Day 10 Return to the Dikes

Legend has it that one of Kemah’s first inhabitants was the pirate Jean Lafitte. It is even rumored that he buried much of his stolen treasure around this horseshoe shaped section of Galveston Bay. There are still some long time residents who profess that some of Lafitte’s treasure was used to fund much of Kemah’s illegal and notorious gambling days shortly after World War II. Kemah has the third largest recreational fleet of boats in North America. (sail boats mainly.) We saw more than 100 in a Regatta today on the Bay.

The day promised to open up some as the clouds had a few breaks in them early in the morning. We decided that there was enough birds so we could return to the same spots two days in a row. We have seldom done that but agreed that that would work for us. We headed again for the Texas City refinerys. (Mobil, Marathon and others)

The first ponds held the same birds as we had seen the day before only with greater numbers (see yesterday's list). There were more Roseate Spoonbills as their pink colors gleamed in the hazy light. The great numbers of Green Winged Teals had increased and the usual Egrets and Herons were present. We added some Tree Swallows , too, (blue top , white under) as they darted in and out across the ponds catching insects .

The Texas City Dike (that 5.5 mile long one) had many more visitors on this Saturday with hundreds fishing on both sides of the dike. Remember this is 5 miles out in the Bay! The dozens of trucks indicated that here were many people out fishing in boats as well. It seemed to be a good time for families as there are many play and picnic areas along the dike and they were occupied. .

We stopped to get some pictures especially of the Black Skimmers that were massed on the lee side of the dike (away from the ship canal.). That stop lasted about an hour. When I started the car to move again the battery protested and was dead. A generous and kind man (in a pickup) stopped and gave me a jump. So I kept the car running the rest of the time we were there. We ate lunch,watched the ships , tugs and barges in the Bay and took a

Black Skimmers

few more pictures of the Eared Grebes in rafts then headed for home and a parts store. After another 30 minutes I had the battery checked , took out the battery and inserted a new one in its' place. It works fine as expected. The battery had some bad cells so was not long for this world. It is not pleasant to be on the road and find out that your vehicle wouldn't start and with all the "back roads" that we travel on looking for birds, we don't relish getting stuck on some rural road where no one comes by for ages (yes I know there is the cell phone, but we didn't bring it along.).Hey, I was born in 1931 remember?

We did stop for a DQ and Ruth likes a raspberry/chocolate Flurry and Jim likes banana/strawberry. It's a good after supper treat. It was salmon on the grill tonight!

YUM!

Tomorrow, after church, we will move on to Rockport where we will spend four nights before moving onto Kerrville west of San Antonio. There is good birding in the Rockport area.

You liked those "bad hair days" of the Mergansers, eh?

One picture today is of the memorial to the people who lost their lives in the 1947 explosion. It is the propeller from a ship that was destroyed in the blast... "The Hightower"

The memorial to the Texas disaster is a propeller of a destroyed ship (April 1947)

The Biplane is the tribute to the establishment of the US Air Force in Texas City.

Stay tuned--Jim and Ruth