entrance, near the Water Horsetails enclosure, and the bird perched on a branch. I was surprised to see another Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron perched on the same tree.
As soon as the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron perched on the branch, the other Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron lowered its head as if the bird was ready to take a challenge. The one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron flew up from the branch toward the other bird. The other Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron escaped the attack and flew up on the branch of the tall tree, located on the right side of the covered entrance bridge. But the bird did not give up that hunting ground easily, staying on the branch, looking down at the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron that was on the railing guarding its territory. Eventually, the other bird flew toward the Landing, and the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron followed.
I realized that the dangling feather of the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron indicated that there had already been some conflict between the two birds before I got there.
The Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron was standing at the barrier under the Bald Cypress tree near the biological experiment site, and I had a time to observe the bird. At first I thought that it was the young Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron, but surprisingly, it was a new comer. Confusingly, the new bird had one blackish dot on the middle of its forehead the same as the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron; but the feathers and beak were much shinier and neater, and the body was a little smaller than the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron. I thought that the new comer was younger than the one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron.
I saw the older one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron fly down on the barrier toward the diving facility. This time, without any time, the new comer flew out from under the Bald Cypress tree toward the older one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron. The older one dot Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron had no time to defend itself, but escaped and flew toward the Texas Rivers Center.
Watching these territorial conflicts among the Yellow-Crowned-Night Herons, even though natural, I was hoping that all birds could live peacefully in the lake.
Lower levels of the flowers were falling from the branches of the Century Plant. Curled up browned pistils caught each other and two or three flowers hung down from the branches together.
It was interesting to see that the color of the strange mushroom faded in one day. Yesterday morning, the color of the cap was dark brown with many beige dots and beige stem, but this morning, I saw the brown color disappeared, and the whole mushroom became a beige color. No birds or Squirrels were going near the mushroom, so I thought that it might be poisonous.
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