All creatures great and small

One of my favorite ways to honor our Lord is to enjoy the bounty of creatures He created for us. I used to be a quite casual observer of birds, most often interacting with them in relationship to my car....cleaning up after them or maneuvering to avoid hitting them. Once in awhile I would feed some...at a restaurant or park but mostly they struck me as brown, messy and visible only when creating problems. Initially with a "beat em or join em" motivation I watched birds fairly casually, but now when given the chance, I am excited and overwhelmed by their beauty, variety and endless entertaining antics.
Thanksgiving morning found me with the Loves at the Edinburg World Birding Center and the next day at Estero Llano Grande State Park. Here is the list, great and small, from our hours of walking, driving, waiting, and watching (including drives back and forth to San Antonio):
The GREATEST we saw were the Great Blue Herons, Great While Egrets, Anhingas, Double Crested Cormorants, Roseate Spoonbill, White Pelicans, Neotropic Cormorants and Ospreys. The middle, in no particular order: Black Necked Stilt, Short (or long) Billed Dowitcher, Great Kiskadees, Green King Fisher, Tri-Colored Heron, LIttle Blue Heron, Black Crowned Night Heron, Belted King Fisher, Snowy Egret, Black Vultures, Turkey Vultures, Coots, Blue Teals, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, Common Moorhens, Black Bellied Whistling Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, Least Grebe, Mallard, Ring Neck Duck, Red Wing Blackbird, Lesser Scaup, Lesser Yellowlegs, Hummingbirds (nameless), Hawks...lots....nameless, Brown Crested Fly Catcher, Scissor Tail Flycatcher, Roadrunner, Lesser Goldfinch, Vermillion Flycatcher, Plain Chadalaca, Loggerhead Shrike, Common Paraquette, House Sparrows, House Wren, Solitary Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Crested Caracara, Inca Dove, Mourning Dove, Olive Sparrow and the smallest.... Blue Gray Gnatcatcher.
Ospreys come in pairs and they talk to each other while they're fishing. Anhingas royally occupied the Alligator Pond where we saw no other water birds or ducks. The little Common Paraquette (which is anything but common!) allowed us a long time to finally see him...three feet from our faces, but looking so much like a pile of leaves that we couldn't see him! The Least Grebe is the "cutest" bird I have seen to date: looks like half a duck with the back half missing...just fluff and wiggle back there! The Vermillion Flycatcher and the little flock of Lesser Goldfinches took our breath away they were so colorful. The Loggerhead Shrike (we learned from a quick-to-educate-us fellow birder) catches bugs in the morning and impales them on thorns until he eats them in the afternoon. I don't think I wanted to know that.
We also observed alligators, nutrea, and two really impressive Diamond Back Water Snakes. Looking for all the world like they were made with love and care, it reminds me over and over that I too was made with love and care by our Lord who continues to love us and care. For Him and His Creation I give thanks this Thanksgiving. ................... Kay Pergrem, San Antonio, Texas