By 2:00 or so, it was evident to me that Aransas was a bust, birdwise. I knew it might be a long time before I returned to south Texas, so I determined to find somewhere else to spend a few hours. I asked the nice lady at the visitor center if Rockport offered any opportunities for birding. She wasn’t sure, but she thought the public beach might be a good place.
We headed south through the fields and marshes, crossed the bridge over the pass from Aransas Bay into Copano Bay and pulled off into a dirt parking lot at the water’s edge. Essentially, it was just a pullover for truckers, but we got out and walked around a bit. There wasn’t much to see except for a winter-plummaged Laughing Gull that let us all but walk up and pet it.
We continued on through Fulton and Rockport and found the place the woman had told us about — Rockport Beach Park. We paid our $4.00 to get through the gate and were given a permit that stated that we were at “Texas’ First Certified Blue Wave Beach.” Whatever that means. The park ran the length of a thin strip of beach between Aransas Bay and a smaller bay to the west.
Things began picking up. I immediately found a flooded area that contained a variety of shorebirds.
OK, let me jump ahead here. About an hour after we got to Rockport, my camera flashed that my memory card was full. On the fly, I had to go back through my pictures and perform photographic triage. It was painful. To begin with, it’s difficult to tell on the little screen on my camera whether a given shot is good or not. In addition, I ha
d some great shots of birds that can be seen in Illinois. It seemed dumb to keep those shots and miss opportunities at birds that can only be seen in Texas. So of all the pictures I took of the sandpipers, the only one I kept was this one of a Dowitcher (and I don’t even know if it’s a Long-billed or Short-billed Dowitcher because in winter plumage the only way to tell them apart is by voice — and it wasn’t saying anything).
I walked on and soon came upon a White Ibis that was walking through the grass and paying no attention to me. Then I found a Great Egret that was much tamer than the Great Egrets up north. This picture almost got triaged. But just before I deleted it, I noticed that I’d captured a fish just beginning its jump out of the bay (upper right). Fish were leaping all over the place, but what’s the chance of catching one on film with a point and shoot camera? 100%, I guess!
On the outer beach, there were jellyfish washed up on shore every few feet. I flipped a few of them over with my shoe and was somewhat surprised to discover they weren’t squishy like I’d always assumed but had more the feel and consistency of a candle. Or something like that. I wasn’t about to touch one to find out for sure.
In the inner bay there was a row of posts sticking out of the water most of which were crowned with a Brown Pelican. A man and woman walked out onto a dock near where I was standing and began cleaning fish. The Pelicans immediately flew over and waited for the scraps that were thrown into the water. They had to be quick because there was also a mess of some kind of saltwater catfish that were grabbing what they could.
I walked out on the pier and chatted with the couple. I asked them if there was any other place close by where I could see birds and maybe dolphins. They suggested we head down to Aransas Pass and take the free ferry out to Mustang Island. I wanted to do it. I so very wanted to do it. But it was already 5:00 and due to get dark in an hour or so — and we had a three-hour drive back to San Antonio.
