Part II

This is the 2nd part...the part where you say Life is a Beach!! Before I get to the shore, I wanted to finish a bit where I was tallying up my step count at the birding centers...

How I long to be on the OTHER SIDE. These views are from Leonabelle....as I  made use of my zoom lens, looking toward Charlie's Pasture North....we still are barricaded from entering there...but I can dream on and remember all the water fowl seen here a couple years ago along the 3 mile boardwalk. From a Distance:

...and I happened to see a lot of water fowl at Leonabelle's too! All in one spot!! Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, Grackles [they're everywhere!], Ibis, Blue Herons, seagulls, Dunlins, Sandpipers, stilts, and more that I can't recall.

. . .

I love it when on the shore, the surf pounds hard on the sand...and ships are tussled gently on the waves. At least standing and watching on firm ground...not out ON the ship, where it's up and down bow and stern, rolling port then starboard...nope.
When I arrived at the beach, the previous night's forecast called for extreme high tide. Well, they were correct. The tide was so high at this time of day that the area where we normally  park vehicles was under water. There was no way to even walk up to the ship channel jetty! But, oh the birds were loving all the fresh food right at their dining table, with no work involved. Just open the jaw and chow down!!

...on any given day without high tide this that is under water is where we park vehicles and the jetty is accessible! [you can see the jetty at the far distance - the dark horizontal 'line'].  I parked near the edge of the access road,  in a 'dry' spot, and walked against the sand dunes along the water's edge. Watching the waves, viewing ships going up and down the channel, birds feeding, and other vehicles trying to get through the tidal pools with their 4WD machines. Most stopped, parked where I did, others turned around and left.

I took my lensball with me in my pocket. The ships and channel were too far away to get good, close up images of ships, I tried with the stand. Then, ended up walking back toward the jetty as another ship made its way through the water, and instead of using the crystal pedestal I did a hand-held shot...

Tho quite uncommon to see this bird by the sea in our area [I see them in trees or along power lines or in flight]; especially a rare sight on the beach, I think it too was in search of some carrion from the water!! Can you guess what bird this is? Is it an eagle? A hawk?




...well, it is an eagle [but not the American eagles, more a cousin to the eagle as we know them and falcons; buzzards...it is Old Mexico's National Bird....the Crested Caracara - which in Spanish, caracara means "face-face".  The crested part of the head feathers rise when threatened/angered or oftentimes in flight.


Read more on the bird HERE