SAME ~ YET DIFFERENT

That's the Circle B Ranch Preserve.
Each time we venture out to this preserve, I think - it's the same place we were just at.  Each time I step out of the car and look up or around, I see something different!  
This time it was a rafter of turkeys pecking near the Nature Center. 
Above, I spied a squadron of white pelicans, then another and another!  The blue sky was suddenly speckled with scoops of large, white pelicans.  Pod after pod of pelicans came in and gently landed on the lake.  These spectacular birds, with a 9' wing span, 
are cooperative feeders.  They don't nose (beak) dive into the water, as brown pelicans do.  White pelicans "herd" fish toward shore and then share the school of fish. 


To my amazement there were thousands of turkey vultures - everywhere!  Flying overhead, perched in trees, standing on patches of land ~ alone, in pairs, or an entire  wake will roost in several trees grouped close together. 
Vultures survive mainly on carrion (dead or decaying flesh).  If need be they will eat plants or tear apart sick, weak, or young prey.  

I just stood and tried to think how many dead animals/fish/etc. there must be on this preserve to feed all the vultures we were observing with every turn!  Amazing. 

Seems leafless trees were the perch of choice for the many vultures.

Black-bellied whistling ducks,red-bellied woodpeckers, 

sand hill cranes and the "regulars" (water birds) were also 

plentiful this time at the Circle B.

My brother-in-law wishes these guys would stay down here forever.  They are not "farmer-friendly" where corn is being planted and grown for a living.

 The red-bellied woodpecker is a common back-yard feeder up north. We have some in the our park here also. 

Of course, it wouldn't be the Circle B if alligators weren't spotted.  

Skinny, compared to the girth we had seen on other gators, draped along the log with a smiling face.  Reminds me of a cartoon!