Mud, Glorious Mud!

[With a nod to the song “Food, Glorious Food”, written by Lionel Bart, for the musical Oliver.]

November 9, 2021 – Birds have seemed very sparse at our normal go-to fall locations. Many birders along the upper Texas Gulf Coast have commented that perhaps because of a somewhat mild and wet summer (I know – you wouldn’t have suspected if you only relied on my complaints about the relentless steamy heat), the birds have more food sources, and are therefore more widely dispersed. In any case, it’s been a tiny bit frustrating. I decided to go all the way to the coast, since birds enjoying brackish or salty water would necessarily be there.

Surfside is a somewhat scattered coastal community, where development is dictated less by human plans and more by the storm-driven appearance and disappearance of dry land. As I speed down the freeways, I’ve learned to look for dirt roads and interesting pull-outs along the way. In this case, I stumbled upon the remnants of an old pier, only the pilings having survived the battering of many hurricanes.

Screenshot from Google Maps; red star shows old pier location along Hwy 332

Waterway shrunken to muddy stream at low tide, looking northeast
Samsung Galaxy S10e phone photo
(Click on any photo once to enlarge in a new window, and a second time to zoom in; dismiss that window to return here.)

The tide was out, and as the water drained from the flat winding waterways, it left narrow streams and shallow pools teeming with life. All kinds of wading birds were busily hunting for their lunch. At times, the surface of the water roiled and bubbled as schools of small fish raced by, frantically seeking deeper water. (If you look closely, you can see billowing smoke from a grass fire about 6-8 miles away on the horizon, along the western border of the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge; I checked it on the AirNow Fire and Smoke Map.)

Great Egret checks out a sound behind him
1/4000 sec. f/8 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

An alert Great Egret, Ardea alba, looked back over his shoulder to check out a splash. You can see the wealth of bird tracks in the undulating mud behind him, and the numerous places birds have probed the soft ground for tidbits hiding below the surface.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron landing on pier
1/2500 sec. f/11 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

There were at least five Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Nyctanassa violacea, close to the bank where I was sitting. One came in for a landing on a weathered pier, adjusting his footing as he came to a stop.

YCNH in little fluff-up
1/2500 sec. f/11 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

He did a nice fluff-up, airing out his feathers after his hunt for groceries. I’m very happy with my increased depth of field in this case – f/11 seems to have kept him in focus from tip of his bill to the tips of his plumes… without including too much detail from the bank behind him.

Whoa, I can’t see my feet!
1/4000 sec. f/8 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

He peered at his thickly coated feet as if wishing for a pair of Wellingtons (or galoshes as we called them at home).

Great splattering mudballs!
1/4000 sec. f/8 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

A Snowy Egret, Egretta thula, spotted something juicy, and leapt forward to capture and subdue it with a characteristic half-circle whip action. I love the muddy drops lifted by his normally bright yellow feet.

Immature Brown Pelican soars by
1/4000 sec. f/8 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR
 

An immature Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, had splashed down several hundred feet upstream. After a rest, he sailed very slowly down the waterway, closer and closer to me, probably scanning for fish stranded in the shallow water.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron fly-by
1/4000 sec. f/8 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

Another Yellow-crowned Night Heron flew across the water, and landed on the bank in front of me. It was a perfect opportunity to see him in flight!

Incoming!
1/4000 sec. f/8 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

He pancaked, the low-pressure area at his back gently lofting his plumes, while he peered out over his wing. All the YCNH’s I saw had visibly muddied heads – you have to look very carefully to see the titular “yellow crown”… which, in the winter, is generally just creamy rather than the light yellow of breeding season.

YCNH tenderizing lunch
1/4000 sec. f/8 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

A different heron caught a small fish, and spent several minutes methodically mashing it, laying it on the ground and then picking it up again, tossing and turning it in his bill.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron washing a fish
1/3200 sec. f/7.1 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

Finally, he had the texture he wanted. He carried it back to the edge of the water… and dunked it several times to wash it, before swallowing it down. I’ve seen herons take a sip of water after swallowing a spiny fish or crustacean, but I’ve never seen this repeated dunking behavior before, and I haven’t found any online references to it yet. I took more than 170 shots of this feeding sequence; watching it was an enthralling experience.

Male Belted Kingfisher on high wire with fishing lures
1/2500 sec. f/9 ISO 1250
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

I simply cannot resist a Belted Kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon. This male flew up and down the powerline as cars came and went along the Hwy 332 access road. Here he paused beside one of many tangles of fishing lures wrapped around the wire. We often see these clumps of fishing line above favorite human fishing locations – perhaps the result of good fishing and a full beer cooler. Fortunately, the Kingfisher seemed well-aware of the danger, and on each foray up and down the wire, he purposefully navigated around the threatening morass.

Great Blue Heron in aristocratic pose
1/3200 sec. f/11 ISO 640
Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

A few hundred feet further south along Hwy 332, an access road curves under the intercoastal waterway bridge. A Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, looking regal among the low water weeds, was very tolerant of my presence. He preened, then gave me his left side, then turned and gave me his right.

You can bet I’ll be checking the tide charts before future coastal trips. Yucky, sticky, homely mud has an upside – it is the perfect environment in which to find wading birds catching a meal.