Heading West

Cold fronts keep pushing into the South bringing lower than expected temperatures all around the Gulf.  Having birded Florida for awhile I decided to head for southern Texas for some of those Lower Rio Grande specialties.  Edie and I spent the first night at Dauphin Island in Alabama.  We used to spend a week here every April waiting for possible fallouts.  In January, however, birding is pretty ordinary.  We stopped not for the birds but to check out hurricane damage and hoping one of our favorite seafood places was open.




Don't pass up this place when visiting Dauphin Island.  It is take out only.

Skinner's Seafood is run by a fishing family.  Everything is caught in the Gulf the night before.
They will steam your order with whatever seasoning you want while you wait.  Throw in some red potatoes and sweet corn into the steamer along with you shrimp and you have a meal that will keep you coming back whenever possible.

 

In the morning we began our drive to Galveston through occasional light showers.  As we continued through the Bolivar Peninsula to catch the ferry we began to get weather reports of a winter storm warning for this evening.  Houston was expecting freezing rain and some snow-a rarity for them.  Our destination was the Scottish Inn, an older but clean and comfortable hotel located right next to the ferry docks.  The manager/owner was a friendly, talkative, older gentleman who said he wanted us to have a good time during our two nights here and felt so bad about the weather that he lowered our rate to $50 a night.  I had mixed feelings about that.  Great rate but what kind of weather had we gotten ourselves into?  We settled in and went out to explore.  The grey skies, wind, and occasional showers put an end to any photography and even birding was tough.  Given the conditions there was only one thing to do - find a good restaurant! 

 

Edie had talked up the manager who recommended two locations.  One seafood and one Italian.  We headed for "Shrimp 'N Stuff" (www.shrimpnstuff.com), a walk up and order restaurant which had an outside and inside areas for dining.  They opened 38 years ago and came to be known as the "place where the locals love to eat".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ordered the 14 piece u-peel-em boiled shrimp meal for $9.99.  It included slaw, fries, and hush puppies.  It was a great meal even though the shrimp did not compare in size and quality to Skinners.

 



In the morning Galveston was having light rain with some icing.  Streets were only wet and traffic was having no problems.  Houston, however, had a lot of ice and some snow.  Schools were closed or delayed.  At Hobby Airport, officials were allowing small planes that had been kept inside to take off, but any larger planes left outside were grounded.  Deicing equipment is not used much here.  Windshield ice scrapers also seem to be something most Houstonians did not have.  Announcers advised using an old credit card... Doesn't everybody carry those around for emergencies?  Some highways and bridges were closed and staging areas for wreckers and damaged vehicles were set up.  A female television reporter demonstrated making her first ever snow angel.  I gave her an "A" for effort and technique but with only one inch of snow present you needed a little imagination to see it.

We decided to wait an hour before starting out.  Wind chill temperatures were in the teens and birds were hunkered down.  Most of the birding would be done from the car today.  We began at Offat's Bayou which is suppose to be good for loons.  Five common loons were found but there was very little other activity except for gulls, Ruddy Turnstones, and a few Willets.



Common Loon in winter dress



Even the Willets looked cold.

 

Ruddy Turnstones were common.

 

 

Our next stop was Lafitte's Cove Nature Park.  Edie stayed in the car while I walked through it.  Green-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, and Gadwalls were in the lagoons.  Yellow-rumped warblers were everywhere.  I was hoping for rails but none showed or called.  A single Roseate Spoonbill was the single wader there.  Our next stop was Sportsman Road.  Again birds were hunkered down.  This road is often termed "Rail Road" because of the large number of rails present.  This day, however, not a single one appeared.  There were a good number of Western Sandpipers, Dowitchers, and Willets.  A number of Snowy  Egrets and a single Great Blue Heron represented the large wading birds.  By this time the "Freezin Frisian" decided that hot soup was needed.  She picked Joe's Crab Shack with their Monday-Friday endless soup and salad menu.  Several gumbos and chowders later we were on our way again.

 

East Beach produced some of the same birds along with Black Skimmers, Marbled Godwits, American Oystercatchers, and a single Spotted Sandpiper.  Two Crested Caracaras escorted a Red-tailed Hawk out of the area just before we left.

 

Spotted Sandpiper in winter dress.

Marbled Godwit

A final trip to Pelican Island turned out badly when we discovered Seawolf Park had locked their gates.  Whether this was due to the weather or a new policy was unknown.  Tomorrow we will head farther south down the Texas Coast.