Hey Gang!

Today we are going over the second part of my trip to Sheldon Lake State Park back on 2019-01-05. We will check out some more pictures I took that didn’t make it to the video, and I will babble some more about the day.

This cardinal was absolutely handsome in his breeding plumage. Extremely bright red and looking fine for the ladies! They can be quite fierce though and will defend their territories. There has been many a times when a pair of cardinals came after me because I was too close to where they were hanging out. So, be careful if you are walking amongst them, and they are feeling feisty. They will come after you too!

Sheldon Lake is a lot of fun. With all of the ponds there from when it was a fish hatchery you get so many chances to see different wild life, at each pond. It is like each pond has its own ecosystem. Different animals and plants are in each one, so each pond is like changing a channel on the TV. Some are just birds, some have snakes, some gators and river otters oh my!

The other side of the park has the coastal prairie, where a whole other ecosystem lives. The area is awesome as a whole.

This cute little guy, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, are fun to watch, but hard to capture! They bounce around quickly looking for their snacks of bugs and insects. Quite often you will see several of them around, so it it can make it even harder to decide which one to focus on as they jump around.

The day was pretty cool, so finding the reptiles was not easy. There were no snakes or alligators to be seen anywhere. But the frogs and turtles did eventually come out.

This Red-eared Slider came out to check things out. Sadly someone took a chunk out of the side of its head so you cannot see its red ear. But, that is Pond Life. Everyday is a struggle for survival.

Shortly after seeing this guy it was time for me to head on back. So, I packed up my gear and started the drive out. And luckily as I was driving out, the Kingfisher that almost hit me on the way in to the park was chilling on a tree, and I was able to check it out and take a couple pics of it… Check out the video to see that guy!

What a great day for a trip to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge!

The map to the left shows Friends of Anahuac Refuge Nature Store. This is where the entrance to the fun starts. So if you want to find your way here, punch that into your ole GPS.

Speaking of GPS, cell service down this way is spotty, so you may want to make sure you have your maps preloaded if you are using your phone, or use a real GPS to find your way around down there.

There were many different birds, some pancake snakes and several alligators spotted during this excursion. It’s always a blast coming here and seeing all the different fauna and flora. So many different varieties of each!

I was there longer than I expected I was going to be, which led to a lot more photography and videoing of the goings on. Because of this, a normal vlog got turned into four parts, as seen below!