Saturday, January 17, 2009

A Walk and A Ride

We didn't wake up until around 7:30 this morning, which is a little unusual for us, but it was so nice to sleep in a little. It was warm when we got up, nearly 60 degrees. I took the dogs for their usual walk. When we got back, I decided it would be a good day to walk over to the Matagorda Bay area, so I got my little camera, walking poles, and phone and set off.

About three quarters of a mile from the rv park, I came across a little bridge, where I saw a group of birds. Included in the group were a few Roseate Spoonbills. I watched them fishing for quite awhile. They are so interesting to watch. Their bills are designed to sweep back and forth through the water and grab on to whatever they can. I had to see if I could get any decent pictures with the little camera.

Spoonbills at breakfast:

In the reeds:

I also saw some Sandhill Cranes, but since I got some better pictures later on in the day, I didn't post the pictures from this morning's walk.
I ended up walking 2.8 miles, a good morning walk!
After I got back, we ate a little breakfast and hung out for awhile. I had some e-mails to return, and talked to a couple of friends on the phone. We talked to Sandra about a day trip we'd been discussing. She and Gordon had suggested going on Sunday, but there are a couple of football games then, so Jim preferred going today. That worked out for Sandra and Gordon, so off we went.
Just up the road from the rv park is a resident family of 3 Sandhill Cranes. Here are 2 of the 3:
The first stop was at the little village of Seadrift, the only town on San Antonio Bay. The harbor is a busy place for gulls and pelicans:

After our short tour of Seadrift, we headed over to Port O'Connor, a few miles away.
We stopped at a harbor there to take a few pictues. Sandra went to see about the hours at a shrimp house (on the left) and found it is closed for the winter. Then she took a picture of the harbor area:
This flower was in front of the restaurant:


This man had a rapt audience of several pelicans and an egret who all followed him around the harbor, waiting for any extra fish he might catch in his seine:

This is the egret:

And of course, we seem to need a daily picture of a pelican!

We had a good time seeing these two small towns in the area, thanks again for the tour, Sandra and Gordon!
I didn't feel like cooking when we got home, so we just put out sandwich fixin's for dinner, works for me!
Now we're all settled in for nice, quiet evening after a fine day.

2 comments:

Randy and Terry said...

Thanks for the pelican fix! Can't wait 'til we get to Rockport and I can see all of the neat birds you're seeing!

Speedy said...

OK I am caught up to you now. I have been reading the best part of two days now. It is so good to read you again.

Joe