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.