And I do have some blog-worthy photos, so here's a collection.
I adore the "Welcome to..." pop-ups on Google Maps when you cross a state line. It doesn't always happen, and I rarely catch a screenshot of it, but I was stoked to grab one for Texas on our drive in last month. Yee haw!
Hey, it's Mom and Kip and Danny and Emilio, yay!! We somehow all managed to be at Cafe Brazil in Dallas at the same time. Super fun and entertaining lunch, thank you all!
The party even continued into the parking lot...
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Beard Farm, with my only regret that I didn't get any pictures of people on the zipline. Yes, there is a zipline in Frankston TX. Stop by when you're in the neighborhood and check it out.
Kip had to leave not long after (too soon!) but Mom was able to spend more time in Texas. We drove down to the coast in search of whooping cranes. A new bird for Mom's life list - hopefully we'll see some.
To increase the odds, we booked a boat tour from Rockport into the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. Looks like a good morning for a little cruise:
Heading out across the bay, ready to search for "whoopers"!
Lovely sunrise:
And just like that, Captain Tommy found us a whooper. Thank you sir! He parked the boat right next to the marsh so we could watch it search for food. Amazingly, it pulled up a blue crab and had breakfast right before our eyes. I didn't get a good picture of that, but the bird itself was easy to photograph even with my little camera.
Enjoying our excellent viewing location - this is really a great way to go birding:
One of a pair of whoopers, also concentrating on hunting and ignoring our presence:
And one more, this one made from a PVC pipe, super cute:
More bird-spotting as we walked along the shore:
The great blue herons were fun to watch. Sometimes they would get annoyed, make a loud "gak!" and fly to a different perch:
On a driving tour through the Aransas wildlife refuge, checking out the sights from the gator watching platform:
Just taking a nap in the sun...
Possibly a tricolored heron - we could learn a lot about bird ID'ing from Captain Tommy, but we also like to wander around on our own and make guesses:
Hmm, I wonder what they are looking at?
Oh I see!
Strange nest-type hole in the grass:
The whooping cranes like to eat little berries, possibly some like these, which are maybe Carolina wolfberries (how's that for a strangely-formatted sentence?):
The rare Mirror Duck:
An armadillo! We were just talking about trying to find one so Mom could get a look, but we expected it was going to be feet-up on the side of the road. But then we ran across (without running over) this adorable dude. We named him Dilly. Thanks Dilly!
Another heron looking at us suspiciously:
More alligators...
A GIANT viewing platform, with a crazy-long ramp going up it:
We got some great views from up there, including roseate spoonbills and a bunch of pelicans. Those required binoculars to see. This sunning buzzard, however, did not:
A crested caracara! We caught a glimpse of one earlier in the day but it flew away before Mom could spot it. So we paid close attention to all the telephone poles and eventually came to a quick halt when this rare-to-us bird came into view. We were quite stoked to find it.
The Big Tree of Goose Island State Park, 1000 years old:
Another wonderful day of birding!
The next day we made a few more stops on a driving tour around Port Aransas, Mustang Island, and over to Corpus Christi. The nature preserve at Port Aransas was a great place to watch for wildlife:
A bunch of Bowling Ball Ducks:
Another gator and some birds that seem pretty oblivious:
A heron doing some fishing in the small current running into the pond:
A gazillion tracks:
We weren't sure what this one was, but Mom told me later that my guess of a juvenile black-crowned night heron was probably right. Cool!
Cinnamon teal ducks (for once I know the actual duck name and didn't have to make something up). Update!! Mom just told me that they are actually northern shovelers. Which is another new bird for her life list - very cool! So I'll update this tag to "cinnamon and teal-colored northern shovelers":
Excellent boardwalk over the pond:
White ibis in silhouette:
Fun pelicans! They were finding a bunch of fish to eat, which they did by scooping up water and fish and all, then squeezing the water out through the membrane under their bills. When the water was gone, they gulped down the fish. Crazy to watch.
The long jetty of Port Aransas (and fellow bird-watcher/jetty-walker):
The very end of the jetty, looking off into the Gulf:
An apt sign in a bird refuge near Corpus:
One more new (to us) bird! This is a great kiskadee, with interesting white/black and yellow coloring. John and I spent some time with various methods on our phones figuring it out. We were pretty proud of ourselves, until we saw a labeled photo of it on a sign at the entrance to the trail. Well, at least we were correct.
That seems like a fitting place to end the birding tour of the Texas coast. Thank you Mom, we had a great time!
And one last photo, another fun time with family - test-driving a Tesla in Tyler with John's parents. Even in the rain (or perhaps even moreso), it was impressive. Always love any chance to experience a Tesla!
Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!
