On Sunday we headed down to Galveston because we had promised our grandsons a boat ride. It was bitterly cold on the Bolivar ferry but the Laughing Gulls and Forster's Terns provided plenty of entertainment. While most of the gulls concentrated on trying to catch the bread and chips being thrown from the stern of the ferry by children, some focused instead on catching fish churned up in the boat's wake.
Our fellow passengers included Rock Pigeons and Great-tailed Grackles (below).
The landing area at Bolivar had several American White Pelicans and lots of Brown Pelicans (below).
As usual in the winter, there were also a few Red-breasted Mergansers.
When we got to the beach, we found that the tide was out and so only a few birds were within camera range.
The occasional Ring-billed Gull (below) was mixed in with the hordes of Laughing Gulls.
A couple of Sanderlings and Willets (below) were wandering nearby.
A Red Knot was a nice sighting.
Close to it was a Dunlin and a Long-billed Curlew.
I watched for a while as the Curlew strolled across the sand and probed in it for food.
I was surprised to see that it sometimes buried its entire bill in the sand in its hunt for prey.
Unfortunately, it was too cold to stay long and so we left the beach and headed back to Galveston for lunch at Mario's on the seawall.
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