Ahoy, Matey!!!

On any given day I plan to go to Rockport Texas and walk their beach park, I leave in the dark hours of the morning, way before sunrise. Mainly ‘cause there is one section of highway that has a dangerous curve near Aransas Pass! If it’s timed wrong, the sun, as it begins to rise above the horizon, it’s right smack dab in your eyes…and it’s blinding even with sunglasses and the visor pulled down!!! The curve is right there…so, I make sure I’m past that area and heading north BEFORE the sun appears. So, on this day, I arrive at the beach park just as the sunrise begins, and I’m preparing my gear from the trunk to start my walking. At this park, I can easily get my 10000 steps in…it’s a large park. Bays, inlets, beaches that are lined with several thatch-roofed cabanas, park roads, pavilions, picnic areas, and a few miles of curves and stops to see the wildlife. As I begin my trek in search of migrant birds, I get out and don my binoculars, camera and jacket …the wind is blowing and it's a bit nippy!! This area is well-known to have many, many, different species that come to breed and raise their broods for Spring and into the early Summer seasons each year; at or near the rookeries. Come, walk with me….

At the beginning of the park, there is a parking lot for those that want exercise, or, your choice to enter the park by paying a fee, and driving in with your BBQ and picnic gear. I've done both, but when I'm alone, I park in the lot and walk the entire area on foot. My first stop is the boat launch. This is an ideal spot to make use of the binoculars [or scope] to look beyond the bay's inlet over to the rookery. For the main part, there are egrets, spoonbills, herons, gulls, and pelicans on this island. Today, mostly spoonbills and herons were spotted. As I leave this section of park, I can hear the seagulls....hundreds...courting and calling their sweethearts or making a ruckus defending their territorial space for nesting. By mid April to early May the grasses will have grown, and the nestlings will cover the cordoned off section of park!!! And, if I think it's loud now...if I return in mid May, the volume of bird calls will deafen any chance of hearing someone talk.  Even when they're standing right next to you!!!

The Rookery at a distance:

Acres of Seagulls, but I show you two with a courtship ritual [or perhaps a fight of territorial rights]. With the stance of the lone seagull with wings spread open, I'd say it's part of their courtship since this is how it begins. Dozens of times I've seen gulls with a foot missing and I surmised it was from a close encounter with a boating accident or tangling with fish line. But seeing this action with the one gull chewing the other's leg/foot [last photo in the sequence], I'm wondering now if this is an habitual, 'natural' occurrence:

Around the bend between the inlet and the channel that goes out into the bay and eventually, the Gulf of Mexico, I round the corner and find about a dozen Black Skimmers keeping out of the wind. Turning yet farther, this time heading in a southerly direction, the dried up tidal basin is completely filled with terns and hundreds more skimmers. All take flight, only to circle around and put out their landing gear and come back in to soak up the warmth of the sand!!

After the migratory section, I direct my walk to the beach. Here, I see pelicans - both white and brown, some terns hunting the water for breakfast and gulls cleaning up the beach of tidbits from people, littering. I see through the clear water as the surf drums along the shore, snail shells with hermit crabs and fish, Between the beach, bay and park trails, you see more cabanas, palm trees, and playground equipment. The pirate ship is a new feature since the hurricane....