Black Skimmers

Woke to a cloudy, wet morning.  There was a large amount of noise outside, which turned out to be a flock of Guinea Hens.  They were noisily foraging their way through the campground.  Kirk offered to clear the area, but we declined.

The grey one had a leg injury, limped about, and stood on one leg when stationary.  Sorry about the focus

We had planned on going to the Aquarium, which did not open till 1:00pm, so we killed some time by heading for the pool.  It was cooler than expected, including the "slightly warmer" tub.  The beauty was, even though it was cloudy and windy, you could climb out of the cool pool and sit, wet in the wind, without a hint of being cold.  We sat and listened to the wind in the Palmettos and discussed what we wanted to do with the time left in this trip, to no conclusion.

The Rockport Aquarium is, gasp, free!, and run by volunteers.  They had fairly good information, and living examples of most of the local fish.  It was great to see the intricacy, beauty, and energy of fish in the water, instead of floundering around in the bottom of the boat.  Their showpiece was a 5 foot long Indonesian moray eel, rescued from a local restaurant's aquarium.  We left a healthy donation to help keep things rolling.

Next up was Rockport Beach, which besides having a boat launch, a beach, and many picnic shelters/barbeques, was a bird sanctuary.  It was Easter Sunday, and many latino families had the drum barbeques (this term is now being replaced by the term “grilling”, not sure if someone successfully patented it, or if barbecue has just become politically incorrect) full of coals and covered with meat, three generations enjoying the inevitable loud music and each other’s company.

Both Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls nest in the flats at one end of the beach peninsula.  Quite impressive, since it is a totally accessible grassy area, and folks seem to leave them alone.  The Black Skimmer fishes by flying close to the surface of the water, with it’s lower bill in the water, skimming the surface as it flies along.  They also are quite distinctive when resting on the ground, since they lay with their head and neck flat on the ground.  I’m not sure if this is an adaptation to resting in areas of constant high winds, or if it is a method of hiding and avoiding predators, or perhaps the female skimmers just think it looks cool.  We did not see any eggs or young just yet.

Laughing Gull in foreground, Black Skimmers to the rear

We had blackened red snapper and salsa for supper.