Desperate

Desperate? Who us?  Yes, it was our last day at Port Isabel and yes, we did opt to breakfast outside overlooking the water, and yes, our toast did get a bit soggy because it was, after all, not exactly raining, but more of a misting.  I just couldn't bear not being out there no matter the conditions!

For the past four days, we have seen not the slightest hint that there is a sun in the sky.  There was positively no opportunity for outside activities unless we were: 1. Willing to be nearly blown off our feet, 2. Get wet, 3. Be cold and 4. All of those, so we accepted Mother Nature's conditions and went on our way, awed by that environment that is so different from what we are accustomed to.

We had already been to one section of the Laguna Atascosa Refuge - miles and miles of bayside beaches and vast tidal flats stretching off as far as the eye could see; next we wanted to explore another region of the same refuge, many miles away and in an entirely different ecosystem.  

Some miles before we reached the visitors center, we were warned to watch for ocelots!  That was pretty unexpected.  In fact, the powers that be are so adamant about protecting that species that they have installed a series of serious speed bumps over which a person would not want to exceed the 25 miles per hour limit lest one's head be bounced against the car's roof.

We have met many super nice friendly folks in Texas this trip, as we have in all our other wanderings through the Lone Star State: two of them at the Refuge explained to us about long-range efforts to acquire land for wildlife corridors that will provide habitat for ocelots.  The plan is mired in controversy, I have learned, but for now is going forward.

Evidently, ocelots require a specific habitat, namely Tamaulipan thornscrub, which is made up of gnarly catclaw bushes, spiny hackberry and mesquite, a very dense vegetative stand, to thrive.  It was explained to us that several ocelots have been struck and killed by vehicles.

As much as I would have liked to see an ocelot out there, none made an appearance for us.  Birds, however, were far more cooperative.  We had scarcely entered the tunnels hacked through the underbrush than we identified two life birds: tropical parula and green jay (beautiful & far more colorful than the name implies), and it wasn't long before we spotted a third - long-billed thrasher.

The target bird for some of the folks we met, though, was black-throated blue warbler that has been seen in that spot.  Unfortunately, neither they nor we got that one.

 We really enjoyed our time wandering through there; the moisture had enhanced the smells of the mostly unfamiliar vegetation, providing wonderful scenes of rain-laden plants, but unfortunately playing havoc with bird photography.

 

 

Birdwatching and photography in the rain is an interesting proposition.  Both that day and the next, which was even worse, kept me busy with trying to keep the camera dry, camera & binocular lenses cleared and my glasses usable.  Most photos are poor and many unusable: disappointing but such is life.  At least there were breaks at times when rain transformed briefly into mist.

In addition to being cautioned about ocelots, there were warnings about alligators, too - more for human protection that for the critter in that case - but I'm certain it was too cold for those beasts to be out and about.  Even so, I didn't stick a toe in the water to test my theory.

That posting was at Laguna Atascosa - a huge body of water stretching beyond the horizon. . .

. . . and populated with a great many birds floating placidly.

There we added northern shoveler, American wigeon and gadwall to the trip list.

We enjoyed a trek out to Alligator Pond . . .

 

. . . and along the way, we amped up the list numbers with an awesome white-tailed kite (we watched it dive at a roosting crested caracara to no effect at all) summer tanager, Harris' hawk and northern harrier.

I thought this bark and exposed inner wood were beautiful!

 

Port Isabel lighthouse, more birds in the rain . . .

A morning in town gave us the opportunity to climb to the top of the Port Isabel lighthouse.  It operated on and off from 1853 to 1905, and has been restored as a State Historic Site.

The region was first explored by Europeans as early as 1519, although I have some difficulty understanding how or even why anyone would have trekked through that wholly inhospitable country.  I found an interesting timeline of exploration and settlement in a blog at https://portisabel-texas.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-port-isabel/.  I'll leave it to whoever wants to know a bit more.

 The view below overlooks the causeway to South Padre Island.  It is the longest bridge in Texas.

 

 This is a mighty amazing mesquite tree on the lighthouse grounds; it has headed off in multiple directions.

More rain pics taken on a walk out another boardwalk, this time at high tide with very different results.  The interior channels did not reveal a lot of birds, but we added marsh wren there and this very shy black-crowned night heron.  I worked so hard to get this shot that I'm including it despite how poor it is.  He had secreted himself so well that we almost missed him.

The rain had increased enough by the end of the walk that I should have just put the camera away, but I couldn't quite get myself stopped.

A few steps off the boardwalk took us into a different habitat altogether where we added gray catbird, the last for the trip list at Port Isabel, but no chance for a photo of it; however, there was another great kiskadee.

 

To show that birds are where you find them, after we departed Port Isabel heading to our next stop, we identified a loggerhead shrike when we stopped for our first fueling.