Day 3, oil rig

HAPPY EASTER, everyone! It seems an appropriate time to think of all those (around the world) who have been affected by the enormous damage that Notre Dame, Paris, has recently gone through. I can't remember if I have seen this stunning Cathedral twice or three times, many, many years ago. I was reading on the Weather Network this evening that three beehives had been installed in Notre Dame during 2013 as part of a city-wide initiative to boost dwindling bee numbers in the city. Nearly 200,000 bees have been found alive below Notre Dame's main roofing.

This afternoon, I posted 15 more odds and ends from Day 3 our trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019. About another 15, and I will have finished Day 3, and can finally move on to Day 4. I should have more colourful images from that day, I think! Or, I might just post a few local photos that I have taken recently, mainly so that I don't forget to post them. After leaving this beach, someone happened to notice either herons or cranes on the top of a beautiful stand of trees. We decided to check it out and as we rounded a corner of the road, we couldn't believe our eyes! We had come across another rookery, this one in Rockport. There were quite a few Great Blue Herons, Egrets, and at least one Black-crowned Night Heron. I will be posting a dreadful photo of the latter, just for the record. The only reason I spotted it was because of the bright red eye. People are not allowed to approach the rookery, of course. I will be adding a few photos taken at the rookery when I have edited them.

I was reading that, after Hurricane Harvey, people did an amazing job of clearing out all the debris of broken branches under and around these trees - and then realized that they had removed all the branches that the birds would be needing to rebuild their nests. Needless to say, that was put right by adding piles of broken branches nearby.

In the afternoon of Day 3 of our 13-day trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019, we saw this row of three oil rigs on our way to Rockport and before seeing the surprise rookery.. These rigs brought back memories from many, many years ago, when I was lucky enough to have a helicopter ride out to an off-shore drilling rig. We also saw these rigs next morning, Day 4, from the Port Aransas Causeway, shortly before getting the ferry across to Port Aransas. Unfortunately, only a small portion of the park was open, the rest closed from the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. However, we enjoyed seeing a tiny Sedge Wren and a few other things while we went on a short walk there.