We left Sinton this morning. The morning was overcast and rain was threatening. We thought we should go back to the tidal ponds/marshes that were full of feeding birds we found last evening but the rain did not allow us to get out and take a good look. The sky started to clear and the temperature increased, this was going to be a nice day. We found the tidal pond but something called the tide must have happened as the water that was there last evening was gone, the water was way way out and so were the birds.
Barbr braved the mosquitoes tried to get a photo of Belted Kingfisher sitting on a cement guardrail over the pond. He flew off and then came back, and did this again. Barbr came back to the car with some bites and no photo.
I had parked well over on the side of the shoulder of the road and put the blinkers on. I went to take some photos from the bridge. We are in the middle of no-where and this State Trooper must have been just up the road in the middle of no-where. Within a minute or two, the officer stopped and went to talk to Barbr but she could not open the window on the driver's side to talk with him but motioned to him to talk with me. I did not see this I was not looking that way. State Trooper came up beside me and pulled over. He was very nice and told me to "be careful and don't get hit" He was stopped on a bridge over the pond and everyone was driving like a hurricane was coming. If anyone was going to get hit, it would have been him.....He was very nice and I thanked him and he said again, "be careful". I figured I was being careful, I did not want to be the roadkill we see here quite often which sadly include big and small dogs, cats badgers, skunks and even bobcats. The vultures and the Caracaras are quick to spot supper and get on the carcass pretty quick. There are a lot of roaming dogs around. They seem traffic-wise but people drive fast here and some don't make it across the road. Little county roads outside of town have a speed limit of 75 mph. So I kept this State Trooper's advice in my mind today. Maybe his advice saved me and I don't even know it.
We then visited a benign looking park in Sinton that I found on the internet. Rod and Bessie Welder Park. This is a plain looking well manicured park with some lovely Live Oak Hammock.
It figured that one go-round of the park and we would be through here in less than 15 minutes. We were there almost two hours. As soon as we came in, there was a flock of birds feeding and moving on the grass. Barbr managed to take some photos and we discussed what these sparrow-like birds could be. We called them a mystery bird . A picture is worth a lot when one is not sure about the bird. Until we ID'd this bird this evening, we called it a mystery bird and these birds turned out to be Sprague's Pipits sweet!
We then saw some large birds fly in and these were Long-billed Curlews. We went around the circle to leave the park but wait something was on the post. This was a pair of really vibrantly coloured Eastern Bluebirds! We got more views of the birds again.
This park was still a mystery. We went through the camp ground area full of huge RVs. Not one person was out sitting on a chair or moving around or riding on a bike or anything. There was no one alive in this place. We joked that we may read about this in the paper. We went by the golf course, No One was there either. We saw one car leave and two come but no people were playing on the course. Really a mystery park!!! We were the only ones there. We also saw a flock of Meadowlarks feeding also. We can't ID which Meadowlark this was as none were singing.
It was noon, time to get over to Port Aransas. We drove in the sunshine and arrived at the Beachcomber Motel. We can hear the surf from our place. We got organized inside the room. Had to move some furniture etc etc. We had a lovely lunch on our little wooden verandah.
Lunch over we grabbed our optics walked to the beach about a 5 minute walk. Shoes off we walked the beach and surf. Took photos and enjoyed every moment. There were Ruddy Turnstone, Willet, Sanderling and Black-bellied Plover here rooting around and flying around.
On the Port Aransas beach one can drive on the beach in car. In addition what seems to be popular are motorized carts. Some look customized and are privately owned but one can also rent these everywhere. One can drive them on the beach and in the town. Carts are everywhere. It looks like a lot of fun and we may do this if we find we have a good weather afternoon when we are free. Barbr just may drive too.
We drove to Mustang State Park about 10 miles down the island and found it to be closed and pretty ravaged by the Hurricane Harvey last September. Everywhere we go we see demolished or barely standing buildings, huge piles of debris and many many contractors working on roofs, outside work and road work. Port Aransas was really hit badly. This motel seemed to come out fine though but we saw barely standing motels with no roofs or no walls or windows just a block away.
This evening we ate out at a fish restaurant. Barbr had a delicious looking grilled chicken so she was happy. I had the "all you can eat Catfish special". I could only eat one piece and the plate came with five fillets. It was delicious and I took home my leftovers. We left the restaurant in a hurry as a black storm cloud was coming and the staff at the restaurant started clearing out the patio of customers (we were inside) and small objects that were outside. Luckily the storm passed over us and it did not rain.
We were 5 minutes away from home and we decided to take a drive on the beach to see how wild the water was. We were not the only ones driving there. There were no birds there at this time. Finally we went home. A quick change and we went for a swim in the motel's swimming pool The wind was still strong but we had a super refreshing swim. Now we are in for the night and have just reviewed our photos and ID the mystery birds. Another perfect day!!
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