Big Birds of Galveston

Sunday afternoon - in the scorching heat - Jerry played 9 holes of golf and I rode with him. We came across this beautiful spoonbill with deep, hot pink feathers.



Even his legs are hot pink!



Oops, scared him away. Check out those feathers!



I need some help identifying this next bird. He/she appeared on Sunday and has been camped out on the mast of a sailboat in the marina. Very large ...



This close up was shot at 24x and isn't clear, but you can see the huge talons gripping the top of the mast ... this isn't a "water bird" ... I think they've all got webbed feet. It seemed too large for a hawk, but maybe ... ???



This morning, we had a nice group of pelicans hanging out on the pilings of the marina and this guy was sharing space with a seagull. They were working on their feathers and drying out in the sun.



Check out that pelican's pouch!



Lots of work here ...



Grooming in unison ...