Day 3, Yucca plant near the beach

HAPPY EASTER, everyone! It seems an appropriate time to think of all those (around the world) who have been affected by the enormous damage that Notre Dame, Paris, has recently gone through. I can't remember if I have seen this stunning Cathedral twice or three times, many, many years ago. I was reading on the Weather Network this evening that three beehives had been installed in Notre Dame during 2013 as part of a city-wide initiative to boost dwindling bee numbers in the city. Nearly 200,000 bees have been found alive below Notre Dame's main roofing.

We saw these spectacular Yucca plants in many places on this holiday. I had only ever seen low Yucca plants and had no idea that they grow so tall. Very eye-catching plants and flower head.

Having flooded my photostream with Whooping Cranes the last few days, and then with Cormorants, this morning, I have posted a few odds and ends of plants and birds taken at a beach. We had stopped to check for any shorebirds.

After leaving this beach, someone happened to notice either herons or cranes on the top of a beautiful stand of trees. We decided to check it out and as we rounded a corner of the road, we couldn't believe our eyes! We had come across another rookery, this one in Rockport. There were quite a few Great Blue Herons, Egrets, and at least one Black-crowned Night Heron. I will be posting a dreadful photo of the latter, just for the record. The only reason I spotted it was because of the bright red eye. People are not allowed to approach the rookery, of course. I will be adding a few photos taken at the rookery when I have edited them.

I was reading that, after Hurricane Harvey, people did an amazing job of clearing out all the debris of broken branches under and around these trees - and then realized that they had removed all the branches that the birds would be needing to rebuild their nests. Needless to say, that was put right by adding piles of broken branches nearby.