Birds

Yellow-crowned Night Herons are the mimes among birds. They stand immobile as statues for long stretches before taking slow, deliberate, almost theatrical steps, foraging for crabs and crawfish at the edge of ponds and streams.

Pileated Woodpeckers are among the largest birds in the forest - as big and black as a crow - with a black-and-white barred face and a striking triangular red crest. East Texas is at the edge of their range in the South.

As the name suggests, American Oystercatchers specialize in shellfish, feeding on oysters, clams, barnacles and crabs. They often shuck oysters and clams the same way we do - prying the shell open with their stout knife of a bill.

American Coots prove that not everything that looks and acts like a duck is a duck.

The Belted Kingfisher's head looks too big for its body. Its black bill is long and thick, and its plumage a powder blue, with a white collar across its throat. Its shaggy crown blows fashionably in the wind.

American Bitterns walk through the grass at an agonizingly slow pace, pausing for long intervals between each step, seemingly out of an abundance of caution.

American Pipits are similar to the larks but with longer legs, a more slender bill and a habit of bobbing their tail.

Americans White Pelicans dwarf their cousin the Brown Pelican, with whom they sometimes congregate. They resemble flying boats in the air with their bulky white bodies, long orange bills and enormous wings edged above and below in black.

Anhingas are odd looking birds - both in the water and out. Their plumage is largely black, with distinctive white streaks on the wings and back. Their long, sinewy neck ends in a tapered yellow beak that they can snake all over their bodies as they preen.

Barn Swallows are almost aristocratic in appearance and flight, with a colorfully masked face, slender, pointed wings and long, forked tail.