The Twits of Texas

After the wildlife of Austin we needed a change of gear so we headed South for the Gulf Coast for different wildlife, birds with feathers… We’d lost the really cold weather but it had been replaced by raging hoolies and flooding everywhere. So much so that when we arrived at Mustang Island State Park, and not being the owners of waders, we couldn’t park properly. We weren’t the only ones. No surprise, but the volunteer State Park folks were getting earache from folks telling them ‘they needed to fix the flooding’… er, fix the weather? …. lets not go there eh… maybe they know a man who can ‘Make the Weather Great Again’ tee hee!

There are lots of State Parks and wildlife preserves or refuges along the Gulf Coast and even though it was damp and drizzly there’s still much to explore. The coastline is dotted with stilted, pastel shaded, feather board homes, waiting to be battered by the next hurricane but the rest is primarily given over to nature. Passing through a few very small towns, at a set of lights, we spotted a Charity Shop with a window slogan ‘Offset Your Sins with Blessing Credits’…. pretty highbrow, we guessed it meant, please buy from here and you’ll be credited for your sins??? Anyway, we arrived at a misty ‘Padre’ Island, no I’m not kidding!

The first of many wonderful walks and explores we were at Bird Island Basin and Grasslands Nature Trail as examples. Our memories not being what they were (personally I think mines just full and never had many Gig’s in the first place) Nicks long lens shots and the brilliant ‘Merlin’ App helped us identify what we were seeing. It was a grey day but the effort was worth it, bit like the surfers heading into the mist to ride the waves, getting wet was part of the gig that day.

Following the trails as we moved slowly up and along the Gulf Coast in a kind of north easterly direction, we headed to Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Centre, great name eh, at Port Aransas. An area well known for migrating birds (there are two flyways here) and we were in for a treat. My pics hopefully do it justice, iPhone cameras and birds don’t mix. We did have fun though with the Pelicans, landing like Eddie the Eagle in such an ungainly manner. It was teeming with birds though. As we were finding though, the rains came in so we had to flit and take cover. We opted to take a look at Rockport and try and find a drying off in, cafe but being the retirement community that it seemed to be, everywhere shut at 3pm. We arrived at Goose Island, our campsite, in heavy rain with thunder and lightening, again!

Thankfully, the skies cleared and we had a super sunshine day at Aransas national Wildlife Preserve. On our way in we saw a number of young Javelina pop out of a tunnel under the road, like peas being fired out of a straw, so cute! Aransas is known for Whooping Cranes migration. There was only 15 left in 1941 so a great job in bringing the number up to c. 500 by Canada where they breed. Still rare though and need protecting. Loads of the usual suspects, Herons, Egret, Sand Cranes, Vultures, Pelicans, Terns, small brown birds…. and our first sighting of alligators. Thankfully they were basking on the other side of the water, they aren’t aggressive though unless you do something daft. We wondered where the day had gone, watching the elegant and graceful white pelicans in flight or watching hawks gliding effortlessly looking for prey. The white flashes of terns in the sunlight and Egret stabbing the water for fish may to many, seem a dull way to spend time but not for us. Appreciating nature and wildlife is food for the soul. It was a shock as we headed back and saw numerous ‘air boats’ with camouflage clad blokes on them who’d been out for the day shooting ducks…

When we left that area we went to see ‘Big Tree’ and got chatting to a couple taking serious pictures of it, well, Nick chatted really, I just smiled along… The Big Tree is over 500 years old, a stunning ancient live oak. More Sandhill’s and Whooper’s doing a merry dance in the fields as we headed on through the local neighbourhood. The vultures just looked plain mean! We were pretty shocked, several houses had ‘F*** Biden’ flags outside their properties plus the Confederate flag and other with ‘Back the Blue’ (support police who may not warrant it we guess) and ‘Don’t Tread on Me’…. this says a lot about what is culturally acceptable for some and seems quite reflective of the feel of many parts of Texas. We are thankful that this would be illegal at home and our society doesn’t have what seems to be an aggressive undertone.

Anyway, back to our own agendas, a brisk walk along The Colorado River near Matagorda to the beach outlet was clearance for the mind. The crashing waves were arrested by the strong offshore winds and birds were taking advantage of the churned up waters to do their own spot of fishing. Very much a second home/holiday area we only saw a few fishermen and housebuilders… clearly there’s money in peoples wallets as all along the coast there are stilt houses being built to meet demand and none look lived in. If only the second homers took more care, the plastic waste on the beach and in between the granite breakwater blocks was awful. When the coastline and inland areas are home to massive petrochemical plants, whats a bit of plastic eh?

Heading to Brazos Bend State Park, we stopped at Varner-Hogg Plantation for a look. The house itself is actually quite modest and many of the plantations’ buildings around have been lost to storms but the information centre is great. It told the history in an engaging way and wasn’t afraid to tell the story of the slaves who worked there, their treatment and how Texas, a pro slavery state, used a loophole after emancipation, to continue the practice afterwards. Use of ‘convict labour’ didn’t end until 1914 in Texas. It was also great to understand the older history of the area, when it was Mexican, and the ‘colonisation’ by Stephen F. Austin, who brought 300 families with slaves to the area to develop it. Known as The Old 300. Texas’s wealth was certainly founded by slaves, at least it was acknowledged in the information there. When we got back to the van we found a break in attempt… by a Cardinal 🙂

Brazos Bend, what a place. It has to be, after Big Bend, our favourite nature spot in Texas. The Merlin app was going ballistic, it was hearing such a variety, such a prolific place. We had over 15 birds in 10 mins, the next task was spotting them. New ones added to the bird nerd list he’s keeping! After all the heavy rains, some of the 33miles of trails were impassable but there was still plenty for a couple of days of hard photography! We did one day on the bikes, getting seriously muddy and the other day using shanks’ pony. So many birds so little time! Lots of White Ibis, Woodpeckers, Egret, roosting Vultures, Raptors etc etc. Added to the mix, gators all over, including across the path at one point and a swimming snake (a first) and Red Eared Sliders (a terrapin) basking on logs. Glorious old trees draped with Spanish moss, such an atmospheric and wondrous place.

Anyway, we were now bored of birds and muddy ground so we headed off to Galveston, oh Galveston. Yes, a Glen Campbell earworm for days was to follow.

Jigsaw blog spot: It went from freezing to wet so I was not impressed at all. Being in the can all day isn’t much fun. My buddy, The Tall One took me out whenever he could though but wouldn’t let me go swimming as there was no life guard. I’ve done two furries though without a lifejacket… At Brazos Bend I met with this really odd dog that was all dressed up for some kind of party… if they try that on me you know what’s going happen don’t you…