Joe A.
Well-known member
After making the 45-minute drive to San Jacinto State Park, I met up with assayer and Judy M. and her husband Gary for a very enjoyable day of birding. The weather was beautiful owing to a cold front that had passed through the area some 24 hours earlier. It lowered temperatures by at least 10 degrees, which is significant in southeast Texas during summer.
First stop was the boardwalk directly behind the monument, which allows visitors to walk some 500-feet into a tidal saltmarsh. We spotted tri-colored herons, wood storks, whistling ducks, a great egret and a female red-winged blackbird. Thick vegatation, including cattails, made it difficult to see large expanses of water. We were left to shoot around large clusters of plant growth. After a short chat with construction personnel who had just arrived to work on the footbridge -- it's being lengthened considerably -- we moved on.
As we headed down the boardwalk toward the parking lot assayer spotted a dead tree chocked with wood storks. We carefully walked to a shady area where we set up for a 'field day' of shooting. The storks remained put allowing us as many photos as desired. Actually we came to this particular park in search of wood storks who reside here only in the late summer, so running across them early in the day was a pleasant surprise.
Next stop, about 1/2 mile away, took us to another boardwalk which the park also will lengthen as time and funding permit. But enough of the footbridge was open to give us a wide view of the inlets and marshland that surround much of the park. Here we saw skimmers, white pelicans, cormorants, whistling ducks with chicks in tow, scissor-tailed flycatchers, eastern kingbirds, a green heron, two black vultures very much in love, a northern mockingbird, and several white egrets. The weather continued to be perfect allowing us to shoot at 1/500 and 1/250 of a second through scopes!
We wrapped up the trip by visiting and getting to know each other. I had birded with assayer before, but Judy and Gary were first-timers for Dick and me. We really enjoyed spending time with them --they love birding and are enthusiastic and accomplished photographers. And they really like BF! That was our day.
First stop was the boardwalk directly behind the monument, which allows visitors to walk some 500-feet into a tidal saltmarsh. We spotted tri-colored herons, wood storks, whistling ducks, a great egret and a female red-winged blackbird. Thick vegatation, including cattails, made it difficult to see large expanses of water. We were left to shoot around large clusters of plant growth. After a short chat with construction personnel who had just arrived to work on the footbridge -- it's being lengthened considerably -- we moved on.
As we headed down the boardwalk toward the parking lot assayer spotted a dead tree chocked with wood storks. We carefully walked to a shady area where we set up for a 'field day' of shooting. The storks remained put allowing us as many photos as desired. Actually we came to this particular park in search of wood storks who reside here only in the late summer, so running across them early in the day was a pleasant surprise.
Next stop, about 1/2 mile away, took us to another boardwalk which the park also will lengthen as time and funding permit. But enough of the footbridge was open to give us a wide view of the inlets and marshland that surround much of the park. Here we saw skimmers, white pelicans, cormorants, whistling ducks with chicks in tow, scissor-tailed flycatchers, eastern kingbirds, a green heron, two black vultures very much in love, a northern mockingbird, and several white egrets. The weather continued to be perfect allowing us to shoot at 1/500 and 1/250 of a second through scopes!
We wrapped up the trip by visiting and getting to know each other. I had birded with assayer before, but Judy and Gary were first-timers for Dick and me. We really enjoyed spending time with them --they love birding and are enthusiastic and accomplished photographers. And they really like BF! That was our day.
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