W15 Days 6-8

Day 6 February 19

A quiet night and up early to move on. Hooray, the Drain Pump worked like a charm and we emptied our tanks!

It was a rather boring drive to Goose Island State Park, but here are the roadside highlights:

• a sign “I buy live, wild hogs” (why, I ask?)
• small towns called Blessing and Olivia (that was my Mom’s name)
• 73F!!!!
• and, as we pulled in to Lamar, the town beside the park, a welcome sign: Respect Texas, Respect Property, Respect The Cranes

We were able to secure a site for two nights (#41, W/E for $33 with a second night discount), and we hoped for a third.

It was sunny and breezy and we had the Gulf for our front yard:

David snoozed and I walked to the nearby fishing pier and saw this group of Roseate Spoonbills, Ruddy Turnstones and lots of Redheads:

Here’s the view of the View in our little seaside neighbourhood:

Day 7 February 23

We woke up to some wind and choppy water, but were happy to be here.

We rode to see the Whooping Cranes and saw 12! There were two pairs with juveniles and six others. There was also a large number of Sandhill Cranes. These rare and endangered Whooping Cranes are quite a site. It’s good to see them feeding naturally in the field and not just at the feeders set out:

We stopped at the Big Oak, the 1,000+ year old Live Oak that is being nurtured here by the State:

This was a great 11 km ride!

In the afternoon, I rode around the campground and then we relaxed and enjoyed dinner, prepared by my chef:

Here’s a view of Site #41 (which we were able to get for another night!):

…and our beautiful sunset:

Day 8 February 22

A bit of a windy night, but  a better morning than predicted. We rode to the feeding station in the wooded campsite area and saw a Bunny, a Lincoln’s Sparrow and a Eurasian Collared Dove:

(PS, as I write this, we turned on the news and saw the horrible weather happening north of us. And I have a sunburn! Sorry people.)

These Black Vultures were a bit foreboding:

…but we hit pay dirt in this little pond where seven different birds were posing:

We heard there was a Reddish Egret White Morph, a rare bird we had seen on our first visit here. And sure enough, there he was, just behind our site:

After lunch, we biked back to see the Whooping Cranes. But first, we got some nice shots of White and Brown Pelicans:

And the Whooping Cranes didn’t disappoint:

It’s amazing that they keep returning to this 100 acres here in Lamar amongst the grazing cattle:

After these 15 kms on the bikes, we spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun. And here’s a view OF my chair with me in heaven: ocean, sun, a beer and a good book on my iPad: