2025-12-11 Birds and More Birds

 Elaine and I set out to see the Sandhill and Whooping Cranes. Rita told us to head for the famous Big Tree near Goose Island State Park and then head towards the water and turn right. There was supposed to be a feeder than went off at 8 and 3. We were not up for an 8AM arrival so we tried for 3. We never did see the feeder or the birds and deer running towards it.

Using the 30 power on my cell phone camera was the only way we could see the birds.

Next we went to the area near the fish cleaning station which pretty much assures seeing birds waiting for a snack from people cleaning fish.

We saw this pelican catch a big fish. Here he is with it in his mouth.

All in all, it was a worthwhile excursion.

2021-07-15 TRR Rally Day 2 Dolphin Tour

 Thursday night the guy in the RV next to me was busy washing his RV. Hmmmm. Thursday night about 2AM, it started pouring with thunder and lightning. Coincidence....maybe. I got the first phone call before 7AM from one of the women asking if the Dolphin Tour was cancelled. Obviously, it was too early to call the tour place to ask. I sent out a message to everyone saying I would call them at 0800 to see whether the tour was still on. We were supposed to meet at the park at 8:20 AM to leave for the harbor. The tour operator asked me to call back at 8:30AM because they were still watching the weather. The sun was not out but the rain had moved east and the tour was on. We all headed to Fulton Harbor to the Duck Blind Coffee House which was the meeting place for the Aransas Bay Dolphin Watching Tour. The sky was very overcast but it wasn't raining and actually was perfect for a boat tour because it wasn't blazing hot. View of the marina on the way out.

Lots of picture taking in progress.

We started following a shrimping boat which is a perfect way to see dolphins because they follow the shrimp boats catching breakfast.

There was seating inside with good views out of the windows which could be open or closed but most of our group chose to be out in the bow of the boat most of the trip.

We saw a couple of ships headed into nearby Corpus Christi.

Lots of pelicans gathered on a gravel island that moves based on water current. Since it wasn't mating season, we were actually able to pull right up to the island.

There were about five dolphins following the shrimper.

The boat wasn't a beauty but a working man's boat hard at work. They were followed by dolphins, birds, and us.

The net was being pulled in to empty the catch into containers on board.

Lots of happy faces on this tour. There were about 7 others on the boat in addition to our group.

This is the back of MoonDog restaurant which has outside covered patio seating in addition to inside seating.

Some of the ladies went out to lunch or sightseeing after the tour. Friday night was dinner at Paradise Key Dockside Bar and Grill, a large restaurant on the west end of Rockport that can seat large groups and has good food. Almost everyone wants to eat seafood while on the coast but restaurants have other choices as well. They had a band playing and our wait wasn't too long although they were very busy.

Whooping Cranes and Granger Lake COE Parks-Texas

Yesterday was a really great day.  I headed up to San Marcos to meet my friend Birdie.  After a fairly quick breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we headed towards Austin and caught the Tollway Bypass on our way to Granger Lake.  As her nickname indicates, Birdie is very "into" birding and she had heard about whooping crane sitings at Granger Lake.  Coastal Texas is the winter headquarters for the endangered whooping cranes who were down to a population of about 20 a number of years ago but now number somewhere around 300 which is still pretty small for the whole country.  Here is Birdie setting up her telescope.  We were thrilled to see SIX whooping cranes.  One group of three looked like a family with a cinnamon looking youngster and two adults.  The other three were unmated males according to my expert.

Although we could see them very clearly with Birdie's big telescope and binoculars, you are just going to have to take my word that they are on the shore in this picture as my camera just couldn't get a clear shot that far away.  You may see some white specs on the sandbar on the right side of the photo.  There were six pelicans there.

During our visit around the lake, we also saw 3 Great Blue Herons, 1 Great Egret, and 4 Double Crested Cormorants in addition to American Wigeons, several Gull species, and Coots, Malards, and another type of ducks.  Birdwise, it was a pretty good day!

The entire shoreline of Granger Lake is either a wildlife area (4 different ones) or a Corp of Engineer park (3 different ones).  We saw the whooping cranes while we were right next to the south end of the dam so they were on the shore of the Sore Finger or San Gabriel Wildlife areas.  First we visited the COE Hdqtrs and checked out the historical marker in front of it.

The largest of the COE parks, Wilson H. Fox Park is currently closed for renovation work and is scheduled to reopen in April.  We got to check out Taylor Park and Willis Creek Park.

The sites are nice with paved surfaces, a great picnic table cover, water and 30 Amp electric.

The only downside was that the water views were obstructed by a lot of underbrush but there was a good hiking trail down below.

 We took a little path down from this site to get to the hiking path and found....

these great views with lots of birds on the water.

Due to the droughts in Texas, the lake levels are low and many boat launches are unusable but the one at Taylor is open.  There is also a dump station in the park, restrooms, and a playground.  Rates are $18-22 (1/2 for National Park pass Golden Age/Seniors).

We also drove around to visit Willis Creek Park.  We liked the layout of Taylor Park a little better but found a hidden, not advertised benefit at Willis Creek--4 of the sites have sewer connections!  ($22 for these or half off that for seniors with the park pass).

After 1 Oct, you can stay 14 days at the COE parks and then get extensions so staying all winter is definitely possible.

All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better day.  Hope you enjoyed riding along!

Lake Somerville, TX

We decided to head out to see what kind of camping opportunities might be out at Lake Somerville after lunch at "Must be Heaven" in Brenham.

The first place we came to was the Overlook Marina & Campground.  The host at the gate was very nice.  He told us that the park was a former COE park that was now privately owned.  The entrance wasn't bad but the camping areas needed a great deal of work.  Apparently the COE had three parks and turned this one over but it was obvious that the private campground had done nothing to maintain let alone improve it once they got it.

The two COE parks are Yegua Creek and Rocky Creek.  Yegua Creek is currently closed for renovations.  Rocky Creek is open and about two thirds of it have already been renovated with a couple more campgrounds in the works.  They are adding 50 amps so they will have 50, 30, and 20 amp outlets on each hookup.  The restrooms are all new.  It was very nice and definitely worth a return visit.  We also saw a very interesting site there.  Looking out across the lake, there were two islands which would not normally be there if the lake wasn't so low.  One island looked like it was painted white on one end.  Nancy used her binoculars and detected something very interesting so she hauled out her big telescope.

Here she is holding Diana's camera up to the telescope so we could get some pictures.

Isn't this amazing?  Wait, it gets even better.

Better yet but still not the closest so you can really be sure what you are seeing.

Pelicans! They covered the entire end of this small island.  It is far from a perfect picture but without the telescope and the camera lens, you could only see a white covered island so it is pretty unique, don't you think?

We also checked out Nails Creek State.  Although open to all to camp, the sites are all set up for equestrian use as each campsite has a small corral for horses.  You are supposed to rake up the manure and put it at the front of the site where they will pick it up.   If the sites were in heavy equestrian use, we thought that flies could be a problem due to the horses.  There are about 22 miles of trails for hikers, bicyclists, and horses which was nice.  It was in much better shape than Overlook Park but not quite as nice as Rocky Creek.

There is another park, Birch Creek State Park, on the other side of the lake but we didn't make it over there as it is a pretty large lake.