Sunday morning, early, I found myself walking along the Texas A&M jogging trail that meanders along the Oso Bay inlet that surrounds Ward Island. I try and walk this area only during the summer months and during Christmas break since most of it is campus AND student dorms along the trail. The foot traffic can be busy when students are in classes. Besides, if you get there early enough, most of the trail is well shaded!! Which is a plus in the hot summer months!! There was a slight breeze at the beginning, so the walk was pleasant. Along the trail, it is well lighted, and lined with several covered gazebos -about 8 total- where you can sit and enjoy the outdoors [while studying for an exam?!!]. The gazebos offer some relief to walkers also and most times it's a great photo op. This day was no exception...
The first at top shows the view of two fishermen in the bay. The 2nd [1st in the smaller images] is the first gazebo you 'hit' from the parking lot. The 2nd one in the small series is my favorite gazebo....here, you can walk downhill from it to the bay's shore...some hidden gems can be found here, such as a 'cove' where many wading birds are seen year 'round. And the 3rd is looking toward the NAS [Naval Air Station] on the horizon.
The Sky was beautiful! Such a clear morning...
...from my favorite gazebo [mentioned above], I walked along the shoreline of the bay after dropping down the hill. And, as I walked I saw a bird! No, not a "living" one, but in the cloud. Can you see it too, you know how I love finding objects in the sky. Can you see it? Look. It's either a Northern Gannet or maybe a Brown Boobie in 'take-off' mode; taking flight! No? Well, I'll outline it for you, maybe you can see what I saw!!
I did see birds...many. From the first one, a pigeon on the railing of one of the dorms, to juvenile stilts, herons, egrets, gulls, ibis, sparrows, cardinals, grackles [they're everywhere I tellya!], skimmers, terns of many different genuses [or genera if you prefer], woodpeckers in the palm trees, and more. While traipsing through the vegetaion along the shore, I saw a feather floating aimlessly along in peaceful slience...
Along the trail there are several areas that have patches of Spanish Dagger growing. At one outcropping the dew or remnants of the rain earlier, sparkled like diamonds in a jewelry shop window. And I was happy to see the mangrove [a lifeline for waterfowl] was coming back after the freeze in February. Of course the silver leaf sunflowers are as abundant in Texas as are the grackles...
...and views like these, all along the way. The Masked Fisherman and there IS a heron in the opening of the trees in the other image, sitting on a pipe of some kind:
I walked about an hour and a half before turning around and heading back to the parking lot. By that time, the first gate to NAS was opened and I drove along Ocean Drive and stopped a couple of times to take photos of Godwits and Terns through my car window. I made a U turn at the base's entry gate and stopped at the Farmer's Market for fruit and vegan muffins.
After taking photos of the sunrise and cloud bank on the shore, I picked up my lensball and got back in the car and drove back to the jetty at Packery Channel. The cloud formations were quickly dispersing with the heat from the sun. As the daylight became lighter and brighter, the horizon was a bit hazy [as you can see in this photo taken just above the sand dunes heading toward the Channel trail] with the Saharan sand that has been drifting into the Texas Gulf for most of the midsummer days. -see screenshot shared at top, left- [Yes, Saharan as in African]. And times the entire city is under bad air quality because of the amount coming ashore, eventually reaching north into San Antonio and Dallas at times. I don't mind a dust storm much knowing that the sandy particles, even tho they traverse in the wind currents for 1000s of miles, it's keeping the hurricane and tropical storms out of our area. And, I'll take the dust any day instead of damaging, flooding storms. Once the dust subsides off the coast of Africa, we always have a hurricane potential.
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Holiday Themed SMALLEST IN MY COLLECTION Thanksgiving Pilgrim  circa: 80s |
On the day I photographed the "new" ship, I also took other pictures as I walked in some of the areas where I stopped. Wild flowers, fisherman, the beautiful stormy cumulus cloud formations and reflections on the lake at Leonabelle Birding Center. The lake was very clear near the observation tower where I could look down from the platform and see fish below the surface...clear as a bell. As I left, I noticed the wild poinsettias in "bloom" and the magnolia tree had the formation of the seed pods after blossoming. I was also hoping for some dolphin activity along the channel, but that was a 'nada'. And, as I thought, no special birds seen except for the usual ones that reside here year 'round, like the brown pelican in front of the ship's bow wake. But there were still beautiful spots to enjoy the morning including a very faint, barely seen full rainbow above the channel....
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Holiday Themed Halloween Frankenstein *2   circa: 70s & 80s |
