Even though it’s (barely) still February, I’m keeping eyes trained on the rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park.   From the time we moved here in 2009, I’ve been fascinated by the migration of egrets to this site.   A few stay around all year long, but the majority begin showing up near the start of spring.   During my visit Monday evening I saw a few Great Egrets, but the largest population so far are cormorants,  also beautiful birds.   Cormorants make their permanent homes here, but many of the Great and Snowy Egrets arrive to start families.  By late-September they’ve usually moved on.   Last summer’s heat and drought made life here quite difficult.  I hope they come back.   For now, the cormorants rule the site, but will soon make way for the egrets.   And some cattle egrets (smaller), too.   Wandering across the sky in the last photo is (I think) a Black-Crowned Night Heron.   I’m terrible at identifying some of these herons.   Assuming the egrets make it here, I keep hoping the city will find an alternative site for their July 4th fireworks show.   Think about it, city officials.

This might be an outbuilding, but since it rests next to a vacant farmhouse, I’m adding it to my collection of barn photos.   If you follow the shaft of light to the right, that small structure most assuredly  a barn.   Another scene from the Blackland Prairie in my area of Texas.

The season for Texas Bluebonnets is brief, but if  we’re lucky, we might see them a little earlier this  year.   This little specimen stood by itself last evening, surrounded by grasses and future wildflowers.  

Spring will be with us very soon.   In our area of Texas the season brings us wildflowers, but farmers are working their fields, too.  It’s an active time for our Blackland Prairie agrarians.   Just tonight, under vibrant skies, I watched as some worked their soil south of Granger.   I hope it’s a good season for them.   The corn crop was good last year, but cotton suffered from intense heat and drought.    When thinking of spring, farmers are foremost in my thoughts.   It can be a demanding life for what they do.  

A photograph taken this evening, as a Waning Gibbous Moon, not far from 100% visibility, made  an appearance in the night sky over a windmill and trees in East Williamson County, Texas.  If it had risen much later you’d just see that moon.  Light is fleeting.

Three photos of tonight’s full moon in Williamson County, Texas.   The first two were taken at Berry Springs Park & Preserve in Georgetown.   The opening photo gives you that “big moon” many seem to like, but the second one provides context.   The structure at left was at one time the caretakers home when this park was a working farm.   The house will apparently come down soon.   I regret that.   The the last photo is St. Peter Lutheran Church in Walburg.   I was glad to see the moon find its way into a scene at this beautiful church.  

Hawks are notoriously anti-social birds.   Since I also tend that way, it makes perfect sense.   You’d be amazed at the number of hawks I see in a given day.  They’re usually perched on power lines, or in faraway trees.  And I’m usually driving, with vehicles close behind.   When actually able to pull over, I’ll grab a camera and go to work.  Unless they’re very focused on  a particular critter, they most often fly far away.  These are some  photos taken since mid-November.   Some of my most successful captures were taken with my small Olympus during daily walks in Taylor.   That very last one, taken on a walk,  has a bunch of movement in it.  Not planned movement, mind you.   The hawk was finishing off the remains of a chicken when I saw him in a very dark spot under a tree.   He made a very fast exit.   Don’t ask me to identify any of these birds.  I’m just calling them hawks.   Camera-shy hawks. 

A little of this and that tonight, friends, beginning with a Waxing Gibbous moon (94.6% visibility) over a windmill not far from  Georgetown.   And horses basking in late-afternoon light near Jonah.   When photographing daffodils tonight, an interesting creature joined us.   Is it a hummingbird, a moth, or what?   It was quite focused.   I wish it were a bit sharper.

This winter light can be challenging if you’re photographing people, but it’s pretty nice in a landscape/pictorial setting.  Three photos this evening, opening with one taken of the San Gabriel River as it flows through Jonah tonight.   The others are just photos I like.

Another barn photograph tonight, friends.   Or at least it’s a scene including barns.   This beautiful site is perhaps just over a mile from our Taylor home.