WOW Wow WOW!

Admire the beautiful moon over Galveston Bay.

 I made the mistake of thinking Bolivar was an island. Bolivar is a peninsula! By the time I got to Winnie, Texas, I figured that out. I stopped at the McDonalds for the free Wi-fi around 11:30. I did see another dolphin on the Bolivar ferry though. That was cool. The guy standing next to me said he thinks the churning of the ferry motor brings the shrimp up to the top and that is why all the gulls and dolphins follow the ferry. Anyway I found the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge was near by so I went there. On the way there I see a Snow Goose dead on the road. Sad. I see something and I am 75 % sure it was an armadillo but it's hard to tell at 65 mph. I ate my salad while slowly admiring the butterfly garden. Then I put my socks on. By now it was 1 p.m. I set the timer on my phone for two hours. I took off with a can of sparkling water in my pocket. I decided to walk the 2.7 mile loop because that is where to see the best wildlife. Off I go. I see a young girl also walking. I come up behind her and don't want to scare her so I say, "Isn't it beautiful? I love nature." She smiles as she takes pictures with her phone. I end up walking by her three times. The last time we meet I say, "I am really not stalking you." She says, "We just happened to be walking in the same place." She saw black ducks with white bills. "Coots! Cute American Coots! Did they go like this?" I motion the head motion of the coots and she smiles. She also saw the gators. After a while the concrete driveway becomes a one way. I decide to be onery. Since I'm walking I will go the wrong way. I decide to open the can of water when I am half way done. I see great egrets, snowy egrets. I hear a splash. Was that a beaver or a fish? I am  not sure. I see something in the water leave the shore with a splash. Was that a gator? Sure enough, a three foot long gator is peering at me from the water. In total I saw 6 gators today and they were all about the same size. I saw probably 200 cute American coots. I saw rafts of Mexican ducks and murmurations of Brewer's blackbirds plus lots of red winged blackbirds. I see turkey vultures and Black vultures. I hear killdeer calling. I saw 6 Northern Harriers fly over the marsh. I see white ibis eating dinner with her two children which makes the dark immature ibis (ibis'?) easy to identify. I haven't had dinner with Offspring #1 since June. I see osprey flying by. I am really hoping for more roseate spoonbill or a crested caracara. I try to focus on walking instead of using the binoculars or my phone so I can get a good workout. I think I did pretty well but it is also true that I took a boat load of pictures. I hear blue winged teal talking. I think I see a black-bellied whistling ducks. I turn the corner and now it is easier to walk because the sun is on my back and the wind won't blow my new hat up over my head. Lots of people are driving by slowly and some have large camera lenses. One young guy goes by. I say, "Look! A gator." He laughs. I stop one guy with a large lens and ask if that was a Northern Harrier. He says he saw two of them. I tell him that ahead he will find 40 roseate spoonbills. He smiles at that. Guess who had her finger of the lens when she took 40 pictures of 40 roseate spoonbills? I think I saw a lesser black-backed gull. I hear Inca doves and common ground doves. I can see my car when in front of my feet a little mouse or shrew runs in front of my feet. I decide to stop at the Visitor Center and ask about the mouse. I meet Norman Welch, a former peace officer and now a volunteer at the refuge. I ask my question and he doesn't know about that but he knows a lot. You think I am talkative? You ought to listen to this guy. I could hardly get out of there. This morning he and his wife saw two feral pigs. They went into the reeds and grunted and squealed for a few minutes and then came out again. He calls it making bacon. The refuge has a website. He says a trail cam caught the pigs making bacon. He thinks the manager might put it up on Facebook on Valentine's Day. He gives me dozens of places to see certain birds. I ask if whooping cranes are here. He says no but they are in Winnie. I just came from there! I don't have time to go back now. He sees bobcats here frequently. In Texas it is allowed to shoot feral pigs from helicopters. Of course it is, Texas has the most liberal gun rights of any other state. He says they shot 3 thousand pigs this year in areas where tourists can't go. They just leave the pigs there for the coyotes to eat and it doesn't even make a dent in the population. I should have asked why they still do it. Once on a trail cam he caught a bobcat at night encounter a coyote. The bobcat takes a swipe at the coyote. Then another coyote comes. He could hear the bobcat screaming from up in a tree. Then the coyote looks back and notices the trail cam. Like any criminal, the coyote wants to get rid of any digital evidence. The coyote tries to rip the trail cam off. The coyote is embarrassed and wants to get rid of the evidence. He tells me if I go down this road and look to the left where the solar panel is, I will see a caracara nest. The day before yesterday the rancher accidentally knocked the nest off the solar panel and already it's back. And if I go farther down the road I will see a cement platform about 2 feet long. Under that platform lives  a burrowing owl. I really don't have time for this but I finally get away and go down that road. By golly he is right. I do see the caracara nest. Cool beans. I go forward. Mosquitoes keep getting in my car through the open sun roof. I see the cement but no owl. I see people fishing. Dang, here is the end of the road. I turn back. On my way back the caracara is sitting high and proud on the solar panel. This is a lifer for me. I proceed trying to go the speed limit so I can get home by 5:30. I come around the corner. Wait, what is that? What to my wondering eyes should appear? I will literally sh$t myself if this is what I think it is. It is! I take picture after picture as my car slowly inches forward. Staring at me in my yellow car with a huge smile plastered on my face is Bobby the bobcat! WOW! Wow! WOW! Oh, wow. Eventually Bobby slinks off into the tall rushes. I  have got to get home but after what I just saw I really do need to use the bathroom before I go. Afterwards I pop open my can of sparkling water and head to San Leon. Google decides to take me 45 miles out of my way so I don't get home until 6:45 and by now I am hungry. I plan to stop at a Dollar Store for some fruit but I don't see one. One benefit of being late is that from the tall bridge in Houston I see a spectacular sunset over the bay with purples and peaches and rose and yellow and blues and greens. Wow, that was beautiful. Now I am  home. Pictures tomorrow. I need to get an oil change. Maybe they will have Wi-Fi.