Cattails and a Cat's Tails

Cattail Marsh in Beaumont, Texas is named after the abundant Cattail plants (Typha sp.) that grow in the marsh. In addition to the Cattails and other plants, it is also home to a wide variety of wildlife, including Alligators and numerous species of birds. On this visit I would discover a resident, that I have never seen before in the wild.
While walking along one of the roads that border the individual cells of the marsh, I notice a gray shape at the edge of the high grass. It looked like it might be an animal but I wasn't sure, so I pointed the camera and zoomed in. I was amazed to see a Bobcat ( Lynx rufus ), laying in the grass, and watching me. When I began to try to move a little closer, it ducked down, trying to be a little less obvious. Eventually I got too close and it ran for cover, but I was thrilled to have seen my first wild Bobcat.

Cattails at Cattail Marsh, Beaumont, Texas

Bobcat keeping an eye on me.

Bobcat - Lynx rufus

Bobcat attempting to hide.

Bobcat shows me a cat's tail.

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• Thousands of birds flock to Cattail Marsh

Life Bird

I went out this morning to see what new wildflowers I could find blooming. But instead of finding wildflowers I spotted a Crested Caracara, which is a life bird for me. I rushed the shots trying to make sure I didn't miss, so there not that great, but at least I got it. Caracaras are do nest in the area, but are uncommon, so I was really excited to see it.

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• The Caracara Project

Parking Lot Birds

When I think about going out to photograph nature, I am usually thinking about going down to the coast, a local marsh, or perhaps a wooded nature trail. I sometimes forget that even though we are  surrounded by all the trappings of civilization, nature is all around us. One of the things I notice everyday is the birds. Many birds like the ones in this blog have adapted well to city life. The bird that probably comes to mind most often is the Rock Pigeon (Columba livia). Around here the pigeons seem to be a bit more shy that the ones you see hanging around park benches of larger cities.

Rock Pigeon

Even though I live about 20 miles from the coast I still see quite a few seagulls. You can find them hanging around on just about any day, but they seem to be most plentiful on windy overcast days. Some days I arrive at work early with some stale bread to feed the grackles that are plentiful, and there will be no gulls in site. But as soon as I throw out some bread, I will be surrounded by dozens of gulls. Ring-billed Gulls are usually the most common, along with a few Laughing Gulls.

Laughing Gulls

Ring-billed Gulls and one Laughing Gull

Last but not least the ubiquitous Great-tailed Grackle. A year round resident of Texas, it is often seen around parking lots, lined-up on power lines, and filling trees.

Two male Great-tailed Grackles in the foreground.

A group of female Great-tailed Grackles

Filling the trees.

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• Larry the Answer Guy: Ring-billed gulls here for the winter
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Pleasure Island Part 4

The fourth part of my series on Pleasure Island takes us to the North Levee. So far this area has been the least productive in my trips to Pleasure Island. Although it has not been as good as the other areas, it still provides plenty of opportunities to view and photograph nature. I suspect that part of the reason for it being less productive is that the levee road is surrounded by water on both sides with very little land to attract wildlife or grow plants. On the southeast side is Sabine Lake, where the road is protected by a rock barrier. You will see various shore birds walking on the rocks or floating on the lake.

View of Sabine Lake along north levee. 

Willets along the north levee of Pleasure Island

Great Blue Heron 

Little Blue Heron

The northwest side of the levee road is also bounded by water. There are narrow channels on either end of the road with a much wider area of water in the middle section. Unlike the lake side, the is a strip of land the can support a variety of plant life, including trees and shrub. In addition to shore and water birds this area should attract a variety other birds and wildlife that use the plants for food and shelter. Also this area should be of interest to those of us interested in wildflowers. I hope to have some photos of the wildflowers of this area in future post. For those interested in Texas wildflowers you can view some of my photos on my other blog and website at  http://wildflowersoftexas.blogspot.com/  and  http://www.wildflowersoftexas.com/

One of the channels on the northwest side of the levee road.

Large body of  water in the middle section of the levee road.

Northwest side of levee road. 

Great Egret standing in the road.

Great Egret

Red-breasted Merganser

Laughing Gulls

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• Pleasure Island Part 1 (texas-nature.blogspot.com)
• Pleasure Island Part 2 (texas-nature.blogspot.com)
• Pleasure Island Part 3 (texas-nature.blogspot.com)
• Pleasure Island (wildflowersoftexas.blogspot.com)

Pleasure Island Part 3

Continuing south along T. B. Ellison/Martin Luther King Jr. Drive you find photo opportunities on both sides of the road. The left side of the road away from the ship channel is mostly high reeds and some areas of stand water. The photo below was taken in this area.

Snowy Egret and Common Gallinule hiding behind it. 

For about a mile and a half, past the hurricane damaged road mentioned in the last post ( see Pleasure Island Part 2 ) the road moves away from the ship channel. Then it parallels the channel all the way to the Causeway Bridge. The pilings, barricades, rocks and mud flats attract shore birds.

Barricades to prevent erosion

Ships travelling in the channel produces powerful wakes, which pound the shore line. 

  Snowy Egret in the path of destruction.

Neotropic Cormorant 

Herring Gulls on pilings. 

Variety of Gulls

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• Pleasure Island Part 1
• Pleasure Island Part 2
• Pleasure Island Part 4

Pleasure Island Part 2

Another area of interest is the shoreline on the channel side of the island.  T. B. Ellison Pkwy/Martin Luther King Jr. Drive parallels the ship channel for approximately 9 miles between the causeway bridge and just north of South Levee Entrance Road. Below is a road that has been blocked off because of hurricane damage, but you can park at the barricade and walk down the road to view flora and fauna of the island. This road is located about 9/10 of a mile south of MLK Jr. Memorial Bridge.

Barricade blocking hurricane damaged road.

This photo shows some of the damaged to this section of road. 

Shoreline and debris along hurricane damaged road. 

 I did not see any wildlife along the road on this trip, but there are plenty of places for that would attract wildlife.  

Lantana

Blackberry in bloom.

Related articles

• Pleasure Island Part 1
• Pleasure Island Part 3
• Pleasure Island Part 4
• Pleasure Island