Last night on the road April 17th 2012 Geneso Illinois

Last night on the road April 17th 2012 Geneseo, Illinois (Day 48)

Cast iron quotes at rest area --Iowa

Story of Mormon trek trhough Iowa

President Herbert Hoover was
born on Iowa

The rest area with a large pen "nubbin"

Today, the six week trip to west Texas and the Texas Coast with stops in OK, Ks, MO, and IL on the way home is coming to an end.  Many thanks to those of you who took the time to check in from time to time and to at least look at The posted pictures and maybe read a snippet or two from the blog. You might be interested that we had almost 2,000 “hits” on the blog  and  we thank you for that interest. Our trip with the truck (not trailer) covered  6,000 miles

The trip to Illinois was an easy one as we stayed on the Freeway in order to expedite the distance from NW Missouri to Western Illinois. It was almost 300 miles but went very smoothly even with some one lane traffic for bridge work on the highway.

One of the Iowa rest stops was most interesting and I have displayed some of those pictures in this blog. The state of Iowa (which we went through from the south end to the east end) has done a marvelous job in dedicating that rest area to writers of the state of Iowa.  There are large cast iron relief placards on 7 “lean to’s” where there are picnic benches. Inside the rest area there are writings of authors and poets  and large letters cutout from native woods that decorate the hallways. Outside also there are large memorials to three different thoughts  that occurred in Iowa, One on President Hoover (Iowa native) , one on the Mormon travelers to Utah, and another one -------------------------

Later in the afternoon, we overshot our intended destination as Ruth and I were both distracted listening to a good mystery story on the CD player. So, we continued to another stop, not on Iowa but in Illinois across the Mississippi River.  (That was  shocker to get gasoline at $4.09/gallon as in Missouri we had gotten it at $3.58/gallon.) In two days we crossed the two great United States rivers, the Missouri and the Mississippi. I wonder how long it took Lewis and Clark and all the other pioneers to cross those two rivers and how many died trying before bridges and float barges were used to  cross them?

From LeClair Iowa looking across
the Mississippi River toIllinois

Our final camping site at Genseo Illinois
Very quiet, and away from traffic and trains.

There were no pretty sunsets tonight as the sun went down in a clear blue sky with no fanfare.

So the trip was a good one with lots of birds, and the final tally was 191 BIRD SPECIES SEEN. There were a few new ones to us and I will check the list when I get home. Certainly seeing a MERLIN, three GREAT HORNED OWLS on the same day, both the BALD and the GOLDEN EAGLE, MISSISSIPPI KITE,  FERRUGENOUS HAWK, COMMON MOORHEN, AMERICAN BITTERN, and the FULVOUS WHISTLING DUCK, were among the best sightings for us. We have to remember that we did this before the migrant songbirds started their journey north, or we could believe the count would have been much higher.

‘Til the next time , again, thanks for “tuning in” as the radio shows used to say. We will let you know when the next trip and postings occur.

Bless you all,

Jim and Ruth

April 11-14th Oklahoma City to NW Missouri

April 11-14 2012 Oklahoma City to NW Missouri

April 11-12

The last day in Oklahoma  City (Wed) we spent looking for books for Ruth at three book stores (Nope!) and then to the Central Oklahoma University campus where there was a Barnes and Noble and they DID NOT have it either.  

The University Book store includes a
Barnes and Nobles(books)

The entrance to the "U" in Edmond OK
just outside OK City

The day ended with the scheduled last game at home for the Heritage Hill Chargers (Nathan’s team) but die to the heavy downpour of rain the night before the coach said the water soaked the grass on the field to 4 inches . That was too wet to play. (The game was cancelled) So they move into State Tournament in two more weeks. At that last game I did have the privilege of meeting Mrs Barry Sander’s whose son, Barry Jr, plays with Nathan on that tea.

We had dinner that night at my niece’s with a wonderful beef roast on the grill. They       were all tired from a week of baseball on the road, and my sister had to catch a 5:30 plane (ETA)  to Traverse city Mi, so was ready to get some sleep when we left at 8:00 Pm.

The next day  (Thursday) we moved out toward Emporia, Kansas our next stop along the route home. About at the OK/KS border a huge wall cloud appeared and we knew there was rain in it someplace.

The wall cloud outside Topeka,KS

 About the time we moved NE on I-35 out of Wichita, the storm hit hard. The rain was driving and at times the spray from trucks especially, made driving most difficult. This was the first time that we had experienced rain, on this trip,  while driving with the trailer, at least of any duration.  By the time we were about 50 miles from Emporia the rain passed on to the east, so setting up the trailer was in dry air.  We did not see “The Wizard of Oz’s” Dorothy, all the way through Kansas. We did lose a window latch in the storm, but secured that with wire when we stopped for the night. This was the same campground we stopped at on the way back from Alaska. Ruth hankered for Pizza so we did the Pizza Hut trip. It was excellent. Emporia has good steakhouses too.

April 13 (Friday)

Now we had a chance to get our bird count up as the Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge was here and we headed right for it in the morning. This time the N.W. Refuge HQ. was open. Last year we came on a Saturday and they were closed. It was a good day and one highlight was a FIRST for us. We saw three ...that’s 3... Great Horned Owls on the same day in different places. There was one roosting in the  RV park on a dead tree, one on a road in the NWR that Ruth saw fly by and we stopped and scoped that one. Then a gal in the NWR office told us of one in a cottonwood tree on ”Road 18”, We looked twice there and on the last time going by, we spotted the nest and the owl sitting close by the two young ones.  

The Owl at the nest guarding

Same owl close up at nest site

 the world’s record for women for the highest flight at 14,000 feet (1920’s)world’s record for women for the highest flight at 14,000 feet (1920’s)

Owl at RV Park  was taken at dusk so was very much
a sillohuette.

Among the 42 birds we saw that day were the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Kestrel, and those 3 Great Horned Owls.  Two of the NWR men were cleaning a drain that the beavers had plugged the day before. (They plug it up almost every night) . The NWR is a managed one, in that they move the water from one pond to another periodically to aid the wildlife. Crops are also grown here to feed the birds that come through in migration. (Have to fatten them up!)

April 14 (Saturday) 

As we had very poor reception for the internet at the trailer site, I used the laundry room (By the source of the Wi-Fi) in the evening and sent out some mail in the morning before we left. This portion of the trip will take us off the interstate and on some of the two lane roads that we like so well.  We noticed that these two lane roads are more intimate and closer to homes, barns, telephone lines and fences. All this is good for birding. The clouds threatened but there was no rain all day. This  part of the trip, was a revelation for me to see Kansas and all the woods and streams  and greenery that they have. I had pictured Kansas as very dry and flat, but not here.The NE part of it has a lot of mixed farmland and not so much wheat and corn. 

                                                                                                    At Atchison, KS, we cut across the Missouri river to St. Joseph,where they are constructing a new bridge to replace what has to be the worst surfaced bridge on a major highway in USA.  I wondered why the car behind me staring over the bridge started to slow down, and then I realized why. Here we stopped to eat at a Burger King , which we don’t do often. It was a good change of pace.  Atchison is a town of some 10,000 on the Missouri River and was the eastern hub of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RR. It is also the birthplace of Amelia Earhardt the famous flyer of the 20’s and 30’s, who had a troubled life (father an alcoholic, unemployed, moved to Chicago), and finally after a first plane ride begged to take lessons. She walked 6 miles from the end of the street car line in San Diego to the airfield each day to do it. She, at one time, held 

The second Owl was in a woods about 75 feet from the road.
Ruth saw it fly by, then light on a tree.

Just before St.Joseph, MO., a 12 mile detour slowed us some and I think that MO 59 detour has the most curves in a row of any road I have been on. It absolutely never had a straight 1/2 mile.  for 12 miles. After St.Joseph it was good road all the way to Eagleville where we stayed just outside of town in a very quiet rural spot. The tornado watches were up in our area but it seemed that Iowa was getting the worst of it further north. 

Two towns near here are Cameron and Bethany, MIssouri. Cameron has the distinction of having some unusual street names , It seems that the city is located on the north and south border of two counties. When they originally named the streets the ones in the southern county were “north and Northeast” and the ones on the southern part of the northern most county were south and southeast.  (Don’t try to find your way around that town without a map!)

The bridge construction onthe Atchison side of the
Missouri River . They NEED a new bridge.

The pastoral view from our trailer at Eagleville, MO

Bethany , the nearest town to Eagleville where we are, is a small town of 3,000 and is the namesake for the Bethany Limestone that has been used in many of the building in the Kansas City area. A large cave here is reputed to be the largest man made cave (limestone quarry) in the world.

Tomorrow we hope to scope out some Recreation areas as there are no NWR in this county. The Prairie Chicken stop that we had planned was cancelled as the man stated that the Prairie Chickens were not to be found in abundance so he closed his blind.

April 4-10th Getting to Oklahoma City,OK

Catching up. April 4-10 Corsicana TX to Oklahoma City, OK

Wow! I really must have been asleep not posting for almost a week. But here is an update and some adventures that happened along the way in sequential order.

Wed. April 4:  There was a heavy rain for about an hour before we loaded up and moved on the road toward the mid-Texas area. This route took us through the sloughs and bayous of south Texas . The towns of Humble and Dayton were filled with traffic lights so maybe it was a lot longer than we anticipated. Humble Oil company is the identification  of that town, and Humble later merged with Exxon.  We proceeded north on I-35 (all the way to Oklahoma City later) . Had a rare stop for lunch at a “Cracker Barrel” and made it to Corsicana, OK, by 4;00 PM.  Ruth claimed at supper she was “too full to eat” so we opted for popcorn and tidbits. Campground on the edge of town so  it was quite quiet (We like that!)

Thursday April 5: Two National Wildlife Areas south of town we scouted out, but were very disappointed (maybe we are spoiled with the shorebirds of the Gulf that we saw?) as we did not see many birds, actually, very few. After eating our lunch in the parking lot of a DQ (no birds this time) we took a road that parallels the Freeway back to the trailer. This road did have water in it so we backtracked a bit to get on course again. Back at the trailer I was able to catch the end of the Detroit Tigers opening day win when Justin Verlander pitched a 2 hit game but didn’t get the win. (Valverde did get the win, as he gave up two runs in the ninth). After the poor birding we decided to skip the Sanger area (proposed stop) and head right to Oklahoma City on Saturday.

"Pops" world's largest Pop bottle (Arcadia OK)
It's also a full service restaurant.

Coming into Dallas at 55mph.

Grid lock for construction (1 1/4 hour to go 1/4 mile)
Finally made the first exit and then got lost!
The highway had six lanes merging into one!

Longhorn Steers near Corsicana TX

JIm's niece's back yard with pool and fountain
The pool is therapeutic for a son who needs regular therapy.

Friday  April 6 : The weather is holding up very good, Sunny and 70 F . We did a short run for birds in the morning to Chambers Lake by the back roads and found some birds which helped sooth our appetites for birds. There are lots of “Texas Bluebonnets” in this area.  Then we decided to do some “local” tourist’s stops, as long as we were here. This is the home factory of STOVER’S CANDIES, so we visited their shop to look over what they had and bought a few Easter things.  North of there about a mile is  the PECAN CO. ,one of the larger pecan suppliers in Texas  so that was the second visit and we actually bought one  “Pecan Pie in a Jar” (All ready to put in a pie shell.). Phyllis made us feel right at home “y’all”. The last venue was the well known COLLINS BAKERY AND DELI that is famous for their FRUITCAKE that they make .  ( I am going to have one  mailed at Christmas.) We had lunch there, and  bought two loaves of cinnamon bread and left satisfied! The afternoon was “resting” time, computer, ballgames, etc. (We have no TV (that works) so that saves time for sure!) This was the evening to eat at the SIRLOIN STOCKADE  a “brother restaurant” to MONTANA MIKE’S in Emporia KS where we had eaten before. The meal includes 4 buffets (salad, fish, veggies and desserts)  as well as your choice of sirloin cooked individually the way you like it. A sumptuous meal to be sure. (No peanuts on the floor here!) Back at the trailer we took down the awnings in preparation for an early leave tomorrow heading to Oklahoma.

Saturday April 7:  This was a long frustrating day all the way up Interstate 35  with a choice to “go around Dallas” (much longer)  or  stay on I-35 and go right through the city  at Saturday noon. We took the latter choice and wished we had not. Unknown to us there was a 9 mile rod construction on the main highway (I-835) and when I got on the ramp to access it ...we were TRAPPED in a 5 miles long back up tat seemed endless. I was able to take some pictures, however, while paused in that gridlock. We were on the third tier of ramps (up in the air) for one hour and a quarter and moved about 1/4 mile.  (See pictures) Finally, where six lanes merged into two and then one, we were able to get off on a ramp and head north and around the tie up. BUT, we then needed to find a way to get around and back to the Freeway going north once again..

 Getting through Dallas when you are familiar with it, is a problem we have been told, as many of the streets do not go “through”. After asking directions Jim , (the male in the team,)  found a road that took us directly to the Freeway again and we were on our way now 2 hours behind our previous estimate  of arrival.  No fear, however, as we did make it by 5:00 PM and Chris (manager) set us up quickly. We began to unwind with tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches as the “comfort food”,and we began to feel better. 

Easter Sunday, April 8: We had a chance to get to a local church and my niece Bernadette recommended St. Luke’s UMC near downtown. It was a good suggestion  as it had a traditional service much like we have at our First UMC in Grand Rapids, MI. It had a large 50 voice choir, grand organ music of Vierne and Vidor (Toccata) on the Aolian/ Skinner organ, and a wonderful sermon on “Death” ...yes “Death” entitled , “What do you discover when you look into the tomb”?   Service ended with the Halleluja Chorus (Handel). It was a fine way to start the Easter Sunday. We stayed ‘til the end of the Toccata at the Postlude. This church also has a separate venue for Contemporary service that followed by 15 minutes so the main sanctuary is not changed at all. There was no visual screen at all.

After the church service, we looked over the church and it’s many rooms and estimated it’s membership at more than 1,000. This led us to “kill” an hour and 1/2 before the meal at “Nonna’s” in downtown OK City. We drove the few blocks to downtown and watched the traffic and “scoped out” the buildings as on Easter Sunday much was quiet. At 11:00 we headed for the restaurant and were met by the family who proceeded to “catch up”  with each other. I was able to greet my sister (who was visiting) and Bernadette’s family. Some of these I had not seen in a few years. The meal was wonderful and presented well, so we had a leisurely time of it. Upon exiting ...(oh I did eat an egg quiche with salad that was excellent) ... we put on our comfort  clothes at the trailer and headed to the family home for an afternoon of Easter relaxation. (see yard picture)  That included watching the end of the Master’s golf, the Detroit Tiger win over Boston in 11 innings, and the start of the OK City Thunder Basketball game which one of the boys was to attend. A meal followed and it concluded a wonderful love filled Easter Sunday. (Thanks Bernadette and Gary.)

Monday April 9:  It was another day to attempt to find some birds and we headed east and north of town where there were two lakes that showed promise. This was Arcadia Lake where after much driving, pursuing, and seeking we did find a FEW species of birds we hadn’t seen especially the Yellow Rumped Warbler which is a portent of spring to be sure.  We did not, however, see may other birds around the Lake, so proceeded to a second lake where we found something we had NEVER SEEN BEFORE. That is a Lake entirely surrounded by a barbed wire fence, with the entire community gated with coded gates  so there was no admittance unless you lived there or knew the codes. We are talking about a lake which is many miles around (5-6). IT is an individually owned Improvement Company formed originally in 1943 and bought by the landowners when the Company went defunct.  Texans and Oklahomans are very much into “gated” properties especially the ranches. I don’t know the reason behind that but would be interested to find out. In the small town of Arcadia (near Hiwasee Lake) was a Round Barn (see) and the world’s largest pop bottle (see) at POP’s Gas and pop stop. He has 500 varieties of pop available  (Get your 12 back in mix or match) . Tomorrow we will include the great nephews baseball games. 

We believe these to be Purple Martins and some Red Wing Blackbirds

A round barn used at present as a gift store. (And tour!)

April 3,4 Last day at Smith Point and to Corsicana TX

April 3,4, Last day at Smith Point & Move to Corsicana, TX

The most exiting few minutes of the trip happened the morning of the 3rd, It appeared as if the wind was coming up as we were about to get out of bed. Now this is not unusual as the wind at Smith Point usually blows at about 15-25 mph all day. It is, after all, just on the NE side of Galveston Bay and as I indicated previously , there are three Bays of water to contend with that surround it. 

Those early AM storm clouds just before it "hit".

The Oyster business office for the "Jeri's Seafood's".
They had only oysters by the pound.

I placed that story, about the awning and the wind, on the previous post so will post the picture of the cloud that preceded the storm here. It was quite a few moments. We owe those guys a lot of thanks.

The last day after the storm was spent with trip to Bolivar Peninsula  (on the Gulf of Mexico) and we tried to time it so the tide was low on the back bays and that seemed to work out just right. ON the way to Rollover Pass, Ruth wanted to stop at Smith Oaks were the Roseate Spoonbills have been in years past, We had heard after the Hurricanes (Rita and Ike) that the roosts on the two islands there were demolished so we weren’t sure what we would find.

It was amazing as we found 100’s of nesting (process of building) Spoonbills, White Egrets and Cormorants. We walked in, looked at them and took a few pictures, but would come back later in the day.  (SEE PICTURES)

White Egret at the Rookery

Roseate Spoonbills at the Rookery

At Rollover Pass on the Bolivar Peninsula, there is a channel that has been dug since the 1950’s that allows the Ocean water top enter the Rollover Bay and East Bay so that marine fish may spawn and plant growth can occur for food for them. It was originally called “Rollover Fish Pass”.

Rollover Pass earned its name from the practice of smugglers who, from the days of Spanish rule through prohibition, avoided the Galveston customs station by rolling barrels of import or export merchandise (i.e., whiskey and rum) over the narrowest part of the peninsula. At that point it is on;y a few hundred yards wide.

Here we found a treasure chest of birds especially the Black Billed Skimmers which were there in large numbers, also the Least Terns in a small flock, and the usual Pelicans, Gulls and shorebirds.  It was a great place to sit, watch, eat lunch and take some pictures. (SEE) One man was near in his car taking pictures and we caught up with him at the Smith Oaks Rookery.

Least Terns, (see white patch)

Ruth "harassing" the Black Billed Skimmers

After a few hours of great watching and recording we continued birding in the area on two roads that lead from the Gulf side to the Bay sides.Both were excellent and allowed us to see a Green heron, that we hadn't see n this far even though we were told there were many around. 

We made a brief stop at a store that has been rebuilt since Hurricane “Ike”, and  sort of the “Meijer’s” store of the Gulf Coast with “one stop shopping”, and the only store for many miles around. Gas here was $3.89 which it has averaged except for High Point at #4.08.

Then a trip back to High Island, which is not an Island but “high” compared to the surrounding land from there to the Gulf. Birds first stop here after their Gulf transit and truly “fall out”. Hence the term “fall out” in bird lore.

Returning to Smith Oaks (one of five areas of High Island that is a great birding “hotspot”), Ruth got out the Big Gun, her 200 X 400 lens and the tripod. This is serious stuff! .Great pictures are taken with tripod especially any with motion ,as they can “freeze” the moment so much sharper. We lingered a long while taking pictures and some videos to be used later in DVD’s. The distance to the rookery from the observation trail is about 150 feet in places. There are four platforms in the trees to observe quietly from. There is also a large rookery across the water  where an addition few hundred Spoonbills, Egrets and Cormorants roost. We also saw 5 Little blue Herons in that bunch.

I would say that this is perhaps the one of the most beautiful scenes in all of ‘birddom”. The colors (Rose and White,)  contrasting the black Cormorants is a photographers dream.  They swoop and dive, preen and court with all the moves they make and  goes on and on.  The rookery takes about 160 degrees of the horizon from left to right. Hopefully, some of you will see the results of the photography sometime.

This morning (Wednesday), we paid our bills (for the washings) at only $1.00 per dryer and $1.50 per washer load and were on our way after waiting about 30 minutes for a rain shower to end.  

Black Skimmers at Rollover Pass

Least Terns take flight!

We headed north up the ”Back roads” to I-10, which we had scoped a few days before, and continued on a road (off the Freeway)  that would take us around the Houston traffic. It did, but led us through towns like Humble, each of which had many traffic lights. We did get back on US 45 heading toward Dallas , and stopped in Corsicana on the west end of that town where we will be for three nights. There are some Refuges and Recreation Areas here that we will explore. They say there is a good steakhouse near as well.

I told Ruth to day that we should write an article about “Birding at 55 Miles Per Hour” as today we garnered 35 birds identified entirely while in a moving vehicle.   See you soon.

APRIL 1, 2 Days 32, 33 At Smith Point

No Foolin’ It’s April all over.  And here in SE Texas it is just about staying 75-85 F  degrees every day.  The sun shines some, and the clouds come and go.  There had been only one short night time rain until today. Then this morning, (Monday April 2)  at about 8:00 AM, the storm clouds blew up and the winds cranked up and down came the rain.

Ruth and I were in the process of getting breakfast and I realized that this was going to be a “blow”. (storm) . We had an awning out over the slide out on the trailer as we usually did, and we had lost one in North Dakota last year so didn’t want to lose another one.  I ran out into the site and grabbed the bar of the awning and held on. The awning was flapping very energetically and t was all I could do to keep it from tearing up. Ruth came out with the “roll down” crank but we needed to untie the two stays that are attached to the trailer first (they would get torn away in this wind). Ruth was struggling with the ties and it looked hopeless. I managed to grab the bar that held the windward side of the awning and held on. Just about then when all seemed lost THREE Good Samaritans came from neighboring trailers and assisted us to secure the awning at least enough until later. They got soaking wet as well, but we were grateful for their help. They had seen us struggling and came to the rescue. People can be helpful. (Thanks guys). Incidentally, all the workers who are in this RV Park are from Louisiana and experienced the “Katrina” and “Ike” Hurricanes, so they know what dangers lurk in the weather. This is a team of seismic explorers looking for deposits of possible rock layers that would yield oil or gas. They use prop driven marsh buggies of all sizes to get through the marsh and wetlands.

ENVIRONMENTAL BOATS DOING SEISMIC STUDIES

A "PROP" BOAT TO RUN THROUGH THE MARSHES FOR SEISMIC 

So today was a late start, but we managed to get a load of washing  before lunch and then do a “around the neighborhood” drive to see if we could add to our bird list. We did see two new birds , so the list continues to grow. Those two were two Wilson’s Snipe at the side of a rural road, and by what is known here as the Abisher Hawk watch, we did see a Ferruginous Hawk. That was coincidental as the Hawk Watch is in the fall when they move south again. The roads around Smith Point are all residential roads that generally lead to the Bays. That is because Smith Point is actually a large peninsula with East Bay, Trinity Bay and Galveston Bay meeting at its’ shores.  Surrounding the very flat land are many channels where the oyster boats and fishermen move in and out. Here at the RV PArk are slips enough for more than 50 boats. Some of them oyster boats  and part time fishermen. Remember this place is 100 miles from Galveston by Ferry, and 60 miles from any town of consequence.

Geri’s Seafoods  located here, has some 20 boats for oyster farming and even though the waters have been closed since last October there is some opening of the units for them to farm the oysters again. Geri’s is an old established firm that has been here 50 years or so. Ben and Geri Nelson have owned it in the past. 

Yesterday was a bit different as after doing a larger washing, we ate lunch and headed to the Anahuac NWR (love that place) of course to look for birds but also to partake and watch a “Rail Sweep”. That has nothing to do with trains (somebody reminded me of that) but is a way to collect data on the Marsh birds like the 5 kinds of Rails, the Moorhens, Bitterns and the like. Here’s the way it works. Two people  stand about 100 feet apart with a long rope stretched from one to the other. Attached to the rope are plastic gallon jugs  tied at intervals. These two walk through the fields where the Rails are and other people walk behind the rope to “flush” the birds into the air. A few long areas are covered and the data is collected. One can just walk along, see the birds in their binoculars, or collect data.  This day the area was about 4 miles from the Refuge Center, and behind a normally  closed gate. After about one hour the “Sweep”was finished . This day no birds were seen, as the population was down.It is a good way, however,  to see these elusive, secretive birds.  It was a new experience for us. 

Getting instructions for the "Rail Sweep"

The "Sweep" takes place , slowly and one step at a time.

Our bird counts the last three days were ,47, 53 and 46.  We did add some new birds,however, and they were:

ROUGH WINGED SWALLOW, MOTTLED DUCK, COMMON MOORHEN, MISSISSIPPI KITE, WILSON’S SNIPE, FERRUGINOUS HAWK.

Both the Kite and the Hawk were new to us. 

Tomorrow we will attempt to get to Rollover Pass, (not named after a car accident) where we have timed  a low tide and may see more of the shorebirds than we have seen before. No word on any migrant songbirds yet, but there is still time.

American Bittern 

Hurricane "Ike" damaged many tall trees