Day 4, Farley Boat planter, Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Centre

"In 1910, Barney and Marie Farley arrived on Mustang Island with their two sons, Ray and Barney Jr. In 1915, Barney’s brother, Charles Frederick (C.F.) Farley, arrived in Port Aransas to build boats. C. F. Farley designed and built the first Farley boat at the business he created, “Fred Farley and Sons, Boat Builders.” Established in 1915, Farley boats made by the firm were the boats of their day. In 1937, Barney Farley and his nephew Don took President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his son Elliott tarpon fishing in a Farley boat.

The Port Aransas Garden Club created the Farley boat planters to beautify Port Aransas adding color and plants to honor an important part of our history. The planters are an artistic reproduction of the original Farley boat and a reminder of historic fishing and boat building in the early 1900’s in Port Aransas, Texas."

portaransasgardenclub.org/farley-boat-planters/

This evening, I have flooded my photostream, (yet again) with another 22 images taken on 22 March, Day 4 of our 13-day trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019. I don't seem to have all that many photos from that day - thought I took a lot more than I did at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Centre, at the Port Aransas Nature Reserve, South Texas.

Day 4, 22 March 2019, was a day of birding and also driving from Rockport, where we had stayed for three nights, to Kingsville. Most of these 22 photos were taken at the Port Aransas Nature Preserve. When we arrived at that location, we discovered that only a small area near the beach was open to the public, as other parts had been closed because of damage from Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We had a short walk there, enjoying seeing a tiny - and fast! - Sedge Wren. We also all took photos of a white caterpillar, only to discover when we got back to Calgary, that in fact it was not a caterpillar after all, but two white moths mating : )

Shortly after leaving that area, we stopped to take a quick shot or two of a Loggerhead Shrike, perched high up on a wire. I have seen a Loggerhead Shrike before, here in Alberta, but I had never seen one this close.

After we left this area, we stopped at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, on the edge of the Port Aransas Nature Reserve. We really enjoyed this birding centre and their new boardwalk and tower. Lots of birds; even a huge Alligator.