Wednesday 2/13/2013
After about 13 miles north on the other side of the Copano Causeway, we saw a sign that directed us east on Hwy 774 to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. |
The drive seemed like a long drive through the flat lands of Texas farmland. |
We started to wonder if we had missed our turn, when we finally saw another sign for the refuge. |
The next turn was on Hwy 2040 East. |
The total drive seemed like around 30 miles from our park to the refuge. |
Joe spotted two alligators across a pond sunning on the shore. |
These guys were at least 6 feet long if not longer. |
Our next stop was at Bay Overlook which was a 0,1 mile walk to |
a huge tree and |
San Antonio Bay. |
As we walked onto the platform we were meet with an unusual smell. From research I found out that they mark their territory with this musky smell from rubbing their dorsal scent glands on shrubbery. |
Across Jones Lake Joe spotted another alligator. I could not see it with my bare eyes ( I need new glasses) but with the camera I could see it with the zoom. |
I then had to enlarge this picture to see it better. |
Then we saw another Javelina with her 3 babies. |
Javelinas breed year round, but usually in the spring with the babies being born in the summer. |
Usually Javelinas have 2-3 babies. This one had 4. |
This was the larges Live Oak along the trail. After seeing the giant trees in Kings Canyon, we were not impressed. This tree is about 473 years old. |
Next we drove to the observation tower. |
It is a bit of a climb to get to the top, |
over the trees. |
At the top we could see the boardwalk below that was closed. |
Looking to the south from the tower. |
We were told by other people that there were two Whooping Cranes out in the distance. You can see two white spots across the water that are the cranes. |
I got my zoom lens and then enlarge the picture, but they are still a blurry, |
On the way out of the refuge we saw 4 deer. |
When we got back to Fulton, I had Joe drive back to the marsh area on Fulton Beach Road. There we saw a Snowy Egret I believe. |
A Great Egret |
I came back to see the Roseate Spoonbill. I got to watch it search for dinner. It swings it's spoonbill from right to left or back and forth as it walks in the water. |
I think these are Black Skimmers. The lighting was not good, so I am not for sure. |
I walked down a driveway trying to get a closer look at the Roseate Spoonbill, but it took off, |
only to return in a few minutes. |
We headed home again past the Windswept Oaks on Fulton Beach Road. |
Joe had bought fresh Blue Crabs for dinner before we went to the refuge and had put them on ice while we were gone. |
He pick up this one to throw into the boiling pot of water. |
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