We spent Saturday down by the water. It was a beautiful, mild day and since we had the whole day free, we planned a visit to the Audubon sanctuaries at High Island.
We headed out in the late morning, arriving in High Island just in time to grab a barbeque lunch at the St. Matthew United Methodist Church. It was delicious and exactly what we needed!
Our first stop was at the Boy Scout Woods Sanctuary, where we checked in, paid our entrance fees and got maps and recommendations of where to go.
We hiked all around the woods, and saw warblers and other small birds, as well as this snapping turtle!
It was a gorgeous day to be outside!
The boys found blackberries and the wildflowers were blooming everywhere.
Indian blanket
Our next stop was the Smith Oaks sanctuary, where the volunteers promised many large birds and zero possibility of boredom. And boy, were they right! There were hundreds of birds at the rookery, a communal nesting ground for water birds. You can hear the birds before you see them, and it is an incredible sight, one that this photo does not do justice.
We are new to birding and don't know much, but fortunately, we were surrounded by many folks who were more thank happy to tell us exactly what we were looking at and point out interesting details that we might have otherwise overlooked. At the rookery, we primarily saw great egrets, snowy egrets, roseate spoonbills and cormorants.
Snowy egrets have black beaks with black legs and yellow feet.
Great egrets are larger and have yellow beaks with black legs and black feet and are incredibly elegant.
The roseate spoonbills add a beautiful pop of color.
All these birds were hunted nearly to extinction in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as their beautiful feathers were popular decorations for women's hats.
The only sad part was watching an alligator catch a great egret while we were there.
There are over 100 nests at the rookery with more being built. There are many babies and it was absolutely incredible to see.
People literally come from all over the world to visit High Island and it is practically in our backyard. What an incredible place.
We saw several blue grosbeaks on our path.
Baby alligator
After thoroughly enjoying our time at High Island, we drove along the Bolivar Peninsula, stopping at Fort Davis Seashore Park, which was constructed in the late nineteenth century as part of a seacoast fortification program.
Point Bolivar Lighthouse is at the end of the Bolivar Peninsula.
After a bit of a wait, we boarded the Bolivar Ferry and rode across to Galveston. The ferry was great fun for all of us!
The boys' sole request for the day was to go to the beach, so as soon as we arrived in Galveston, we headed to the family-friendly Stewart Beach. We couldn't help noticing this Kemp's ridley sign.
It was very windy, cloudy and not too warm, so we only spent about an hour at the beach, but that was enough for the boys to splash and build in the sand and get their beach fix in.
We ended the day with dinner at Fisherman's Wharf, our usual spot. We watched as the Elissa returned from an outing!
And it wouldn't be a trip to Galveston without a stop at La King's. Our bellies were too full for ice cream, so we settled on small bags of taffy to enjoy at home.
Even though I feel like we're out exploring a lot, there's always more to discover, and much of it is so close to this huge city we call home. What a spectacular adventure.
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