Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024

Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024
Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Alligators: Bags and Boots - Sun., Jan. 12, Part 2

Okay, the title is a trick. Our destination after lunch was Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, Texas. No visitor center, just walk in and visit. The alligators, Bags and Boots, live in the pond here. Whoever named them had a black sense of humor.

Bags and Boots
Unfortunately, we did not see Bags and Boots today. We did find this fellow, however.

I stuck my head in an alligator's mouth. LOL.
I added some new birds to my list...

Common yellowthroat
Yellowthroat preening
Green heron hunting
Two Barrow's goldeneyes with a green-winged teal
Other birds at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center included roseate spoonbills, a flock of white ibis, brown pelican, ruddy ducks, and American coot. Here are photos of the Birding Center environs and more birds.

Boardwalk and observation tower.

From the observation tower we spotted six Roseate spoonbills and a flock of white ibis.

Ruddy duck with tail in the water
Pied-billed grebes - winter plumage
Roseate spoonbills
Flock of white ibis with American coot behind.
The following brown pelican was sitting so beautifully in the sun. All of a sudden it was bath time. No mistaking the sound of a big pelican's wings slapping the water! Scroll past the American coot to see the pelican bathing.

Brown pelican
American coot
Pelican bathing
Pelican bathing
Pelican bathing
"Aren't I handsome?"
Great blue heron thinks it's a statue!
Looks like black-capped petrel.
A very successful bird walk. The birding center will be on my must-see list whenever we go to Aransas Pass.

Next we stopped at Paradise Pond. One of the other birders at Leonabelle Turnbull told us not to expect much at Paradise Pond as there is no pond left. We saw one bird by a watering hole and a bunch of weeds and trees, no pond.

Fungi were the most visually interesting vegetation at Paradise Pond.


Close-up photo of fungi
Erin and Mui mentioned Charlie's Pasture to us. Again, the gentleman at Leonabelle Turnbull gave us directions to Charlie's Pasture. If you go, be sure to stop by the ship channel and watch for dolphins swimming by. We saw one or two as we looked out over the channel.

The sky kept getting darker and we could see rain cells moving in. When we got to Charlie's Pasture, we started walking and a brief shower made us turn back to the pavilion. We waited a few minutes and set out again.

Beautiful blooms in January.
Sun and rain
Boardwalk at Charlie's Pasture
Wilson's phalarope, lower center
Little blue heron, I think.
Little egret
The rain started in earnest and we cut our walk short to hightail it back to the car. We made it before we got too wet. It was a very short drive to the Port Aransas ferry crossing so we took advantage and drove on the ferry to take us across the channel. The ferry is free and runs 24 hours a day. The wait was only about ten minutes and the ferry crossing takes 5-10 minutes. Soon we were on our way home.

Back in San Antonio, we had dinner at Taqueria Guadalajara across the street from our RV park. Bob had enchiladas verdes and I opted for fajitas de pollo. They make very good food and I had enough fajitas left over to make at least one more meal.

This night owl is calling it a morning. Tomorrow, a friend and I are off to see a movie. I'd like to see "Her."

Good night.

14 comments:

  1. Great pictures. We enjoyed all of those places last year while in Port A for a month. We did see one of the alligators.

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    1. Thank you. I would love to see the alligators. Only saw a picture of them on the entrance board.

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  2. Loved the pelican bathing shots! too cool!

    And yummmm on that restaurant! I remember you taking us there, and wow that was great food!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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    1. The coolest thing about the pelican was hearing his huge wings whomp on and in the water. Made quite an impression.

      The other coolest bird I have seen bathing in nature was a bald eagle. I was in the kitchen looking out over the Willamette River and just across from our house was a big snag in the river. The bald eagle landed on the snag, then angled down into the water, where he proceeded to flap his wings and get them good and wet. Then he sat on the snag while the water drained off and he dried a bit.

      Taqueria Guadalajara is very good. We eat there from time to time since it's right across the street. (Although now our goal is to try lots of new places and not get stuck in a rut.)

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  3. Great Pictures! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm adding Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center to our list to see.

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    1. What I like about Leonabelle Turnbull are all the rushes and reeds for the birds (and I suppose alligators) to move around in. Also, the birds can be up quite close to the boardwalk. The observation tower helps to see seabirds by the seashore on the other side of the rushes. Sorry couldn't help myself. (Play on she sells seashells down by the seashore.)

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  4. Thanks for all this info. I'll probably visit Leonabelle Turnbull on Thursday. I've already been to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. However just down the road from our RV Park are some endangered Whooping Cranes....very cool. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Where are you? Wish you could have joined us on Sunday!

      Would love to see the whooping cranes. Where are they?

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  5. Fabulous bird and fungi pictures. I'd like to spend some time in Port Aransas. It looks wonderful.

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  6. Great visit ... will definitely be going to all these places while we are here. Will wait for the cold front to pass though, so that it's not quite so cold for a morning visit.

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  7. Excited! I think we will have the chance to visit the center on Sunday. Loved seeing all the birds and am excited about seeing those elusive pink birds! I am not a birder, but I do love birds. I guess I need to get focused and pay more attention. When I saw the whoopers yesterday near Goose Island I had no idea of how rare they were.

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    1. So happy to hear that you and Mo got to meet Mui and Erin. They're great people. We enjoyed our morning with them and hope to see them again before they leave in April.

      Congratulations on seeing whoopers. Guess I'll have to look for them next time we're in Port Aransas!

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  8. Hi! I really enjoy reading your blog so I am nominating you for the Liebster Award Details here http://seizethedayrvadventure.com/2014/03/24/liebster-blog-award/

    ReplyDelete

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