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Texas--04/11: Part 1
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We started this birding & biking road trip to
Texas with a stop at the lovely Blackwater
River State Park in the panhandle of Florida--a 6-hour drive
from home. This stop served
as a scouting visit for a future trip to this park and we'll definitely come back in the near
future with our kayaks and our bikes.
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It's a beautiful shallow river with
white sugar sandbars at each curve contrasting with its
tea-colored water.
In the photo below, Dean
tries his luck fishing.
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  When we come next time we'll bring our kayaks. A local outfitter will drop us off upstream and pick us up
downstream.
Here's
one of the take-out spots just down-river of the park. >>
<< When you scuff
the sand, it squeaks. We've encountered this type of sand before in Hawaii
at beach called Barking Sands and at Kelso Dunes in California.
Sky-blue
lupine graces a dry sandy hillside >> 
<<
A red-berried catbriar. I'd not seen this species before, but it's
quite lovely for a briar. It grows in wet places and could grow in our
yard, but I've spend so much time digging its relatives out, it's unlikely
that I'd plant it no matter how nice the berries are. 
Crossvine
flowers await the hummingbirds... >> 
<<
On the river bank, these highbush blueberries make quite a show with
their pinkish flowers. Maybe we'll be back in time to enjoy the
fruits...
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Many families brought their kids. The river's
shallow, sandy bottom makes it fun to wade in.
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An
Atlantic white cedar clings to the side of the riverbank.
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After a lovely day at the park we left early the next
morning bound for Texas and Sea Rim State Park. As we entered Texas,
we went through the highly industrialized Port Arthur with its refineries, tankers
and container ships, oil-drilling platforms, and shrimp-boats.
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From Port Arthur, we headed south 21 miles until we reached Sea Rim Park--what was left of it. This park had
been wiped out by two back-to-back hurricanes, Ivan and
Rita. Most of the debris has been cleared out and the
boardwalk has been repaired, and it's once again open to the
public.
This was our camping spot--what was left of a parking lot with two porta-potties. There was one other camper and several people fishing out on the
beach who did not stay for the night. The Gulf of
Mexico was just over the low dunes to the right of the van.
We enjoyed the birds along the 1.5 mile-long boardwalk (Gambusia
Nature Trail) across the wetlands both that evening and again
early the next morning.
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The light was not good for photos, but we saw
several flocks of birds swooping around including some ducks,
ibis, and roseate spoonbills. Mostly there were lots of wading
birds and in the evening lots of mosquitoes. This sign (obviously
used as a perch) explains how mosquito fish (Gambusia) are adapted
to suck in the mosquito larvae that cling to the underside of the
surface tension of the water. More mosquito fish are needed here!
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<< Wading
birds are attracted to the crabs, both the swimming blue crab and
the small land crabs that deposit neat balls of sand at their
doorsteps.
This little
blue heron waits for dinner and on the other side of the
boardwalk, various egrets and herons also work the wetlands. >>
<< On
the left a greater yellowlegs that ran around scooping up water in
its beak. On the right the stilt takes a long step with its
stilt-like legs.
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One more round along the boardwalk the next morning and then we were
off to see the wildlife refuge a few miles up the road...
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 There
are roadside wildflowers everywhere, as you can see in this photo.
There were pink, white and yellow flowers here and along most of
the Texas roadsides.
But the Texas
Point Wildlife Refuge wasn't a refuge at all.
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It was a hunting hunting range. Texans must have a different
definition of refuge. Looking at this trail sign,
we were not enticed to go hiking with our binoculars!
We headed back up through the refineries, turned south, and drove
through Houston to visit the next Texas state park, Goose
Island--about four hours south.
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On to Goose Island >>
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