Goat Boat Afloat

Today I drove south to Galveston to take the free ferry to Bolivar Peninsula or what is also known as Goat Island. I think this is a laughing gull on the flag pole on the ferry. I visited the Audubon nature preserve that is referenced in the book my sibling gave me as THE best place on the Texas coast to see birds. The location is called the Bolivar Flats. I drove a few miles onto the island and took a right on Rettilon Road. I drove about a mile on that road before I came to the beach. The book says to drive on the sand to the right for 3/4 of a mile and park by the fence. Yeah, I am not driving my car on the beach so I got out and walked barefoot and it felt so good to walk on the beach. I walked for an hour and then came back to the car to find a spot to eat a taco. One restaurant was only 3 miles away and the menu said they had black bean and egg tacos. That sounded interesting. I went there and they did not have black bean and egg tacos but they had a bean and cheese burrito so I had that. The service was friendly and quick and the food was good.  I have been interested in buying a kite and have already gone to 5 stores to buy a kite with no luck. A couple blocks away from the restaurant was a kite store. I enter the store and the clerk is on the phone. I walk through all the aisles and don't see any kites. I approach the desk. After a minute or two of making me wait he ends his phone call. He tells me they are all out of kites. A kite store has no kites? He recommends another one a mile down the road. I go to enter this kite store but the door is locked. Seriously, I am having more trouble buying a kite than I thought possible. I drive back to Bolivar flats. I see all kinds of shore birds. I see sanderlings, what I thought was a dowitcher but might be a curlew. I see sand pipers and maybe a godwit. I see laughing gulls, herring gulls, ring billed gulls, terns, plovers, and I think  saw a ruddy turnstone. I am pretty sure I saw a willet. I get to the fence and I am glad I am wearing my rubber boots. I walk in the surf. I see the carcass of a pelican. As the beach curves closer to the main highway the waves calm down and I start seeing taller birds like herons and egrets. I saw a female blue winged teal floating in the waves. I took her picture but since it was so cloudy the picture didn't turn out. I saw a couple great egrets. I saw a little blue heron. I watched two reddish egrets feeding in a shallow pool away from the beach for a long time and I got some great pictures of them. I saw another snowy egret, white pelicans and brown pelicans. I saw a tri-colored heron, cormorants and the carcass of a deceased alligator that was about four feet long. I saw a jelly fish that was clear yet had a whitish outline of a shamrock inside it. I had drank a can of carbonated water and I figured I had better head back to the car before too long so I started walking back. People camp on this beach. People camped in RV's, campers, and in tents. What a nice spot to camp. They get to listen to the ocean all night. They don't have any Wi-Fi though. Actually I don't have any Wi-Fi either. I am using my cell phone as a hot-spot tonight. I don't understand why I don't have Wi-Fi. The computer says I have Wi-Fi but I am unable to load pages. Once in my car I took a circular route right across from where I was because the book said I could find yellow-crowned night herons near the curve sign that said 45 miles per hour. Driving out I saw a Northern Harrier on a fence post and a Belted Kingfisher on the next one. When I got to that curve I did see birds in the ditch. Another truck had stopped to look at the birds too. I saw a couple more little blue herons, Great Egrets and Tri-colored herons. I stopped by the Fort Travis Seashore park hoping to use a real bathroom instead of an outhouse. This is a beautiful park. People were walking on and in the fort. Families were having picnics and roller blading and biking. As early as 1814 this area had Mexican forts. During the Civil war this area was a fortification for the Confederate Army. In 1898 the fort was named for William B. Travis, hero of the Alamo. The very first Galveston ferry landed here in 1930 but landed else where beginning in the 1960's. Unfortunately the bathrooms were closed and I ended up using a porta potty again. So glad I brought my baby wipes on this trip. Yikes. I got in line for the ferry around 5 p.m. but didn't get on until 6 p.m. I went upstairs hoping to see more bottle nosed dolphins. I did that this morning too and didn't see any until I was almost back to my car and a woman had her window open and said, "Look, there is a dolphin." I didn't see any dolphins on my way back. I talked to a young man who appeared to be of middle Asian descent. He told me he lives in Dallas now. I asked if he had ever been to the George W. Presidential Library. He said he had been there and even volunteered there for a couple hours. He got to handle book and move them around. He seemed like a very nice fellow. The sun looked reddish as it set over Galveston tonight. I drove home mostly in the dark. I made a wrong turn and accidently entered a petrochemical plant. Lucky for me I could turn around quite easily. If I get better Wi-Fi tomorrow, I will post some pictures for you.