HIGH ISLAND, TX - #2

Yesterday (Tuesday May 3rd) was a day of birding with some domestic chores mixed in. Early in the morning we went about 15 miles to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (that's pronounced "Anna wock") and rode the auto tour loop a couple of times. When I was a kid growing up, we called the Cattle Egrets "Cowbirds" (mainly because they like to hang out with the cows). At the NWR we also caught a Common Nighthawk taking a nap on top of a post. Saw a lot more water birds, plus a Kingbird.

Back at camp around noon we used the RV park laundry facilities to take care of the dirty clothes, then it was back to the Audbon sanctuary for more birds. There seemed to be more birds that have come in after the rainy weather - more warblers. One of these pictures isn't too good, but there were others that I couldn't get at all - birds won't sit still!

Later in the afternoon we rode back down the beach highway (yes, there is a beach here) to Rollover Pass and rode some of the streets that run from the highway to Galveston Bay. Here's an idea for some of our RV buddies - on many of the lots, rather than put up a dwelling to possibly get blown away in a hurricane, these folks are building high-rise shelters for their RVs. When the hurricanes come, they can just haul their RV away to safety. If the shelter gets blown away, it would be much cheaper to replace (which I'm sure the insurance companies would appreciate). Saw an interesting post someone had by their driveway.

And of course, we saw more birds - here are a few more.

Today (Wednesday) we went to another of the Audubon sites where there is a rookery. Hundreds of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Roseatte Spoonbills, and Double-crested Cormorants are all piled in on this island nesting - almost on top of one another. It's truly an amazing site with all the squawking, squabbling, and complaining going on. There was also a lone Black-crowned Night Heron just sitting on the ground taking it all in.

Later in the day we went back to the main Audubon site to get in a last look before wrapping it up. We've been here 5 days, wore out all the birding sites around the area, so it's time to move on. Early tomorrow we'll be pulling out, hitting I-10 east again headed across Louisiana and Mississippi to Dauphin Island, AL - another of our favorite birding spots. We plan on being there over a week.