Saturday morning at 6 a.m. the Port Aransas jetty [and others along the Texas Coast] reopened to fishermen for the first time in 6 weeks [since closure in March 2020 for the pandemic, covid_19]. I was done with my housework, laundry, early. So, I thought, it's been since March 2nd since I've been to Port A, I'm gonna go see what's new. Well, a lot of things...I counted eight houses newly built along the highway, the aplomado falcons have returned to the nesting box, and a few little things here and there. The morning was a balmy 80 degrees at 7:30 when I arrived. After birding my two hotspots in the village, I decided to see what the beach looked like...ahhhhhh, the roaring waves, the scent of salt water, terns galore on the sandy beach, life was a bit more normal. After watching two courting royal terns in the group of many [I followed them through the camera's lens and will share their photos in the next post], I watched the waves, and laughed silently at the scene in front of me...hundreds of cars and trucks parked from the first opened area to the shore of the Gulf [two rows!]. On any other given day, week, month, year, the total number of vehicles would be at the most, twenty! People have been shut in at home for way too long! Sadly, I did notice that most were not heeding the 6 foot distancing tho. And from my vantage point [too far away] I couldn't see any protective masks. But, they were enjoying the day. I stayed safely in the car. Anyway, I filmed the scene for a minute or two and wanted to share...
Reopening Day