The following excerpt was taken form Wikipedia:
Herping is a term often used by professional and amateur Herpetologists to signify searching for reptiles or amphibians. Herping consists of many activities; any way one can find reptiles or amphibians can be considered herping. The activity or technique depends on the terrain and target species. These include, but are not limited to, searching under natural cover objects (such as rocks and logs) and artificial cover objects (such as trash or construction debris), sometimes called ‘flipping,’ as in ‘flipping rocks’ or ‘flipping boards”.
My point here is that as a “herper” you spend a large percentage of time peering at the ground. So much so that you often run into branches poking your eyes out in the process, or covered in an army of banana spiders as you barrel through their carefully orchestrated webs. Sorry about that banana spiders.
A long time herper, imagine my internal struggle and confused psyche when on Sunday morning, the point of my adventure was to look up in the SKY! It seemed quite impossible at first as my neck bones seemed to have fused in the downward tilted position. However, as I raised my head high (there was a lot of creaking and new muscles straining to be utilized) but from this new vantage point I discovered there is an entirely different class of vertebrates out there waiting to be discovered. Granted, hundreds of ornithologists and birders have been doing this for centuries, but this is ground breaking stuff for me people.
My extremely talented colleague at the Zoo, Leigh Whitted, Senior Education Specialist, agreed to accompany me to Brazos Bend State Park Sunday morning to assist me in becoming more familiar with my wading birds.
One of the spectacular things she taught me:
There is more than one egret. Yes, it’s true. In Texas, two of our common egrets are the Snowy and Great Egrets.
Snowy Egret
How you tell the two apart is quite simple. The Great Egret has entirely black legs and feet but the Snowy Egret has black legs and yellow feet. I learned to remember this by pretending that the Snowy Egret has been walking in snow and therefore has lighter colored feet. Yes! Triumph! I can differentiate between two egret species! Of course, it is never this easy…I was thrown a curve ball….another white bird appears that looks like an egret but has fleshy colored legs and a black tipped beak. Who is this rogue bird??? Leigh explains that this is the juvenille Little Blue Heron-born white and turns a brilliant greyish blue as they get their adult plumage. Sneaky, sneaky Little Blue Heron, very sneaky indeed. Another egret, the Cattle Egret, well, hangs out by cattle. Pretty easy to figure that one out. You generally will not see the other two egrets hanging out in the grass or in a pasture.
Great Egret
Other sightings included, Phoebe’s, Cormorants, Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, Tri-Colored Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Moorhens, amongst many others.
Another gem I learned was how to tell apart Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures from high up in the sky. Very easy indeed! However, I will require a comment from at least one individual to let me know they are interested in learning the difference!
Looking forward to my next birding day out!
