One visit to
Matagorda County Birding Nature Center was all it took for me to fall in love with the place.
The park is 34 acres of natural beauty situated on the Colorado River in Bay City, Texas. Within its boundaries are wetlands, native prairies, and woodlands which provide habitat for a large variety of birds and wildlife.
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| Standing in the fruit orchard searching the woods and sky for birds. |
Armed with a brand new zoom lens and inspired by the beautiful scenery, I found something to photograph at every turn.
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| A post of nails for hanging orange halves for the birds, especially Orioles, conveniently located near the orange tree. |
For the most part, John and I had the place to ourselves and I began to think of it as our own private garden—the garden of my dreams! If I owned 34 acres, I would want it to be just like this.
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| The peaches are almost ripe. |
It would include a small fruit orchard, a wildflower meadow, and flower gardens planted specifically for hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators.
There were several cooperative
little wings, as I'm calling them, that posed nicely for the camera as we explored the grounds and gardens.
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Tawny Emperor Butterfly
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Dusky Wing Butterfly
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Pearl Crescent Butterfly
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| Honeybee |
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| Dragonfly |
Not only did we see
little wings, but
feathered wings, and
other things, too. I hope you'll join me next time for more photos of our nature hike.
Really lovely photos, especially of the various critters. Thanks for sharing this trip and info on this great nature center!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why we never visited here before, but I'm sure glad we finally did. It's not far from our house (in the town where my husband works), so we have already purchased a family pass. I anticipate many more nature walks in this beautiful place.
DeleteBeautiful garden. Every time you visit, I'm sure you will see new things and creatures. I'm looking forward to more photos.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't look like much from the road, which is probably why we never visited before, but once inside, we recognized what a special place it is--a hidden gem.
DeleteOh my gosh...I would have stayed all day! How cool that it wasn't crowded with people! Fantastic photos with that new lens of yours :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debby. I don't get the feeling that there are ever very many people here. We were the only nature hikers that day, but we did see a few photographers show up with clients for photoshoots. We have already purchased a family membership. I hope to go back soon.
DeleteYou did well with your new camera Tracy, I love the photo of the dusky wing butterfly taken from below,
ReplyDeleteyour previous post about princess made me smile, Frances
Thank you, Frances. In that photo, it's hard to see the detail of the butterfly, but I liked the way the light was shining through it's wings. I'm glad you liked it, too.
DeletePrincess is the coop clown--she's always doing something to make us laugh. Of course, she's not trying to be funny, she's just doing what chickens do--but she does it so much better than other chickens. :)