Windy Week at The Beach - Goose Island State Park - Part 2

We got up early to catch the Port Aransas Ferry.  The ferry is free and runs 24/7.  We were quite surprised when we saw a long line waiting.  It looked like 4 of the 6 ferries were operating this morning and we usually don’t have to wait this early in the morning. 

Long lines at the ferry

We arrived at the Leonabell Turnbull birding center at 8:00 am.  We were the only car in the lot and it didn’t take long to figure out why.  We had only been on the boardwalk about 15 minutes when it started to rain.  It wasn’t a long walk back to the truck but with (predicted) 60 mph winds and hard, painful rain it was a very uncomfortable walk!

We decided to drive to another birding hotspot to wait out the rain.  By the time we arrived at Holt Paradise Pond, the rain had stopped.  We saw our only Least Grebe of the trip. This tropical grebe doesn't come much farther north than central Texas. After seeing a few birds we headed back to Leonabell. 

Least Grebe

Blue-winged Teal pair

When we arrived back at Leonabell there were several cars in the parking lot, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.  It was still pretty windy but not uncomfortable.

Most of the birds were in their bright breeding plumage. The White Ibis is still white, but its face, bill and legs were bright red.  

White Ibis

Tricolored Heron

During the winter Laughing Gulls lose their black hood, and their bills are black. 

Laughing Gull

Green-winged Teal

Back-necked Stilt

We drove around Port Aransas a little bit before heading back to the ferry landing.  The parking lot at the entrance to the ferry holds a couple hundred cars and it was packed with cars and RV's!  We have never seen more than a dozen cars waiting and we have taken the ferry many times.  

We decided to skip the ferry and drive down to the other end of the islands (Mustang Island and Padre Island) and cross into Corpus Christi.

This route added about an hour to our drive back to Goose but was still shorter than waiting for the ferry.

Since we weren’t in any hurry to get back, we stopped at this wonderful souvenir shop in Corpus.  

I love themed buildings! 

There are many themed buildings like this in Corpus but Ocean Treasures is over the top! 

Of course I bought a magnet.

Legs and eyes wiggle.

We got back to Rockport and headed straight to Arandas Mexican Grill for lunch.  Arandas is good (not as good as Los Camales) and is one of the very few restaurants opened on Mondays.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and birding around the park.  We saw a few Indigo Buntings, but none were in their full bright blue breeding plumage. 

Indigo Bunting

The park has a simple water feature in a feeding area that is popular with the birds. This Gray Catbird was enjoying itself. 

Gray Catbird 

Next time: Relentless wind at Goose Island State Park