Birds

Least Sandpipers are the smallest of the shorebirds - the smallest of the "peeps". They are readily identifiable by their diminutive stature and yellow legs, distinguishing them from the slightly larger and black-legged Semipalmated and Western sandpipers.

Least Terns are coastal birds that feed on small fish by diving into the water or skimming the surface. They are the smallest terns and distinguished during breeding season by a tapered yellow bill with a black tip.

Little Blue Herons are stark white their first year before taking on a distinctive slate blue plumage.

Killdeer are great actors. When their nesting area is invaded, they will hunch up their wings, spread their tails and shake them, trying to look as big and fierce as possible. If that doesn't work, they'll lay a wing to the side and drag it around as if they are lame to draw predators away.

The long searching bills of the shorebirds reach their zenith in the Long-billed Curlew. With a head and ridiculous downcurved bill about the same length as the rest of its body, it can reach crabs and shrimp buried deep in the sand and mud.

Marbled Godwits frequent beaches, tidal flats and other shallow pools of water, often in small groups, walking deliberately and poking the shallows, sand and mud with their long bills.

Neotropic Cormorants are equally at home in the Gulf behind the wave break or on freshwater ponds inland. In either case, they often ride low in the water with little more than their neck and head protruding.

Northern Cardinals are large, unmistakable songbirds that wear their colorful plumage throughout the year.

Northern Mockingbirds sing incessantly from a broad musical repertoire that includes imitations of many other birds.

Pied-billed Grebes are small, stocky birds that in some ways resemble a small chicken. Their plumage is a drab brown, but in breeding season they take on a black stripe across their beak and a black on patch their throat.