Mammoth Goes After Spring Migration, Day 6

 Tuesday 12 April 2022

Today we headed out to High Island but stopped on the way at the totally awesome Anahuac Wildlife Refuge. It was worth a trip all on its own.

At the entrance station, there was a large expanse of brand-new board walks by the butterfly gardens and in and around some low trees. A prime spot for all kinds of birds!  I heard a few warblers but didn't get my glasses on any. 

Oh, and the Jeep got old.

Then we went on to Shoveler Pond. It was indescribable.  Much like our drive yesterday, it was a slow creep in and around marshes and ponds, full of birds. I spent more time out of the Jeep than in it, and saw--at the least--

White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis, white Pelican and Brown Pelican, Black-necked Stilt, blue-winged teal, comon gallinule, and a whole lot of other stuff.

We picked up a good bit of traffic on the little roads in and around the marshes--maybe ten cars?  A lot for a wildlife refuge. There were so many alligators there it made yesterday's drive look piddlling. We saw a couple of nutria, too.  The route around the pond was listed as a two or three mile "auto tour" but I think it would have been a great place just to walk and see everything the slow way.

And we went on to High Island.  The birding sites look okay although I can see them being very crowded later in the month and after a drop out. Drop out, or is it fall off? Anyway, it's what bird experts call it when the migrating birds coming across the Gulf of Mexico hit a strong cold front coming from the north. Exhausted from their flight from Yucatan to Texas, fighting north winds, they drop down in the first trees they can find--which happen to be on High Island.

I'd been wanting to check the place out, and so we did. There are three or four "woods" run by the Houston Audobon Society and I'd thought it cost $30 for an all-day, all area, pass. But the sign we saw indicated it was only $10. However, I'd already seen enough for the day and we had dogs in the car, so we skipped it. This time.

We went on to check out a couple fo RV parks nearby, to see if we'd want to camp at them. Sea Rim is the closest public campground and it's over an hour away. There are several private ones that I'd been able to get reliable reviews on.

Note for future: both of the two I marked look fine--the one on the oceanside, At the Beach RV Park. seems bigger and a little nicrer.  The one bayside, Beach time, is more than adequate especially if we can get the site closest to the water. No one would be blockiing our view.  There are a couple of tohers on the map--the only one I saw was Pirates Landing which would be okay but not as cleaned up as the others.

No bird pics, but I believe this is the big mama alligator from our campground pond.