Judy’s idea

  

When she takes the dogs out for a walk at the beach, they get sand burrs in their feet and coats.  Either dog will get a flat and stop cold.  Judy has to find the sticker and pull it out before they can go on their way.  Stickers can happen anywhere, but they’re almost unavoidable near the beach.  There seems to be no easy solution.  Until now.

 

She went to Lowe’s and bought a couple squares of sod.  We put that on the side patio of the RV site.  The dogs can go outside, pee and poop on real grass, but not have to venture out into the stickers.

 

 

Brilliant!  When it’s time to go, we’ll just leave $5 of sod here.

 

 

Western Tanager.

 

 

Bird number 365!

 

 

 

Birds!

  

Great weather for migrant birds.  A steady wind from the south.  They can cross the Gulf of Mexico with a tail-wind all the way and not even be tired when they get here.  They can just keep on flying.  Most of these birds migrate at night.  If they're already here, they can leave the next night on favorable winds.  So, great for the little migrating birds but not so great for we people with binoculars that want to watch them!  Not very many birds around today.  That said, two new year-birds.

 

Dickcissel.

 

 

Cape May Warbler.

 

 

Count total, 364!

 

And flowers, just because.

 

 

 

 

Driving south

  

We merged on to Highway 59 right behind a wide load.  (Thank you to the person who made space for us.)  A wide load going through a construction detour.  There wasn't much room.  We stayed behind for 20 minutes.  Traffic had to come to a standstill when it was time for them to make their turn onto a side road.  Judy got a number and called the pilot car company from the car in the rear.  She told them what a wonderful professional job the three-vehicle procession did.  They had to take up both lanes almost the entire time.  Lots of twists and turns and barriers on the sides, but they kept up a respectable speed, blocked traffic when it wasn't safe for anyone to pass, and made as much room as they could if there was an occasion for anyone to get by.

 

After a few minutes of conversation, the guy on the other end of the call said "Ma'am, it's the god's honest truth, in all the time we've been doing this, you are the first person to ever call and tell us we did a good job.  I'm tearing up right now just talking to you."  Judy, and her sense of justice, feels if we're willing to call and complain, we should be just as willing to call and compliment.

 

Later, we drove behind a delivery van with advertising on the outside maintaining that it was carrying a load of Liquid Death.  That, we had to google.  Turns out Liquid Death is canned water (it's meant to murder thirst), it has a cool logo, it's not deadly, and their website claims it is completely unnecessary.  It's expensive though, and is available at Whole Foods.

 

We're at Padre Island.  We like Mustang Island State Park, and it is a handy location, but the state park only has electric and water hookups.  We can carry a lot of fresh water, a hundred gallons, but it's a stretch to live on that amount for an entire week.  We checked in at Padre Balli RV Park.

 

 

April migration trip map

 

 

No new birds today.

 

 

 

We’re on the move

  

April migration trip map

 

 

Back to Brazos Bend State Park.  No new birds today, but a bonus.  With a little creative routing, we filled in two more counties.

 

Before today’s drive.

After.

 

Only 58 counties to go!

 

Scarlet Tanager.

 

 

Prothonotary Warbler.

 

 

American Redstart.

 

Baby Gator.

 

Slightly bigger gator.

 

 

 

Wow

  

The migration at High Island is fantastic.  Latest birds:

 

Blackburnian Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Canada Warbler

White-rumped Sandpiper

Swainson's Warbler

American Redstart

Cerulean Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-bill Cuckoo

Grasshopper Sparrow

Seaside Sparrow

Hudsonian Godwit

 

Twenty new year-birds just in the last two days!  Current year-count 362.  38 to go to get to our target of 400.

 

Black-and-white Warbler.

 

Chestnut-sided Warbler.

 

Tree frog in a tight place.

 

Boy Scout Woods.

 

Texas Tortoise.

 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

 

We've got more bird picture from here.  I can send them out later.

 

 

 

A mystery - Followup

  

Whooping Cranes.  Google helped me find these spinning reflectors.  The fields on both sides of this road must be whooping crane stopovers.  Whooping Cranes can get hurt running into power lines.  These spinners divert the taking off and landing birds away from the danger.

 

From: Steve Taylor
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2021 10:28 PM
To: Bill Taylor (billt444@comcast.net) <billt444@comcast.net>; David Taylor (David Taylor) <taylor234@comcast.net>; 'Tom Taylor (E-mail)' <code-boy@earthlink.net>
Subject: A mystery

 

 

 

 

It's not uncommon to see something attached to utility lines.  Sometimes it's a piece of metal bent in a "V", presumably to dampen the effect of wind on the line; break up any resonant frequency from wind gusts.  Sometimes we see orange balls attached to the lines, presumably to alert low flying aircraft.

 

Here, we're seeing these things attached to a short stretch of utility line.

 

They appear to be spinners.

 

Reflecting spinners.

 

Can't figure out what they're for.  This section of road doesn't look different from the adjacent sections.  Nothing to funnel wind if that were an issue.  No sign of an airport nearby.  We thought of crop dusters, but the fields on each side of the road aren't agricultural.  They're more like old overgrown pasture.

 

Can't figure them out!

 

 

Beauty and the Beast

  

 

 

 

 

A mystery

  

It's not uncommon to see something attached to utility lines.  Sometimes it's a piece of metal bent in a "V", presumably to dampen the effect of wind on the line; break up any resonant frequency from wind gusts.  Sometimes we see orange balls attached to the lines, presumably to alert low flying aircraft.

 

Here, we're seeing these things attached to a short stretch of utility line.

 

They appear to be spinners.

 

Reflecting spinners.

 

Can't figure out what they're for.  This section of road doesn't look different from the adjacent sections.  Nothing to funnel wind if that were an issue.  No sign of an airport nearby.  We thought of crop dusters, but the fields on each side of the road aren't agricultural.  They're more like old overgrown pasture.

 

Can't figure them out!

 

 

Traffic

  

 

Texas traffic.

 

Nothing to do but pull over and let it go by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you spot the

  

Can you spot the sleeping Common Nighthawk?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anahuac

  

April Migration Trip Map

 

 

Trinity Bay RV Park.

 

We want to be near Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and High Island over on the coast.  There aren't any State Parks there, so we found this nice little out-of-the-way local RV Park.

 

Bald Eagle.

 

Year bird!  On arrival today, our count is 342.

 

 

Henry guarding my workspace.

 

 

 

Brazos Bend State Park

  

April Migration Trip Map

 

 

For anyone who hasn't been here yet, you should add it to your plans.