LOUISIANA & TEXAS MARCH 2018

Monday March 12, 2018

FINALLY we are getting some decent weather and heading out in the Trek for a quick one week trip.
Greg has wanted to do a Louisiana Swamp Tour, so that's our destination, along with some good food, interesting culture, birds and other critters, etc.  So Laissez les bon temps rouler!

We begin with a visit to Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary at High Island, Texas.  Today is perfect weather, beginning around 50 with highs only near 70, and a breeze to keep those pesky mosquitoes at bay!  Yes, I know my poor relatives in Massachusetts are digging out from ANOTHER snowstorm, but it looks like Spring has finally Sprung here!

 The major attraction at Smith Oaks is a rookery, where egrets, cormarants, and roseate spoonbills are hard at work building nests for their soon-to-arrive offspring.  Most of the spoonbills are quite colorful with a nice orange blast under their pink wing and tail feathers.

The egrets have been showing off their plumage too, to attract a mate.  The coloring around their eyes turns a lovely green during this time.  Many of the birds are working in pairs, carefully constructing a sturdy nest.  One bird goes to fetch sticks from the area and together they work on construction. Usually one is there to watch the nest because all types of birds are happy to cut corners on their workload by "permanently borrowing" a neighbor's supplies.

We saw a big hawk, turtles, these lounging lizards (ok, gators), frogs, fish and other birds.  Not many people either - a big plus in our books.  I don't think they officially open till next week.  If we have time, maybe we'll come back to see the chicks!  The rookery is on an island in a lake and the gators prowl around it, keeping other preditors like coyote away.

Some nice flowers beginning to bloom, too!

Because route 87 was washed out for the hundredth time by Hurricane Harvey,  they've opted NOT to rebuild a large section of it.  So we backtrack back to the small town of Winnie, where we head east, southeast through Port Arthur (home of Janis Joplin) to Sea Rim State Park.

Port Arthur is full of refineries and chemical plants  (Could that be the cause of Janis' scratchy kind of voice?)....

 and we pass over the Intracoastal waterway.

Sea Rim State Park faces the Gulf of Mexico but has some inland marsh land as well.  We take a hike on a long boardwalk there and see birds, thousands of tiny and some not-so-tiny fish, crabs and a young alligator.

 Apparently there was one gator sunbathing on the boardwalk earlier, but he's gone back in the water by the time we get there.  Only his younger brother remains nearby.  I'd show a photo, but it is just a tiny head and snout in a large expanse of water.  We drive through their smallish campground and onto the beach where we stop for another walk.

 Lots of snail shells and some other pretty ones, but most of the shells have either been drilled and drained by a preditor, or broken to bits by the surf.  Quite a few water birds, terns, gulls and an occasional pelican.  You can see some oil rigs offshore - can't imagine the horror when the last oil spill stained these shores!

Again we have to backtrack, this time to Port Arthur.  Then we go south-east on route 82 where we cross Sabine Pass and enter Louisiana.

Last stop today is Holly Beach in Louisiana, where we stop for the night by the Gulf's shushing waves.  We enjoy a nice salad with chicken and  a gorgeous swirly sunset.  The breeze keeps the bugs at bay so we see only a few mosquitos.

Good-night!