Armand Bayou Nature Center Part 1

The next series of posts will be about my recent visit to Armand Bayou Nature Center in Pasadena, Texas. This was my first visit to Armand Bayou Nature Center, but it will not be my last. There are three main trails each a little over a mile long, with the longest at 1.5 miles.
After paying, you begin by exiting the back of the admission building where you will see the Hawk display. From the hawk display follow the boardwalk as it twists it's way through the woods and over a pond. There is a covered deck at the pond, that allows viewing of wildlife, while protected from the sun. Following the boardwalk the it's end, you will come to the Education (Interpretive) Building that has live animal displays, such as turtles and snakes. The Education Building serves as a sort of cross-road to all the other activities found at Armand Bayou Nature Center. I will write more about my visit in the next posts.

Sculpture at the entrance road. 

Close-up of Sculpture

Entrance to Armand Bayou Nature Center

Map posted near the entrance to the nature center.

Hawk House, Admission Building in the background.

Hawks

Boardwalk leading from the Admission Building to the Interpretive Building. 

This Marsh Rabbit, (Sylvilagus palustris) ran from under the boardwalk as I was going by.

Pond along boardwalk.

Pond and Boardwalk.

Covered observation deck overlooking the pond. 

Iris growing at the pond's edge.

Spanish Moss clinging to oak trees.

Interpretive Building at the end of the boardwalk trail.

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.

Related articles

• Larry the Answer Guy: Ring-billed gulls here for the winter
• Seagulls: Scavengers Far & Wide