Readers’ wildlife photos

We’re right at the end of the queue, but I’m leaving on Saturday so hold onto your good wildlife photos until I return at the beginning of September. Today we have some photos from Damon Williford in Texas. His notes and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them:

Here are a few more bird photos from the central Gulf Coast of Texas taken during the spring of this year.

The Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) is the only species of gull that breeds along the U.S. Gulf Coast. The individual pictured is an adult in full breeding plumage, which begins to develop in February and March and starts to disappear in mid- summer:

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) is one of the three species of gulls that regularly spend the winter in Texas. This individual was an immature bird possibly transitioning between second- and third-year plumages:

 The Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) is another gull that winters regularly in Texas:

The Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) is one of seven species of terns that breed in the Gulf of Mexico region. It is also one of the most common terns on the Texas coast, and the second largest species of tern in the area: only the Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia) exceeds it in size. The Royal tern pictured has already transitioned to non-breeding plumage, which involves the loss of most of the black plumage on the crown so that it looks like aging punk rocker suffering from a receding hairline:

Black skimmers (Rynchops niger) are regular breeding birds on the Texas coast:

Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis):

Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula) are one of the most common species of herons in Texas. It is also one those species (others include the Laughing Gull and Brown Pelican) that I photograph frequently because Snowy Egrets are abundant and are not overly skittish, allowing me to get close. The one in the photo was so intent on catching breakfast that it came very close to where I was standing on a jetty overlooking a salt marsh:

Another Snowy Egret chasing down its own breakfast:

A pair of White Ibises (Eudocimus albus) at a freshwater marsh on the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge: