I forgot to mention our Saturday lunch venue: The Grove, located one
stoplight north of Nana’s on International in Weslaco. It’s a great place
for breakfast/brunch/lunch for eggs, waffles, and such.
The forecast for Sunday was chilly and wind—lots of it, especially toward
the coast. We hadn’t been to Boca Chica, so decided to go that way anyway.
Highway 4 is undergoing yet another reformation with installation of
infrastructure for Elon Musk’s Space X complex. Cybertrucks are being used
as company vehicles. We saw at least 200 along the way.
The tide was going out, but the wind was driving waves high onto the beach.
There would be no driving on it. We went back around the newly created
roundabout at the beach end of Hwy. 4, and steered a course for the Shrimp
Basin boat ramp.
The boat ramp area looked nearly empty of birds when we arrived, but
slowly, one by one birds began to emerge from the wind-protected low
area. Most
of the expected species were present, though in smaller numbers than we
usually see there.
After lunch at Isabel’s in Port Isabel we checked out the beach north of
the convention center, hoping it was the refuge birds were seeking from the
wind. There were birds, but in small numbers. A large gathering of
Laughing Gulls and a few terns were huddled at the far north end.
Onward! We cruised Hwy. 100 and the dirt road across from the little blue
hut. The wind was still too strong for birds to be comfortable sitting up
high. We saw a caracara and a White-tailed Hawk. No falcons. We filled
up with gas and headed to Alamo for a dinner of leftovers, time to pack,
and a few more minutes at the mini-puzzle Clare had brought to aggravate
our evenings. It went into a bag provide frustration on future occasions.
Monday, January 12. We loaded the car with 75 Black-bellied Whistling
Ducks flying back and forth to bid us farewell, then had breakfast at the
inn before starting north at 8:50. \
The Border Patrol check station on Hwy. 77 and Sarita Rest Area sported
Brewer’s Blackbirds as well as Great-tailed Grackles.
We turned east at Riviera to bird the roadside, Riviera Beach and
Kaufer-Hubert Memorial Park. The end of the road at Riviera Beach, where
one year Groove-billed Anis lurked, gave us good looks at Lincoln’s and
Olive Sparrow. Forty-five minutes at the park yielded 28 species,
including shovelers, Mottled and Ruddy Duck, Lesser Scaup, Spotted
Sandpiper, both yellowlegs, avocets and stilts in the campground pond. Both
pelicans, Ring-billed, Laughing and American Herring Gull, Long-billed
Dowitchers, Forster’s Terns, and Reddish Egret in the shallow waters of the
inlet.
There was plenty of daylight when we reached Rockport, so we took a quick
swing through Goose Island State Park for 21 species, including Long-billed
Curlew, Little Blue Heron, Willet, Royal Tern, many Redheads and
Blue-winged Teal, and Eastern Phoebe. We ended the day with a drive along
Lamar Beach Road for one more look at Whooping Cranes before heading for
the Quality Inn in Fulton/Rockport.
Tomorrow we make a beeline north, leaving behind the RGV and south Texas
coast one more time. The memories are good enough to sustain us until next
time…
Edge Wade
Rockport, TX
<1edgewade...>
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