From My Backyard

Decided to take a day off from the garden and paddle on the river and lake by the house. I took my big lens, 80-400mm zoom and the Nikon D200. Just to be safe I brought it along in a water tight roll-up sack. I launched at Kings Harbor, right in the middle of our development in Kingwood, TX, 25 mile NE of Downtown Houston. There are an abundance of water birds of all types so my primary objectives were, 1. To paddle for a bit and 2. Take some photos.

Little Blue Heron….I did an internet search. Did I get it right?

Great Blue Heron

I was drifting up a little bayou on the southside of Kingwood Country club not 300 yards from the fairway bordered by some very nice homes. My friend John Hazle lives about a very healthy dive with a Big Bertha from where these photos were taken. I was following a Great Blue Heron and a Little Blue Heron when I spotted something odd!

I saw a tan lump, looked a bit hairy with black spots. I lowered the camera and drifted a little closer to determine what it was. Then it moved and attached to the lump was a pig snout. Oh boy! The wild hogs are creeping into the neighborhood! A moment later a big hog steps into the picture. He was big, he was ugly and he is way too close to home….albeit closer to Mr. Hazle’s home than mine. Yuk, yuk! My first thought to be honest with you was to figure out where I could set up a tree blind and put an arrow into one of the hogs….I also have to admit that seeing them active like this during mid-daylight hours is a bit odd.

The little tan lump I first spotted had friends!

Oh Yeah….A big ugly – could be a boar but my guess, based on size, would be a sow with a couple of juveniles.

Anybody seeing sausage? Probably 40 plus yards away…too far for me to shoot. I need about a 20-25 yard shot to feel comfortable.

I paddled around to the back side of the island to see if there was evidence of more hogs but didn’t have any luck. I need to check with TPWD to see if bow hunting would be allowed in this area. If yes, I see a pig roast in the near future! I managed a few more keeper shots. I really need to do this more often. There so much to see along the river and lake shore!

Coming in to land.

Exploding up off the water. One of these days I will catch this in focus……it was close to being in focus!

Cruising and skimming across the water – another Great Blue Heron.

A Killdeer and some young out of focus in the foreground.

TTFN

Bishop