The oportunity to see more than a dozen different species of birds while standing in one place was provided for us today on one of the special ponds on Mustang Island. More about that in a minute.
The drive to Mustang Island includes a Ferry ride , provided free by the state of Texas, from the mainland to the Island. There is no bridge here like there is in Corpus chrsti that connects the island. Mustang Island actually is the north "end" of Padre Island to the south. There are five ferries that operate on the weekends, and they were busy. The channel they cross is only 1/2 mile wide BUT is on the Intracoastal Waterway, so shipping has the right of way, interrupting the flow of the ferries from time to time.
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| Theferry docks. There are six of them. One always in reserve. |
It was a short, but fun ride with safety the first priority by all the crews.
We then arrive at one of three birding areas that we visited this day. It was a short distance from the Ferry Docks. It was near the Intracoastal waterway, and had a few very good ponds in which we saw many shorebirds.
A 'shorebird" could be described as a bird that needs to be near and visit the edges of water in order to glean the food that resides there whether in the mud, sand, or on the surface. That can be invertebrates crustaceans, worms, and many other rorganisma.
This was the Aransas Natures Center and Charlie's Pasture. It is thousands of acres , and has many ponds and wetlands. It was also where we saw the rattlesnake that had crawled under a Michigan truck's wheel and was not gong away. (See pictures)
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| One of the tugs pushing a loaded barge (chemicals fromAlabama)
Below are two pictures of the Rattlesnake. When we came back from observing the birds at the Nature Center
There was quite a "hubbub" around our truck and the other one from Michigan. It seems a rattesnake (Diamondback) had gotten under the tires of the truck and was not getting out. It was cooler there out of the sun, I am sure. The truck owner was hiking somewhere. The animal control folks and the local police were called as this is a heavy traffic area. They finally coaxed it out into the fields nearby so all ended well.
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| The rattler after it had hid under the truck for about 10 minutes |
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| Mixture of Green Winged Teal some Blue Winged Teal |
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| The Roseate Spoonbills |
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| Avocets and Short Billed Dowitchers with a few Shovelers |
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| Ruddy Duck, Male. |
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| "Bringin' the groceries home." |
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| Tri Colored Heron |
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| Look out for 'Gators' |
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| The "hiding" position of the rattlesnake under the truck. From there we went to the most popular pond which was called the "Spoonbill Pond" before the Nutria ate most of the reeds and the Spoonbills had to move out and/or back a ways. That pond had the most varieties of any of the places we had seen so far. On that "small lake" there were more than , or at least 18 species of birds. . Almost all of them were resting in the midday sun. Many of them, before migrating further north as they "load up" on food for the 'flight' north. I guess these were the original "flights'? We took many pictures and recorded the species . Avocets Red Head ducks, Green Winged Teals , some Pied Billed Grebes and a Nutria were seen. Forty Seven species in all today. We then headed for a very small wooded area in the middle of town. It has been traditionally a haven for Night Herons and other waterbirds, but this day it held a few Warblers and a Ladder Backed Woodpecker. We started home as the wait for the Ferry would be longer and it was . We waited 45 minutes, but when we got to the mainland the line to get on the ferry was 2 miles long (Saturday!) I'll end with the few final photos of some creatures you may know or not. (Jim had trouble posting the pictures in their proper places. Sorry about that! I'll work on it! |
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