Vacation - Day 3
Monday, December 27, 2004
We rose very early today, and took the route north, over the free ferry, out onto Port Aransas beach, to watch the sun come up. However, the sun was covered by overcast, so nothing too dramatic there. But it was a nice morning on the beach. This day we did the most of our beach combing for shells and such. Padre Island, to the south, does not have a whole lot of shells. Port Aransas does. We found lots and lots of “Sand Change”, sand dollars that are all broken up, and two whole sand dollars, plus a few almost whole. We’ll share those with friends. We also picked up some nice shells. I found a nice barnacle, and some coral. Overall, a nice haul of “booty” from the ocean. We started off with our shoes on, but both of us ended up taking them off. We still got our pants wet. Later, as we left the beach and drove further north looking for the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, we found a Wally World (aka the Evil Empire . . . they are EVERYWHERE!!) and purchased some sandals. Each day its been getting warmer, and sandals would work perfect now.
The rest of the day was mostly spent driving around, walking hiking paths and looking at birds in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. This is the winter home of the migratory flock of Whooping Cranes that winter in Canada. We did not see any cranes this day. However, I did see many birds, and a few I’ve never seen before. Before we even made it into the refuge, I spotted a pair of Crested Caracara. This is a most unusual looking vulture-like bird. There were also several red-tails, with a good number of them being juvenile passage birds. Great . . . tease me with their presence, when I have neither the trap to catch them, nor a license to do so, or a husband patient enough to tolerate the activity. He informed me he would not, under no uncertain terms, be trapping on his vacation in Texas. Besides, the out-of-state trap fee was very expensive. I’ll just have to hope when I get home that I’ll be able to trap one in Wisconsin in the last couple days that will remain in 2004.
Other birds seen this day: Osprey, Vultures – both Turkey and Black, Roseate Spoonbill, Brown and White Pelican, lots and lots of Kestrels, Harriers, Kingfishers, Snow Geese, American Coot, Common Galinule, Common Pintail, and just about all the Robins that must migrate north. There was an awful lot of them!!
Other non-bird animals that were spotted: Several Armadillos . . . also known as Texas Speed bumps . . . as they get killed on the roads a lot. We got lots of pictures of these. One of the ponds at the refuge had a very, very large alligator. And as we were leaving, a bobcat ran across the road. Shawn looked at me, and I looked at him when it crossed the road. He asked, “Is that what I think that was?” I said, “Yes, a bobcat!”
Lots of neat things in Texas!
We came back to our room, and did the domestic thing . . . laundry. When you play at the ocean, your clothes need washing! When that was done, a quick dinner run, then back to our room. This night we also checked out the hot tub next to the pool. Shawn even checked out the freezing cold pool, and did the ‘polar bear’ jump. He attracted some attention, as a few people thought he might be ill, or crazy. He just told them he was from Wisconsin. They seemed to accept that as a plausible explanation!
We rose very early today, and took the route north, over the free ferry, out onto Port Aransas beach, to watch the sun come up. However, the sun was covered by overcast, so nothing too dramatic there. But it was a nice morning on the beach. This day we did the most of our beach combing for shells and such. Padre Island, to the south, does not have a whole lot of shells. Port Aransas does. We found lots and lots of “Sand Change”, sand dollars that are all broken up, and two whole sand dollars, plus a few almost whole. We’ll share those with friends. We also picked up some nice shells. I found a nice barnacle, and some coral. Overall, a nice haul of “booty” from the ocean. We started off with our shoes on, but both of us ended up taking them off. We still got our pants wet. Later, as we left the beach and drove further north looking for the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, we found a Wally World (aka the Evil Empire . . . they are EVERYWHERE!!) and purchased some sandals. Each day its been getting warmer, and sandals would work perfect now.
The rest of the day was mostly spent driving around, walking hiking paths and looking at birds in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. This is the winter home of the migratory flock of Whooping Cranes that winter in Canada. We did not see any cranes this day. However, I did see many birds, and a few I’ve never seen before. Before we even made it into the refuge, I spotted a pair of Crested Caracara. This is a most unusual looking vulture-like bird. There were also several red-tails, with a good number of them being juvenile passage birds. Great . . . tease me with their presence, when I have neither the trap to catch them, nor a license to do so, or a husband patient enough to tolerate the activity. He informed me he would not, under no uncertain terms, be trapping on his vacation in Texas. Besides, the out-of-state trap fee was very expensive. I’ll just have to hope when I get home that I’ll be able to trap one in Wisconsin in the last couple days that will remain in 2004.
Other birds seen this day: Osprey, Vultures – both Turkey and Black, Roseate Spoonbill, Brown and White Pelican, lots and lots of Kestrels, Harriers, Kingfishers, Snow Geese, American Coot, Common Galinule, Common Pintail, and just about all the Robins that must migrate north. There was an awful lot of them!!
Other non-bird animals that were spotted: Several Armadillos . . . also known as Texas Speed bumps . . . as they get killed on the roads a lot. We got lots of pictures of these. One of the ponds at the refuge had a very, very large alligator. And as we were leaving, a bobcat ran across the road. Shawn looked at me, and I looked at him when it crossed the road. He asked, “Is that what I think that was?” I said, “Yes, a bobcat!”
Lots of neat things in Texas!
We came back to our room, and did the domestic thing . . . laundry. When you play at the ocean, your clothes need washing! When that was done, a quick dinner run, then back to our room. This night we also checked out the hot tub next to the pool. Shawn even checked out the freezing cold pool, and did the ‘polar bear’ jump. He attracted some attention, as a few people thought he might be ill, or crazy. He just told them he was from Wisconsin. They seemed to accept that as a plausible explanation!
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