Goose Island on a Sunday Walk in the Rain...

This past Sunday I drove through Portland, to Rockport, Texas and over Copano Bay then, turned off at Lamar, Texas. The nearly 50 mile drive was through a foggy stretch and misty rainfall. I then, drove through an oak tree covered park road to the shoreline road in hopes of seeing some of the Whooping Cranes that winter here each season. Through the busy windshield wiper blades, I spotted two cranes feeding in an adjacent field. Too bad it was quite a dark, and gloomy, morning...they were in the open field, but my vision was marred with wet windows; unable to get good, bright, colorful pictures of those gentle giants [largest land bird in America]. I rolled down my window as I slowly came to a halt in the middle of the road, snapping the shutter button on my camera. Cattle were grazing, egrets were following the cattle, and a few northern shovelers [ducks] were feeding on a small pond surrounded by cattail reeds, I drove around the circle and then came to the "Big Tree" [this tree is most likely pointed out on any map of the area, it's famous for its longevity; hundreds of years surviving many devastating hurricanes - - it's still standing]. I made a U-turn and returned to the shoreline road, back to the cranes and stopped, exited the car after pulling off the road, and took more photos. I figured this is probably the last opportunity for me seeing them before they all head up north to their breeding grounds in North America and Canada this season.

The rain had nearly stopped by then, and I got back in the car to enter the state park, Goose Island State Park. I paid my entrance fee, and drove the park roads that meander through the camp grounds and up to the fishing pier. Well, by the time I got to the area where the pier should've been, I then found out that the pier, highly damaged from Hurricane Harvey in 2017, has not been repaired or replaced....the road was cordoned off and no unauthorized vehicles or pedestrians allowed. Bummer....there are usually Loons out in the bay. Maybe next year. Okay...so another U-turn and back through the camp grounds where I pulled in to park at the trail head for the nature trail. The last time I was at the State Park, this trail was closed...also from heavy damage.

I got out and headed to the beginning of the trail. The pathway was open...but the farther I got into the area that once was dense oak tree canopy- the path of destruction was unbelievably stark...and sad. To see all the downed trees and work that has been done to clear it all out over the last 18 months or so, was really disheartening. It will take decades for any regrowth to become as it was prior to the storm. When the wind blew through the area as I hiked around, the oak trees sprinkled me with leftover rain accumulated on the evergreen leaves. [Live Oak does NOT have a dormant winter period; unlike other oak trees].   I continued. I had plans of walking the entire way and coming out at another area, to walk back along the park roads, back to the car. That came to a screeching halt!!! My way out was under water!! Like I said many times in the past several months, South Texas has had rain and more rain since last September...where we broke records of total accumulation. And the ground is completely saturated. When it rains now, lakes and ponds form in the lowlands immediately!!

That's my introduction for my day tripping over Sunday morning. Now, I'll share photos:

Uprooted trees and damaged limbs were evident throughout the trails...





Water was everywhere ...





...but there was beauty in the silence of it all. If only for a fleeting moment!!




Oh oh....water and flooded trail!! And just about at the end of the path too. Nothing more to do that turn around; make yet another U-turn, and go back the way I came. This is the month that wood ticks come out in the grasses and trees. And they're hungry for blood. I was playing it safe; staying out of the high grass!!!

Note: More, better photos of the Whooping Cranes will be shared at my bird photo blog, I'd Rather B Birdin', on Saturday