The reason we spend our winters here, along the Coastal Bend
of Texas, is because we love the water. It means good fishing, kayaking, and
exceptional birding. However, the winter occasionally intrudes, and the temps plunge
to the low fifties and even into the forties making outside activities prohibitive.
Still the temps and winds did abate and so while kayaking and
fishing were still out of the question, we did get out to do some birding. This
past week we took the short drive to Lamar to check out the whooping cranes. Arriving
at the Big Tree we spotted quite a few birds. The whooping cranes are impossible
to miss as they are five feet tall and dominate the shorter sandhill cranes.
There’s a pair in the pasture that looks like they have made
their lifelong commitment but there are no chicks, so it must have just
happened. A little further away a group of four whoopers, two and three-year-old
still gather together, (pairs stake out a square mile of territory and do not
allow any other whoopers into their feeding grounds).
I was exited to get to listen for the definite whooper call,
but they were silent and the long squawks we heard were from the sandhill’s.
With my new hearing aids, I should be able to hear them when we walk around the
Big Tree trail. We did see a falcon/ kestrel, but we couldn’t get a good enough
image to prove it was an Aplomoda falcon, which is a very rare falcon that is
slowly reestablishing its range.
The pond in the cow pasture, where the whoopers are, also
has a large flock of bright pink rosette spoonbills, black belied whistling
ducks, American white ibis, and cattle egrets. We were also able to spot some
night herons, who of course were sleeping during the day.
A few days later another break in the weather allowed us to
travel to Port Aransas. There we crossed the free ferry, and then turned on the
road to the birding area named Charle’s Pasture. They have rebuilt some of the
road and you can almost reach the pasture but the parking was muddy and so we
turned around and drove to Paradise Pond.
Paradise Pond has taken quite a hit form Hurricane Harvey and
many of the large trees were knocked down. There are good signs for its recovery
as new trees, wrapped in burlap, were waiting to be planted. We did manage to
see quite a few yellow rumped warblers, several rosy crowned kinglets, pied
billed grebes, and lots of red eared turtles.
Our next stop was at the Lora Turnbill Birding Center. You
may recall from last years post that the boardwalk was destroyed but it is
being rebuilt in a better location with a new tower that will have a separate section
for photographers.
The work has just restarted as the funding had dried up due
to the government shutdown. (hopefully the funds will not be diverted for Trumps
wall). All the work is supposed to be completed by the end of April, so we will
have to wait till next fall to see the finished walkway. There was a large gator
laying on the mud and it was surrounded by night herons and spoonbills who
seemed unconcerned by being so near to the sleeping giant.
After a nice lunch at our favorite restaurant, we drove out
to look at the south jetty. While there were quite a few fishermen, and fisherwomen,
there wasn’t a lot being caught. One woman had caught a small sheepshead, and
her husband told us that they had only caught four keeper fish n the last two
months, (they were using dead shrimp, the sheepshead here prefer live ones)
A fisherman did catch an oversize red, 45 inches long, and
he let a person hold it up for a picture! That person is probably back home
telling everyone about the big fish he caught. You can see that Renita cut him
out of the picture.
The last thing we noticed is that the old Fina docks are
being dismantled and new docks and a pipeline are going to be built to accommodate
the filling of super tankers. So much for one of the best fishing spots. Large
warning signs have been posted and cranes were working on the old structure as
we watched.
The weather is supposed to warm up and the winds
might calm down enough for us to go fishing today. Pam and Roy
Great post. Sure hope the tankers don't mess the the fishing.
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