Wild Bird Wednesday - Sunset at the North Jetty, Bolivar

I spent most of a long day getting myself, and my sinker cypress board (to use to build new thwarts and gunnels for my canoe) home from Hammond, Louisiana.  This is usually only a  five hour trip, but it took about 2 hours more to detour to pick up the board, then get it to ride on the car.  I had forgotten to put my racks on so was working with foam carriers.

At Old Wood Reclaimed, where I finally located a board long enough for new canoe gunnels

Then my car was irresistibly pulled into turning down the road that leads to the Creole Nature Trail that runs through Sabine National Wildlife Refuge.  Then, since, the highway no longer exists along the coast from Port Arthur to High Island, I chose to drive to Port Arthur, back up to I-10 at Winnie, and then back down to the coast  on Bolivar Peninsula to drive to the Galveston Ferry.  I anticipated lots of birds but very few were around.

By the time I was on the Bolivar Peninsula,  the light was getting really beautiful. I would be a little early to see the sunset but the perfect way to kill another hour popped into my head in time for me to hunt down the North Jetty. This is on the west side of Audubon's Bolivar Flats, 1.7 miles from the ferry, and is the place to find birds in good light in the afternoon.  The Jetty is nearly a mile long, so there are lots of great views.  And there is a little oyster reef just at the end of my camera's range,  that attracts loafing and roosting birds.

Willett and greater yellowlegs. 

Avocet

Marbled godwit with food

Laughing gulls are molting into breeding plumage

Marbled godwit pair

Red knots

Snowy egret and willet

A few of an estimated 500 skimmers - they were coming in to roost and their numbers kept growing

White pelicans flying to feeding area on west side of the dike 

Feeding time - there were at least 25 pelicans in this group

Willet trio

Black-bellied plover

Unsuccessful fisherman coming back

Sunset over Fort Travis 

I ended up staying there until almost dark.  It was a wonderful time. And I managed to have one more small adventure when I couldn't start my car to drive off the ferry and had to be pushed by some of the ferry crew to get started. Thankfully, I still drive a stick shift.  I spent two more days getting the battery replaced - you don't want to know - before  finding that I had a bad fuse causing the problem. Two days later, I had to be jumped again and this time my jumper cables caught on fire. I slightly burned my fingers grabbing the cables off both cars.  I think the main problem was a loose connection to my positive post. I went to an Auto Zone  and bought a little gizmo that fits over the post and reestablishes connectivity.  So far, I'm good and my fingers can feel again.

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