Limpkin Hunt
Got ready to go the next morning a little earlier than planned, so went ahead and headed over to the park, thankful that the gate was open just like the guy said! I went straight to 40 Acre Lake and took the Powershot down to the pier, but didn’t stay long as I realized I really needed to be using The Monster (i.e. Sony with the Big Lens) in this situation (it was still kinda dusky, even after sunrise, and it handles low-light situations much better than the Powershot). I ended up spending over an hour there as it was quite active: tons of Little Blue Herons (including many transitioning birds, called “calicos”), Common Gallinules, a young Great Blue, and even a pair of Purple Gallinules taking a bath (but on the other side of the lake)! Some Anhingas were swimming with just their head and necks above the surface (hence the name “snake-bird”), so that was fun to shoot! A Pied-billed Grebe was new for the trip (as was a Tricolored Heron that kept hiding). Got some artsy shots of Great Egrets and spoonbills across the lake, and another Anhinga had landed on the railing to dry his wings, and he was pretty dilapidated! I didn’t wanna bother him (it was obvious he was agitated when I started getting closer), but a Plegadis ibis wheeled in that had a gray face and dark eye, and I would think that this time of year any Whiteface would have a red eye! Unfortunately so long as I didn’t have Internet access I couldn’t upload a picture to eBird, so documentation would have to wait until I got to the Holiday Inn (if I could get on their Wi-Fi…). [Update: I could, so I submitted the photos – more on that story later…] White Ibis were out the yin yang, and what I thought were a mom and kid Boat-tailed Grackle came by (as the male was singing somewhere), but they turned out to be Great-tails after I reviewed the video. A Mississippi Kite circled over the trees, but the best video op was a roaring Alligator! That was great! The Four-spotted Pennants (a type of dragonfly) on the way out were anti-climactic! Totally forgot to film the Barn Swallow nest on the way out, though… ☹ I did hear some chickadees on the way out, so I wheeled back in and tried to get some video out the car window!
As usual, woke up early so got going early after the morning routine; added Golden-fronted Woodpecker to the list while packing the car (among other things we’ll probably pick up later). Another “write-in” bird heading north on US 77 was a Harris’ Hawk! We stopped at the Sarita rest stop, picking up a Hooded Oriole for the trip, but boy, did it look nasty up ahead!! I wish I had been able to take a picture on the fly, because you talk about storm-chasing: once under it, it was black as night, with some terrific lightning displays! But then the rain started, and by Riviera it was zero visibility, so I just pulled into a Pizza Hut (or some such joint) parking lot to wait it out for a while. A Flood Warning came over the phone, and looking at the radar, we were right in the middle of a big red blob (I kept trying to capture a picture of the thing and was turning the phone off by mistake, so by the time I did get a picture the Red Blob had moved north a bit so the effect wasn’t the same)! Continued on after a few minutes, and while it let up, it didn’t really stop until the next stop at Refugio. We got a breakfast croissant at Burger King, then continued north. Filled up at El Campo (ended up going around the Very Long Block for that one), where a homeless guy opened the door for me! Headed on to Brazos Bend, where there was no hint of the threatened rain! Jumped out at the entrance to shoot the requisite sign, and had a Carolina Wren actually in view for a second while waiting to check in! I had some questions, so the ranger had me park and walk in where he gave me a map and showed me where the Limpkins usually show up; unfortunately it was as someone else had mentioned, and it was an almost three mile one-way hike along the Live Oak Trail to get to the habitat! He also suggested a couple of spots for Purple Gallinules, and said that the gate opens around 6:15, so that was perfect! Back at the car I remembered the other question I wanted to ask and went running back: do they have feeders? Nope – all natural here, she said!