Day 22, Sun., April 23, 2018 At Rockport, Some birds, oil wells, a “new” bird Sanctuary.

This post is out of place one day. Sorry.

We put on the slow cooker with some chicken and rice for supper and t will be ready at 5:00 or so. Then we headed out the door to some potential bird areas.

So… did  a “New“ Bird Sanctuary catch your eye?  Maybe not, but it has been beautifully redone. But I’ll back up to establishing the fact that this area , was hit very hard by the back winds that came form the hurricane last year.  You remember that Houston got the water,  and this area, a bit further down the coast, saw that the  the winds were the cause of the main damage.This means that there is much work, every day, being done in the community to repair, rebuild, reconstruct and attend to  structures that were hit and demolished or damaged in some way. Right on the street where the RV Park is located , there are 10 houses that are in an active state of being repaired (see photos) .

A history of thir progression of this property. She was an amazing woman.

A layout of the Sancturay.

A beutiful and well cared for Butterfly garden is the centerpiece.

One part of the Butterfly Garden.

One of Texas 5 wildflower daisies. (Black Eyed Susans.

 This is also true of the Connie Hager Bird Sanctuary at the edge of town. What they have done there since the hurricane  is remarkable especially considering there was little done to continually upgrade or minyan that Sanctuary in previous years. When we visited here three years ago it was not much to arg about. Now there are paths, benches, a terrific butterfly and hummingbird garden as well as the hawk watch platform that has been there for years. We spent some time in the Sanctuary  today and it is just right for us as the trails are shorter, and  the benches are a “Godsend” so to speak.  We did locate a few bird there including the YELLOW BREASTED CHAT, CATBIRDS, and a few FLYCATCHERS including the BLUE WINGED (A first for us), a YELLOW WARBLER, RUBY THROATED HUMMINGBIRD and the delicious PAINTED BUNTING.  What a gloriously colored bird. They are sometimes described as a bird that “spent some time in a child’s paint box.”

 The work that is being done on places like the Sanctuary at Hager’s is done by a consortium called “Aransas Pathways”. It has jurisdiction over many of the parks, nature areas and Sanctuaries that are not under governmental control of any type.  I’m going to check into that more when I get back on the internet (No internet here as the hurricane pretty well wiped out their infrastructure.) The consortium seems to be doing a fine job.

During the AM we also found a Park that had been completely redone in the past year or more.  It had previously been a stop on the Texas Birding Trail, but was very run down. Now it is a multiple use complex with tennis courts, ball fields, picnic areas and many walking and bike riding trails  covering sone 60-70 acres. There, we did see a few more birds, but as I said the Warblers are not moving through yet. They apparently bought additional land to do this.

The three oil wells at Aransas just before the pass. (On the beach)

They re HUGE!

Plenty of work yet to do on poles and lines. (in  The water here.

Boat damage We saw one miles from it's mooring. (yet)

The large pipes are cassions used on the oil wells.

A home stilll getting work done .

The foundation is laid (a replacement) and work to be done.

We came back to the trailer for lunch and break and then headed south about 109 miles toward Aransas Pass and two areas there that could have been good in migration. Not so today, but again we kept picking up a few more birds . There was another example of a park not returned to its former state. There was a  very fine butterfly garden, that was mainly weeds at this time. On the road we did spot a COLLARED DOVE, CASPIAN TERN AND a CARACARA.
Besides this the day , saw 43 birds identified and we did  go to the Gulf shore only once for a few minutes.

Interestingly from our campsite  a large triple header oil well  is visible near Aransas Pass.  Just before the ferry cross to Mustang Island (Aransas Pass) it is towering high above the skyline. It is just HUGE. (see photos) All of the equipment including the drilling pipes are there as well.  That you die another one to explore to get information about. It is the only one I have seen along the shoreline in TX.






*****At present  time  we have identified and seen 187 bird species. When we get to British Columbia, I will offer a prize to the closest guess to the total species of birds that we  see on the trip .That will be after the 193 day trip.  It is good to consider that e will not see the numbers that we have here in new species.  After that point I will no longer announce the total, but will post new species that we see, Soif you are following along regularly, you shod have a good guess.

Tomorrow we head for Harlingen, TX and the Rio Grande area. The birds there offer some unique possibilities as many of then come only as far north as the Rio Grande, and so can be seen only there. One example is the GREEN JAY, a bird that has blue and  green  as its main colors. The habitat that is along the Rio Grande is like no other in the USA at that latitude. That area is also a bustle of border crossings, helicopters (Border patrol), and long lines of cars getting ready to cross into the USA.