We were frozen popsicles by the time we woke up this morning! There is no heater in this place, just lots of air conditioning. Overnight it rained and thundered and the temperature dropped. Somehow they call these drops or changes in temperatures "inversions".
When we got up we turned on the oven and left the oven door open to warm up the room. It was a
cool and damp and drizzly day. Not a good day to go out on a boat. But today was the day. I was waiting to find out if I was going or not. If the water was rough, I would not go. Barbr would go she has a good constitution for a boat. We arrived at the mariner and the water was fine, 6 inch swells only. So I took three Gravols and got on. We went right to the top level. There was no wind out there until the boat started moving. Then it was pretty cold in the wind. Since the hurricane, this was the first time the boat was out. Normally the tour starts out in Rockport as there one just has to go 10 minutes and the Whooping Cranes are there. But Rockport was devastated by the hurricane and there are no boating tours now. So we started from Port Aransas and then the boat going at a good speed took 1.5 hours to get to where the Whooping Cranes are.
We had great looks at two families up close! The youngster in each family was born last year and was just loosing its brown feathers and turning into white. The Whooping Crane's favourite food is Blue Crab and we could see them catching these and shaking the crabs before eating them. A Whooping Crane family unit needs about 300 acres of space and this is then their territory. Up in Wood Buffalo National Park, the Whooping Crane family unit needs double that so they have an adequate diet of whatever they eat up there. The birds were not bothered by us either. We were so happy to see the Whooping Cranes and to see that they are doing well.
We also saw Dolphins, Gull Tern, Double-crested Cormorants, Laughing Gulls and some shorebirds. We were caught up in the mud in one of the intercoastal waterways and it took a lot of black exhaust to get us moving again. Many people including Barbr and myself napped sitting in benches in the interior of the boat on the way home. I was so chilled even with four layers on from standing outside for about 2 hours, nothing could warm me up, plus I was sleepy from too many Gravol. BUT I felt fine. Whew.
When we returned back to Port Aransas we went and drove the beach for a bit to see how far one can go on the beach, and it is a long way. There were people out on the beach walking, others surfing and some dog walking. The beach is a jewel here. I took a walk on the beach this morning and even in the cool weather, there were walkers, runners, and dog walkers everywhere. People coming with coffee to sit outside. I could see that being on the beach was a morning ritual for many people here. I think I would be the same if I lived near a nice long beach on the ocean.
We then visited Paradise Pond which is on Cotter Street. The place has been spruced up since I last visited four years ago. The parking lot is paved, there is a white picket fence at the beginning and a boardwalk. There is even a sign on the street. Once we came down the boardwalk one could see that there was major damage from the hurricane. The once nice copse of trees where I saw my first Dicksissel was gone. The trees were uprooted and all in a jumble. The boardwalk was fine. Houses now surround the whole place. So it is lucky this place was saved from the developers. There were birds here today. Lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers and our first Cedar Waxwings for the trip. There was Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Northern Shovelers. It was still inclement and we were still chilled.
We got home, had some splash to celebrate the Whooping Cranes and we turned on the oven again to warm up the place and I found a tiny heater that we set up in the bathroom. The temperature is supposed to go up overnight and go up to 75 or 24 degrees tomorrow. This will be a good day for the King Ranch birding outing that we are doing. Our meet up time is 6 am and we go by bus.
So it will be a really early morning! The alarms are set!
When we got up we turned on the oven and left the oven door open to warm up the room. It was a
We had great looks at two families up close! The youngster in each family was born last year and was just loosing its brown feathers and turning into white. The Whooping Crane's favourite food is Blue Crab and we could see them catching these and shaking the crabs before eating them. A Whooping Crane family unit needs about 300 acres of space and this is then their territory. Up in Wood Buffalo National Park, the Whooping Crane family unit needs double that so they have an adequate diet of whatever they eat up there. The birds were not bothered by us either. We were so happy to see the Whooping Cranes and to see that they are doing well.
We also saw Dolphins, Gull Tern, Double-crested Cormorants, Laughing Gulls and some shorebirds. We were caught up in the mud in one of the intercoastal waterways and it took a lot of black exhaust to get us moving again. Many people including Barbr and myself napped sitting in benches in the interior of the boat on the way home. I was so chilled even with four layers on from standing outside for about 2 hours, nothing could warm me up, plus I was sleepy from too many Gravol. BUT I felt fine. Whew.
When we returned back to Port Aransas we went and drove the beach for a bit to see how far one can go on the beach, and it is a long way. There were people out on the beach walking, others surfing and some dog walking. The beach is a jewel here. I took a walk on the beach this morning and even in the cool weather, there were walkers, runners, and dog walkers everywhere. People coming with coffee to sit outside. I could see that being on the beach was a morning ritual for many people here. I think I would be the same if I lived near a nice long beach on the ocean.
We then visited Paradise Pond which is on Cotter Street. The place has been spruced up since I last visited four years ago. The parking lot is paved, there is a white picket fence at the beginning and a boardwalk. There is even a sign on the street. Once we came down the boardwalk one could see that there was major damage from the hurricane. The once nice copse of trees where I saw my first Dicksissel was gone. The trees were uprooted and all in a jumble. The boardwalk was fine. Houses now surround the whole place. So it is lucky this place was saved from the developers. There were birds here today. Lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers and our first Cedar Waxwings for the trip. There was Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Northern Shovelers. It was still inclement and we were still chilled.
We got home, had some splash to celebrate the Whooping Cranes and we turned on the oven again to warm up the place and I found a tiny heater that we set up in the bathroom. The temperature is supposed to go up overnight and go up to 75 or 24 degrees tomorrow. This will be a good day for the King Ranch birding outing that we are doing. Our meet up time is 6 am and we go by bus.
So it will be a really early morning! The alarms are set!
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