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