To the Coast

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On Thursday morning we headed down to Galveston to meet up with our friends Carlos and Macarena Aguilar. Then we all set off together for the Bolivar Peninsula and High Island. The Audubon beach on Bolivar is always a good place for a stroll and I thought our friends would enjoy seeing the large wading bird rookery at High Island.

The ferry trip was quiet - no no dolphins, no terns and only a few Laughing Gulls. However, the harbor at Bolivar had its usual complement of Double-crested Cormorants.

As normal, it had lots of Brown Pelicans, too, most of them busy preening.

I had just mentioned to Dee that we never see White Pelicans on the ferry ride when what should we spot but a score or more White Pelicans. Like their brown cousins, many of them were also preening.

The Audubon beach was fairly quiet for birds but still well worth a visit. The first birds up were Long-billed Corlews, always a delight to watch.

 

There were Laughing Gulls aplenty. Some were mixing with Royal Terns ...

while others were watching Ruddy Turnstones scuttling around on the sand.

Willets were busy feeding, too.

And there were several Dunlins.

I spotted only a couple of Wilson's Plovers and this solitary Snowy Plover at the pools behind the beach.

Meanwhile a few Black-bellied Plovers were wandering in the surf.

A crowd of Least Terns was too skittish for me to photograph but a Forster's Tern was more tolerant of our presence.

By now it was time to head to the Stingaree restaurant for lunch before moving on to High Island. However, I couldn't resist stopping for a minute to watch Brown Pelicans skimming majestically over the sea looking for fish.

 

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