November 22-23, 2021
Southern Texas is supposed to be one of the country's best places to birdwatch, and I think that is one of the primary reasons Bob wanted to go there. During the Covid pandemic, he has developed a pretty intense birding hobby, which has included upgrading his camera. I can understand that he wants to use his new toy!
In a two-day period in Southern Texas, we visited four wildlife areas, and I'm going to include all four in one post, partly because they have a lot of similarities. We did visit more wildlife areas later in the trip, but they were in a different region and have a different look.
Our first stop, Cattail Marsh Wetlands, was just outside Beaumont, The City of Surprises.
I've always connected alligators with Louisiana and not so much with Texas, but they are everywhere (and Beaumont isn't actually that far from Louisiana anyway).
A really nice new boardwalk extends out into the marsh, giving a much closer view of the plants and animals than you can get from the shore. When we first arrived, there were TONS of ducks in the water, but soon after we got there so did a lot of children who ran up and down the boardwalk, yelling and laughing and having a great time (and scaring away the ducks). It was nice to see families enjoying the place, but it had been nice to see the ducks before they came.
In many areas the plants are so dense that the water beneath isn't visible.
I liked the boardwalk, but my favorite thing at the wetlands were these creatively painted picnic tables back on shore under the viewing platform.
Evening was approaching and Bob had plans for dinner. On our way to the restaurant, we noticed a lot of large white birds flying along the stream parallel to the road and landing in a tree. One bird at a time would soar in, land on a branch, and shake its wings. Then another would fly in, and then another. It was as if they were being guided by air traffic controllers. We figured that this well-synchronized flock of great egrets was bedding down for the night.
We had a pretty good dinner at a place called Floyds in Beaumont. Bob had scouted it out in advance because he wanted crawfish, one of the dishes it is known for. Sadly, we learned the season doesn't begin until January. Bummer.
Instead we stuffed ourselves on a combo platter of catfish, crab cakes, fried oysters, and shrimp . . .
. . . flounder topped with a sauce that included shrimp, mushrooms, and crab . . .
. . . and a side of onion rings, a dish Bob can rarely resist if it is on the menu. It turned out to be too much food consumed too late in the evening, leading to our over-full stomachs disrupting our sleep.
After dinner we crossed the stateline into Louisiana, where we had a hotel in Lake Charles. After just a few hours of sleep the previous night (Remember, we got up at 3:30 AM to catch our flight and then spent a very full day being tourists), we slept in until about 8:00 AM, which is late for us. I grabbed a yogurt parfait from a coffee shop in the hotel (Bob doesn't seem to need breakfast), and we got on the road.
Our first destination was Pintail Wildlife Drive, a three-mile loop located on the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge.
But eventually we saw one on the far side of a canal. Bob is pretty good at spotting them. I would have missed this one.
Using his new camera, Bob got a much better picture of him than I did with my cellphone.
We saw just a few other cars on the road, and we drove the loop twice.
Bob takes a picture of pretty much every bird he sees, especially larger ones standing on telephone or power line poles. When he got home and uploaded his photos to his computer, he was surprised to find that this bird standing on a pole just outside of the drive was a bald eagle.
To get to our next destination, we had to wait in line for 30 minutes and then drive our car onto a ferry. For the extravagant price of $1 it took us across a very wide canal.
We got out to walk a 1.5 mile loop at Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, which, like our previous stop, is also in Louisiana. The NWR comprises 185,000 acres of diverse habitats that are home to more than 300 migratory and resident bird species, 26 species of mammals, 41 species of reptiles and amphibians, 132 species of fish, and 68 species of marine invertebrates.
Surprise, surprise. I certainly wasn't expecting to see alligators here. (Cough, cough.)
This could be one of those videos placed on loop to calm the troubled spirit.
At about the halfway point we crossed the river.
We had beautiful weather--not a cloud in sight and a little bit of a breeze to keep things cool.
Bob got some nice bird photos at or near this NWR. Coincidentally, my favorites are all of birds posing on top of a pole or post.
Two crested caracaras that turned their heads in unison:
So yeah, I get why Bob always stops when he sees a bird on a pole.
I, on the other hand, am entranced by roadkill. I've seen plenty of dead deer, cats, and skunks on the side of the road, but I don't think I've ever seen a dead wild boar until this moment. We would see two or three more in varying states of decay on this trip.
Our third stop in Louisiana was Peveto Woods Sanctuary, 40 wooded acres along the Louisiana coast and probably my favorite of the four bird watching sites we visited on our first two days of this trip. I enjoyed having a different kind of scenery to look at.
Many of the trees are live oaks, a version of which thrives in the canyon near our house.
I'm always drawn to fruits and flowers.
Stopping to photograph flowers usually means I have to play catch-up .
The trail eventually led us to the Gulf of Mexico. We enjoyed looking at the empty beach, something we never see in California.
I am proud of myself for spotting this well-camouflaged frog. I wasn't, however, about to pick it up. That is Bob's job.
He is pretty cute, don't you think?
I really liked the variety we had on this trail through the woods. I don't think Bob saw as many birds as in other places, but the shady paths through the live oaks, the different flora and fauna, and the view of the Gulf were a nice change.
And I also want to document Bob's footwear. SO embarrassing.
I'm surprised there is nothing about the hurricane area we drove through, right before the ferry, or is that a future post? Even I thought that was the most interesting part of our visit to this particular area, although I loved seeing snow geese and caracaras in Louisiana.
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