Another day in the life…

Egad!  It was 23* when I took Emma for her first outs this morning and the north wind was blowing.  Much to my chagrin, she thought the brisk wind and crunchy turf were invigorating, and took her sweet time going about her business.  :(   Wouldn’t you think a short haired dog would have more sense than that?  Nope!  She ran around in circles on her long lead and fairly made me dizzy.  Eventually, we went back inside and I got ready for the bird count.

 

Fellow volunteer, Marilyn, and I headed out at 8:30 for our appointed rounds.  We about froze our fingers off walking the transect at the first stop.  The marsh was wet, but frozen.  The little killdeer and yellow legs were walking around on the ice looking for something to eat.  No ducks to be seen.  They were probably off to more sheltered grounds.  That was one chilly bird count this morning!

 

This afternoon, I needed to make the ten mile drive into the main part of the refuge to gas up the refuge vehicle before the weekend.  Since I was there, I took a ride down all the refuge roads for probably the last time.  After four volunteer stints here, I’m really not planning on returning, but you just never know.

As I drove down the entrance road, I noticed smoke from another fire.  This time it wasn’t the burning of rice fields or pastures, but the burning of debris piles still left from hurricane Ike.  You just can’t imagine the massive amounts of debris left from a hurricane unless you’ve seen it.  That raised shed, on the right, is one of many that was constructed to oversee the removal of all the debris.  Last year, big dump trucks hauled huge mounds of stuff away every day.  Now, they’re burning what is left.  I think it’s been over two years since that hurricane, and that gives you an idea of how long it takes to clean up from such devastation.

As I made my way around Shoveler Pond, this great blue heron decided to pose for me.  That beak is sure a formidable weapon, and this bird is an expert at freezing in place until an unsuspecting fish or frog moves past.  Then that beak moves with lightening speed to grab some tasty morsel.  I’ve enjoyed many a moment watching these herons work at getting a large fish, head first, down to their gullet.  

A Virginia rail also made an appearance today.  See how it has puffed out it’s feathers to keep warm?  You know it’s a chilly day when they don’t live up to being ‘as thin as a rail’!

 

Lastly, I need to vent a little rant on what some people do on our public lands.  Yesterday, Marilyn was working the VIS, and needed to visit the restrooms that are located across from the VIS.  As she entered the restroom, she found that someone had taken a crap in the hand washing sink!  Can you believe it?  There are two stools located there, so why would someone do this?  And guess who had to clean it up?  The volunteer!  I just don’t understand.  What a disgusting thing to do!  I know what I’d like to do to the person who did this.  What is this world coming to?  Ugh!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Frost on the pumpkin!

There are not many pumpkins in a marsh, but if there were they would have been covered with frost this morning.  My outside thermometer (located between the rear two tires on the passenger’s side of the rig) read 32*F when I got up this morning.  Everything outside was coated in white, and my furnace was working away to keep things comfortable inside.  I’m thinking I’d better get my extend-a-stay extra propane tank set up pretty soon.

 

After breakfast, Emma and I headed out on a birding road trip.  We drove through High Island, and headed down the Bolivar Peninsula.  This is the route you take if you want to take the ferry to Galveston.  I turned off just before the ferry to a shore bird sanctuary.  After about a mile, the road ends at the Gulf of Mexico.

Not much was happening, bird wise, at the shore except this great blue heron.  So, I turned around and headed back out.

I did spot a few lesser yellowlegs and a dunlin along the side of the road on my way out.  I decided to head back to the refuge and take the road out to Frozen Point.  Frozen Point got it’s name before the refuge was in existence.  The story is there was a severe winter storm out of the north that descended down Texas.  As the freezing winds blew out of the north, the cattle on the ranches kept walking south trying to find refuge from the storm.  Eventually they reached Galveston Bay and could proceed no further.  As the storm continued, they froze to death… hence the name.

 

No one was freezing today, and quite a few folks spent the day either fishing from shore or wading out into the bay to fish.  I didn’t see anyone catch anything, but everyone seemed to be enjoying the holiday weekend.

As I drove along, this robin hopped up on one of the fence posts in the middle of the marsh.  That was a bit of a surprise.  :)  Not the usual place you would expect to see one of these guys. 

On the way back to the VIS, I caught a glimpse of this Virginia rail skulking it’s way amongst the marsh vegetation.

I pulled the car over to the side of the road, and waited patiently to get these further shots of this elusive bird.  You’ve heard that saying “thin as a rail?”  Well, when these birds turn sideways they almost disappear before your very eyes into the vegetation.

This interesting RV was parked in the lot next to the VIS as I arrived.  The owners are from Homer, Alaska, and they are trying to visit all of the National Wildlife Refuges in Texas on this part of their trip.  I sure would have liked to see the inside of it.

 

That little road trip today lasted over five hours.  When I got back to the rig, I checked on the pot of chicken soup I had brewing in the crock pot, and then spent the remainder of the afternoon outside with Emma. 

About an hour before sunset, the geese started their flights to their evening roosting sites.  The skies to the south and west of the RV pads were just full of streaming flocks.  I’d estimate that I saw 10,000 geese in the air this evening.  Most of them were snow geese, but there were also flocks of white-fronted geese.  Clear skies and no wind this evening means the temps will plummet once again.  It’s not supposed to be as cold as last night, however.  Those freezing temperatures last night had absolutely no effect on the mosquito population, and Emma and I scrambled inside quickly as the hoard descended!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy