Magnus On the Beach Day 2

Tuesday, July 15

The only note I have for this day is that I saw a Magificent Frigatebird, over the beach at sunset. It was a female or a juvenile, I could see the white throat. (Males are all black).  It had tail feathers of a different length—very odd. Maybe growing one in after moulting?  I don’t know.

The book described them as “uncommon but conspicuous” which is a pretty apt way to put it. Think of an impossibly thin bird with very long wingspan and long tail feathers, soaring way up in the air with its wings held in an odd crook, vaguely like the shape of an ospreys’ wings but of course the bird looks otherwise not at all like an osprey. And it’s black. 

Setting up 

We had a pretty easy but very slow drive to the beach and were able to set up about a half-hour before check-in time.  All we did after that was take an easy walk along the beach with Molly. I stepped into the water and found it to be pea-soup warm.

 

 

Not very crowded and not very big waves. I love the Texas Gulf of Mexico. The beaches aren’t the pristine white sand of Florida and the shore is kind of a mess. But at least from where we were we couldn’t see any industry and only the slightest suggestion of a couple of drilling platforms out in the distance.  Lots of grackles—I forgot the check if they were Great-tailed Grackle or Boat-tailed Grackle—and the eternal lines of Brown Pelican hunting, soaring in synchronized flaps, and diving head first into the waves. Love ‘em.