Bolivar Peninsula

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On Sunday we reached Rollover Pass at about noon. Some of the sandbars were crowded with gulls and terns but they were too far away for photos. While White Pelicans stayed put out of range, a few Brown Pelicans flew over the beach.

The edge of the beach, usually crowded with shorebirds, had a few Sanderlings.

There was a solitary Ruddy Turnstone ...

... and one Willet.

Driving further west along the peninsula, we stopped on Yacht Basin Road. Two weeks earlier we had seen three Whimbrels here and I was hoping they might still be around. I have seen very few Whimbrels and I have never managed to get a photo of one.

I thought I'd spotted a Whimbrel right away but it was only a Willet, washing the dirt of something it had caught. 

A couple of minutes later a Whimbrel appeared and was just within camera range.

In the next ten minutes we saw three more Whimbrels.

As we'd heard there were long waits for the Galveston ferry, we decided to skip the Audubon sanctuary and to go straight to the terminal. 

On the ferry ride I kept an eye out for Magnificent Frigatebirds but saw only Laughing Gulls and terns.

One of the Laughing Gulls caught a fish and was frantically trying to eat it as it flew alongside the boat. 

Oddly enough, it had never occurred to me before that gulls and terns probably do most of their eating on the wing.

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