Feathers, Scales, and Sleek Skins

Friday, 1 May 2015
Gulf Waters RV Park — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 77F (25C) / Lo 65F (18C)

Mother Nature smiled on us this past week and we wrapped up April — the fourth wettest in this area since they started keeping records — with lovely days.

Temps in the mid-70F (± 23C) range … sunshine and blue skies … and best of all, no humidity!  At least one reservoir has benefited from all the wet stuff that has been falling from the sky.  Though for how long?  That’s the big question.  In any event, we’ve been enjoying the turnaround in the weather!

The first day of May dawns with a lovely sunrise over our pond at GWRVR.             

My friend Mary is an avid birder.  “I’ve been at this for only eight years, so I’m a newbie,” she says.  I think she’s being modest.  It is one of — if not the primary — reason she and Tony visit Port A in the spring.  She’s been going around to all the birding hotspots since they arrived at GWRVR at the end of March.  And she’s been trying to get me to go along with her.

The problem is that after four months of being attached to my camera at the hip — or eye, as the case might be — I had no desire to take photos.  So, go anyway, right?  Enjoy the birds through binoculars.  Well, I’m not that kind of a birder.  I enjoy our colorful, feathered friends; but I’m a photographer and if I don’t click the shutter, birding is no fun for me.

A tranquil morning of reflections in B&W.

Well, I finally set out with Mary today to make the rounds of the birding sites in Port Aransas.  Wouldn’t you know it — the birds were gone.  What was our first clue?  The parking lots that had been crammed with vehicles were empty!  Oh well.  There were enough birds and other critters to still make it a worthwhile outing for me — especially since I had Mary for company and saw several new-to-me birds.

And on that note … let’s start out at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center.

American Coot

American Coot

Great Blue Heron

Black-Necked Stilts

Cormorants

Off we went to Charlie’s Pasture next.  Here we stopped to check out the bottlenose dolphins — including a mom and calf — that were working the seawall along the ship channel, feeding on schooling fish and probably some algae as well.  My best dolphin sighting thus far, but it did make me sad to see all the healed cuts from the boat encounters they have in the channel.

Mary captures me capturing a dolphin working the seawall.

From Mary's perspective as a dolphin approaches the seawall.

We’re not the only ones enjoying the dolphin sighting;
the ruddy turnstones are checking them out as well.

[In case you can’t make it out, there is a dolphin just where the seawall bumps out.]

After getting our fill of the dolphins, we set off to see what birds might still be at CP.  Turns out, not many.  Can’t say the same about the mosquitoes, however.  They were swarming.  So much so that, we hot-footed it back to the pavilion at the start of the trail after just a few minutes of walking.

Left: Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher and Eastern Kingbird.

Right: Tropical Kingbird or Couch's Kingbird ... only way to tell
the difference is by the voice, and this one wasn't performing

Barn Swallows

The third stop of the morning was at the Joan and Scott Holt Paradise Pond.  When I visited the pond last year, there was very little water in it.  This time, the water level was at capacity — and the surface was covered with duckweed, which changed the feel of the place entirely.

Red-Eared Slider

Gadwalls (I think; I could be persuaded otherwise).

Gadwalls (???).

Then, back to the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center we went … our timing was perfect.  No sooner were we on the boardwalk that we heard the roar of a bull alligator — Boots was calling out to and scurrying across the pond to his mate, Bags.  Boots and Bags — you get it ;-)  Love was definitely in the air, and for a minute or two — or 15, or 20 — it looked like there might be some “action.”  But they flirted for a while in the age-old alligator way, and then fell asleep ;-)

Mary captures me from the birding tower as I ...

... photograph alligator trails.

Tri-Colored Heron

Cormorant	Roseate Spoonbill

Black-Necked Stilt

One of my favorite sightings of the day was a black-crowned night heron (juvenile) … just look at those bold, brilliant eyes.  I just couldn’t resist spending time with it.

White Ibis (Juvenile)

Black-throated Green Warbler (female or juvenile is my best guess).

But my birding day wasn't done when we left LTBC.  Back home at GWRVR, I got to enjoy the company of a lone wading bird that has been coming around our pond for a day or two now.

Spotted Sandpiper

It was a great day … and I’m just sorry I waited this far into the spring migration to get my camera out and go out to the birding sites around the area.  If I am here next spring, I’ll try to do better.

Checking Out Birding Spots in Port Aransas

Tuesday, 28 January
Gulf Waters RV Resort (GWRVR) — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: LO 34F (1C) / Hi 47F (8C)

You know there’s something wrong with the weather picture when your high temperature is just after midnight, and your low is around 3:00p.  Even the low of 34F (8C) isn’t quite right as the feel-like temperature in Port Aransas for anyone who went outside was actually 24F (-4C).

Rather than stay at home, we used this cold, blustery day to run errands in Corpus Christi.  Since I have nothing exciting to report from either Monday or today, I’ll go back one more day to a weekend outing instead.

Sunday, 26 January

With the sun out and the temperature at a comfortable 63F (17C) shortly after noon, we decided a long walk was in order.  Instead of our usual stroll on the beach, however, we headed into Port Aransas to check out two birding places Tricia at the visitor center had mentioned.  As serious birders know, the mid-day hours are the wrong time to go birding.  As serious photographers know, the mid-day hours are the wrong time to be toting a camera.  No matter; we were out on a recon with the bonus of a leg-stretching stroll.  I didn’t even take my DSLR with me.

Our first stop was the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, which in addition to birds and waterfowl, is home to Boots & Bags, two resident alligators.  Alas, no sign of them while we were there, but I did capture a quick shot of the very rare Alligator Ahmetus Muhittinensis ;-)

Crunch, crunch, slurp, slurp …. Yummm!

The birding center is in the marsh adjacent to a Nueces County water treatment plant.  And the stink that assaults your nostrils when you first arrive let’s you know that you’ve found the right place!  Of course, how bad the smell is depends on the direction of the wind.  By the time we were on the boardwalk leading into the marsh, the smell was tolerable, and at times, non-existent.

The white pelicans stuck close together as they fed on the far side of the marsh.

9-second clip of pelicans feeding en masse.

Aside from the pelicans, the only wildlife we saw in large numbers were American coots and some ducks.  Most of them were hunkered down on a patch of reeds, but a few of them posed nicely for me.

American Coot
”Ooops!  I think I Had an accident!”

Northern Shoveler

Green-Winged Teal

Next, we headed over to Charlie’s Pasture.  Located off TX361, we had plans to stop by this nature preserve each time we drove into Port Aransas.  But we kept missing the turnoff, which is marked by a very small sign.  This time, we made note of a landmark on our way to the birding center so that we wouldn’t drive by the hidden turn.

The turnoff for Charlie’s Pasture is just past this ‘landmark’ when driving from Port Aransas.

There were no other vehicles in the small parking lot when we arrived.  Walking to the signage at the head of the trail, the first thing we learned was that the bigger portion of the 1,217-acre (492 hectares) preserve is accessed from an entirely different part of Port Aransas.  OK — we’ll go there another time!

Left: The preserve is named for Charlie Bujan, who was born on Mustang Island in 1906.
He used to run cattle on this land, which he leased from the State of Texas.

Right: We strolled the boardwalk at Charlie’s Pasture in the lower left section of the map.
the main section of the preserve is at the top of the map.  the Leonabelle Turnbull birding
center is in the middle of the map; there are future plans for a trail connecting the two.

[click either photo for a more legible version]

If we needed any evidence of the drought plaguing Texas, Charlie’s Pasture provided it.  Except for a few places where we saw narrow streams of water flowing in from ponds, the whole place was dry — mushy in some places; totally parched in other places.  The birds were practically non existent, except for a few tiny birds at the end of the boardwalk; some kildeer that were too far to photograph even with my SX50, which is the equivalent of 1200mm at full zoom; and a couple of lesser yellowlegs foraging at the edge of a distant pond.

The boardwalk straddles land that is, with few exceptions, quite dry,

Left: The observation tower would be a good place to keep an eye on birds; but not today.
Right: Yellow-Rumped Warbler [as confirmed by Judy].

Parched!

Lesser Yellowlegs

Next time we go to either of these places, it will be at a time that is more appropriate for birding and for photography.  In the meantime, we enjoyed our stroll — a change of pace from the beach.