What a Difference an Hour in a Day makes...

On Friday, Bud and I decided to leave very early because of the humidity being so high. The temperature wasn't too hot yet. We drove over the Harbor Bridge and across the North Bay Causeway to Indian Point Park for some walking on the trail. We always first go to the fishing pier on the "Corpus Christi" side of the park. There are two parks combined...Indian Point and Sunset Lakes on the Portland side of the area. You can walk it all from one side or the other. But, the only place to park and walk on our side of the bay is at the fishing pier. We usually park there and walk up on the observation deck and then get back in the car and drive to the Portland exit a couple miles down the freeway and park there, then walk the trail from the larger parking lot. Anyway, we stopped at the pier and I spotted some Willets, Egrets, Herons of two species, some plovers, turnstones, stilts, and one lone oystercatcher near the pier.

It was getting pretty sticky out there by then, about an hour of traipsing along the shore and rocky outcropping near the pier. It was gonna get hot and muggy really quick. So, we hopped back in the car, took off toward Portland, Texas and swung around the housing to Sunset Lakes and parked. We only walked half way on the trail after stopping several times to photograph birds and search the bushes and lakes for any activity. The fish were very active...everywhere we looked they were jumping out of the water, feeding on insects. Speaking of insects, as we meandered along the road to access the lakes and parking lot, the swallows and dragonflies were EVERYwhere!! More birds, like the cormorants, spoonbills, and gulls along with terns were seen in this area.

enlarge to view swallows and dragonflies - this area where the photos were taken, behind the swallows is the bay, in front of the swallows are the lakes, the road goes in between.

Like I said, we only walked half way...my blouse and jeans were getting soaked with sweating and I didn't take my sweat cloth with me, I forgot and left it in the car. Let me explain...I take a heavy dose of water tablet in the morning, each morning, and I tend to leak profusely in the humidity. And yes, I do keep myself well hydrated while walking in the summer months...got to. By the time we made it to the first observation deck on the trail, it was like I just stepped out of a heavy rainstorm. Bud was getting overheated and we decided to just call it a morning and headed back to the car.

The haze, looking toward the city's skyline [Corpus] was thick...dense air. I knew we were in for another storm later that day. Sure 'nough, by the time we got home from shopping for groceries on the way back and stopping to have something to eat...the sky opened up the flood gates and the rains....HEAVY at times....came down. I'm not complaining one iota. Let 'er rip!

Needless to say, I took plenty of photos of birds and some for Rubbish Tuesday and Good Fences, but I did want to show you the thick haze from the vantage point of the fishing pier looking toward the city...

The clear blue and white puffy clouds photo was taken BEFORE we left...you can see the difference in air by the time we arrived for our walk...from clear blue to hazy thick mugginess!! Once home, I had some more 'fun' with the camera. Squirrel antics were hilarious, and then, while watching the squirrels in the pecan tree and around the 'hood, a Lesser Nighthawk flew in for the day on one of the pecan tree limbs...it remained there all afternoon and didn't leave 'til their hunting hours...when darkness falls.