Port Aransas – Life Intrigued

Fish Guzzling

We are winding down here at Intrigued as the last of the 2025 events are slowly coming to a close. Yesterday I finished up the last of the crown work which ended up being far more painful than expected thanks to the temporary cap somehow welding to my tooth – have I mentioned before how much I absolutely abhor dental work – just point to a dental drill bit and I’ll give up my mother in an interrogation. Fingers crossed later today I get released by the ankle surgeon, so I can fully enjoy tonight’s Intrigued staff gathering – trust me, you want to be fully healthy before attending one of those parties – the weak are culled ha. That just leaves Linda’s family Christmas gathering and then ours before the trek to warmer weather. Hopefully we will be able to make a few more posts before we stop the presses and turn the lights out on this injury riddled year.

Before I get into the real reason you are here, thought I would pat ourselves on the back and note that last post from Brad marked our 1,000th post here on our wildlife sister site (the Intrigued mothership is currently at 1,533 – even a few of those were lost as we transitioned to the WP service from our own servers). A big thanks to all the staff that got us to this point!

Okay, since we are winding “down”, decided it would be appropriate to go with another “down” of sorts…this one being down the hatch.

Double-Crested Cormorant swallowing fish found at Port Aransas South Jetty, TX in March 2024

I think you already know where this is going, but hit the jump to confirm!

The Art of Concealment

By the time you are reading this we should be well on our way to the Canine Performance Event (CPE) Nationals. Raven hopes to carry over his stellar performance in the agility ring this weekend to the be big stage competing with other dogs from all over the US and some international participants – although we just learned that our government has significantly tightened the requirements to bring a canine into the country that is not going over very well at all. Ruger gets the week off as he needs a bit more time (and more titles) before he can compete at this level. To his credit, the puppy brain is starting to click with Linda and they had a very good showing this last weekend as well – finally getting the zoomies under control ha. Although I hope to catch some easy mid-range miles during the week, this will technically be my last rest before entering the final phase of training for the July Cry Me a River 50K. Linda will pull my man-card if I go down in this race again (link here), so long trail miles, hill strengthening, heat conditioning, hydration/energy validation and certainly two-a-days will be in order from that point until the week leading up to the race. If you recall, I shattered my elbow training the week before this race last year (link here).

In honor of that evil tree’s ability to deceptively hide its lethal roots, decided to go with another creature that is equally deft at concealment – thankfully less dangerous to our bone structure!

Wilson's Snipe found at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, Port Aransas, TX in January 2023

You might have to squint a bit and maybe cover some of the distracting reeds, but trust me, it is there. I’ll try to bring our featured feathered friend more out in the open after the jump.

Not a Bird nor a Snake

Before anything else, I want to bring out the brags for Linda and Raven. We recently returned from Kalamazoo, Michigan after attending the UKC Agility National Invitation. The top 50 UKC ranked dogs in the nation per division were invited to compete against each other in the All-Stars event. Our little guy got it done bringing home the “bigger than me” (Raven’s words) first place ribbon! Congratulations to him and Linda (can I take credit for being the Team Raven Sherpa!?!).

Even Ruger got into the action. He pulled the “but I’m cute” on his agility runs, but we definitely found his star event, the Dash. A few years ago at this event we tried out this 50ft sprint competition and he ran like a bat out of hell, but more focused on getting to Mommy at the end of the course than he was the “rabbit” that was supposed to lead him. Two years later and his brain has now clicked putting full concentration on the rabbit – even chased it all the way back on his own. This now sets him up for the lure coursing events which use a similar lead around a far more complex course.

In addition to all this excitement I was also able to take a huge chunk out of my blog backlog that has been absolutely gnawing at me. Big thanks to Brad for holding down the HQ while we’ve been gone. The Average Year 2023 is not completely up to date after putting in 50+ daily recaps (link here) and I’m all prepped for 3 massive posts for the Mothership that should be ready to go by the end of the week. While the bows are being placed on those, wanted to give you something to entertain you in the meantime. Brad has had the bird front covered, so going with another Not a Bird from the queue.

Hit the jump to reveal the featured creature!

Salt Life Pipers

Just a quick note before we get started. I intentionally let my birthday pass without fanfare last month, but I was planning to make special note of an accomplishment that did occur – As my Dad would quip, must not have been that important or you wouldn’t have forgotten ha. As a quick self-pat on the back, January was the start of my 16th year blogging here at Intrigued. 15 years of observations, wildlife encounters, ramblings and whatnot. Been a blast so far and all the credit goes to you, my wonderful readers, and our staff that keep this little project going. Hippity Hip Hooray! Now staff, let’s get back to work.

Apparently my home state decided to welcome me back with a bit of a warm spell. Admittedly, it was a bit brutal the first week, but mid 40’s for most of this week (possibly in 50’s Sunday), in the Midwest, in early February…I’ll take it. Best of all I’ve been able to train outside and catch back up from the annual lazy January. A bit shocked I’m already up to 9 mile outings, but there’s a long runway to this year’s goals. Already signed up for a midyear 50K which already has the distinction of sending my sorry ass to the hospital (link here and here) and as you probably expected, another attempt at the 100K in the fall (link here). What can I say, I don’t deal very well with failure. There will probably be a few races scattered in here and there, but the training will be designed around these larger events. Today’s featured feathered friend is also fond of running albeit more of a sprinter specialist (you can view larger versions by hitting the image links).

Sanderling found at Port Aransas Beach Jetty in January 2022

Last post I brought you a ubiquitous resident of Texas (and many of the other southwestern states). A full bodied, dark feathered bird with quite a sassy mouth. Similar to the Great-Tailed Grackle, the Sanderling can be found in Texas. You will not find them at inland Walmarts as these cute birds all have Salt Life plastered on the back of their Jeeps. Tops off, Maui Jims on, cooler in the back, sandal to pedal with the wind whipping through their white/grey toned nonbreeding plumage.

Hit the jump to see a few shots I took of them driving their Jeeps on the beach.

The Wet Realm

It has been a whirlwind of birding since the start of the new year. When it comes to our Average Year efforts (link here), the most exhilarating birding is at the the start – when the counter resets to zero, everything you see with wings means a +1 for the year. Yeah, a Northern Cardinal – check – wow a Carolina Chickadee – check – is that a Grackle, why yes it is – check – IS THAT REALLY A Robin, color me thrilled – check, check, check and on and on. Ron was able to meet us down her for a week to get his year started off on the right foot as well. To be honest, if you miss the border birds, you are probably in a deep hole with tall slick sides. I am still trying to get caught up, but as of January 7th Ron is at 87 and my counter sits at 108. For those keeping track that is over 1/3rd of last year’s total. Ron had to get back home today (of all days, one where the FAA grounded all flights). We have several weeks before we start heading home which will allow me to pad my lead… oops, I mean turn my attention to other creatures…

Blowfish seen at Roberts Point in Port Aransas, TX, January 2022

Hit the jump to see a few more shots from the Gulf waters.

Happy Being Bitterned

It has been awhile, but finally back at it. I took some time off to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and to get rested up for the big push to the end of the year. Purely based on the 1100+ emails sitting in my inbox from WordPress I was the only one that has been slacking – will attempt to catch up although at some point the hole becomes insurmountable. To my credit, I have been busy away from the keyboard – got all the exterior Christmas decorations/lighting done (not at the Halloween level, but still significant), finished the interior decorating along with the big ass Xmas tree (just under 14 feet) and addressed the annual leaf horde. That latter one is probably more exhausting than my last two ultras put together. There are times when living in a forest has its down point. One being when the moles mount their counteroffensive to take back the relatively small part I cleared for a yard. It is fierce, nerve-racking, messy and bloody. Those bastards are getting smarter on every attack – next time I am fully expecting archers with flaming arrows and oil filled catapults to be rolled up to the forest edge (a mole army led by Merlin himself). Woods living also gets interesting when winds crest over 30mph, but it is the fall effect that could make one bitter. 2 full days of raking and burning in November to get the early drops taken care of and now another 3 full days/nights dealing with the final dumping – Consider me eternally grateful for Prometheus’ gift to humanity.

The good news is, no matter how tiring it might be, being outdoors will never make me bitter. Come to think of it, few things in the birding world get me more excited than being outdoors and discovering a Bittern in the wild.

American Bittern found at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, TX in January 2021

How’s that for a contrived lead in to today’s featured feathered friend? Per my comments in the November posts I am desperately trying to get my unique species birding life list to 300 by the end of this year. Although the left sidebar running count isn’t updated yet, that number stands at 295 giving me.. one sec, subtract that..carry the one, multiply by the inverse, find the limits, solve quadratic…x=5 – yes, that gives me 5 species to go and a little less than a month to get that accomplished. If you read my Blue-Winged Warbler post (link here), then you already know that today’s American Bittern feature brings that gap down to 4.

Hi the jump to read more about the guzzling drunk.

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