Stromboli's Rolling Log: Day 11, Seeing the Back Bays near Rockport, TX.

Had to contend with the rain today, but it was not to last. The clouds rolled in and the humidity did as well as Ruth was sweating while gettng the weekly trailer cleaning done. In the meantime, I got the truck lubricated and looked over and it was a good thing we did that as a plug for the trannie fluid was loose and leaking, and had splashed over the panels on the bottom of the truck. It has lost just a half quart, but that was enough! We topped it off, changed the air filter, and were back on the road again.

One of the things to do when moving to a new site is to make sure the ‘basics” are all connected, like water , electricity and sewer (if needed.) Also in order to have hot water , turn on the switches that deal with that. We use all of our facilities so we need to do that. When I started to shower, early this morning, before getting ready to take the car in, there was no hot water in the shower. (Quick rinse...Brr!) .

But, finally we had everythng ready , our lunch was packed and away we went. The ares we covered today were away from the Ocean and inland to a small community called Bayside which is on Campano Bay on the other side from Rockport. There is only one road to get there , but on the way we stopped at many tidal flats , rivers and bays to observe and collect bird identfications. There are the usual discussions between Ruth and me about specises but it helps us to not just guess at any bird species,. We will not put down the bird as ID’d if we cannot agree.

The Long Billed Curlew ends up in S. Canada unlike his cousin,
the Short Billed Curlew who nests by the Arctic Ocean.

One of the pictures below will explain a family that moved to Bayside in 1836. Very interesting. There is on one road we drove, a ranch for sale.It would make great investment. It is named "Rancho Cabo Verde" and is on a spit of land between Campano Bay and other tidal flats. Check it out. Might be a great deal. One thng for sure , it would be a great site for wind generators.!!!

The Wood Mansion in Bayside , TX

The plaque depicting the Wood story.

We finihed the day coming back into Rockport and looking over two small thickets, but neither had any birds as there still was a stiff 25-30 mph wind. Total species for the day was 47, including a Long Billed Curlew (above) which we had not seen before on this trip, I think Ruth said we are now at 105 species seen.

The evenig saw a storm roll in , but little rain fell. I did see the potential for a rainbow when the sun came out just after the rain. I hurried out the door to look seaward, and there WAS a RAINBOW. Always great to see the Rainbow, just like the one Noah saw.

Seeing a Golden Fronted Woodpecker in a yard feeder was a great moment for us today. Avocets, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs were speciel finds today as well.