in the Houston Chronicle
March 8, 2010 (Monday)
The Sandhill Cranes have returned to the fields on FM 1069 west of Rockport, after an absence from those fields for a few years. The birds make quite an interesting sight from the highway, because there are so many of them, and they are such big birds. The Sandhills and the Whooping Cranes are about the same size, five feet tall, but because of their coloration differences, don’t seem to look alike to the casual observer. Actually, except for the color, they are almost the same. I was surprised Saturday as I drove north from Rockport, to see several Whoopers feeding in a field near Highway 35. It’s a sight I had never seen before, because the birds usually stay in their territory on the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. Each family of three requires one square mile, which they claim and defend upon arrival for the winter visit. But there they were, feeding together. Maybe it was one family. Probably was.
The Houston Chronicle carried an article in the March 7 edition about the Rockport area. The writer referred to Rockport as a “hamlet,” and had lots of good things to say about it. The word means a small village, and I won’t argue about that, but after entering the Rockport-Fulton-Lamar/Holiday Beach area, you are in it for 12 miles before emerging from it on the other side. I’m not sure “hamlet” is the exact description. Now, Bayside, west of Rockport across Copano Bay, could be described accurately with that word. It’s a lovely little town, in the vicinity of old Saint Mary’s, a port town long since destroyed by storms and abandoned, but important in its day as the county seat for a while. Nestled at Mission Bay, it was the gateway from the sea to Refugio, a product of Spanish explorations in the eighteenth century.
Houston is not without its colorful history and interesting past, and I’ve written about some of that in past blogs. In the future I’ll probably write more about all these and other areas where I have lived in Texas. There’s a lot to say.