July weather in southeast Texas tends to be pretty stifling so when we get one of our rare “cold” fronts there is pretty strong motivation to take advantage of the pleasant conditions. I woke up to some cool, dry air and started getting the itch to head outside. I had some important things to do but made sure to complete my tasks quickly so I could do an afternoon outing. If that wasn’t enough, I read some reports of a Brown Booby and a Baird’s Sandpiper at the Texas City Dike. As soon as I could it was off to the dike. Upon arrival I found families and fishermen everywhere. I’m sure they contributed to my inability to locate any of my birds of interest. Undaunted, I made a run to East Beach in nearby Galveston but once again I was met with big crowds enjoying the beach. The few birds still on the beach were on high alert and the best I could come up with was this pair or American Avocets (yea I know, life’s so tough). They hung around for a few minutes but were sent on their way by some fishermen heading out to the jetty. Though I wasn’t terribly satisfied with the photographic results from the afternoon I have to admit that the beautiful purple sunset at East Beach was amazing, making the trip a success.

www.texastargetbirds.com

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Recurvirostra americana