Greetings from Port Aransas, Texas! We have been here for about a week, capturing pelicans at Shamrock Island in Corpus Christi Bay. Corpus Christi is the country's 8th-largest port, and from the window of our house at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute we can watch ships pass through the channel and make their way toward the city or out to sea.
| On our first visit to Shamrock Island, we were accompanied by Mark Dumesnil of Texas Nature Conservancy and Beau Hardegree of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. We showed them our capture technique, and they gave us a quick tour of the main pelican nesting area. Luckily, Shamrock's pelicans nest away from the other wading birds on the island, which number 20,000 in total and include some unusual species like Sooty Terns and Reddish Egrets. Beau and Mark showed us where we could trap pelicans without disturbing the rest of the colony. | |
| Unlike the pelicans in Louisiana, the birds of Shamrock Island nest mainly on the ground, and capturing has been pretty smooth so far aside from some unexpected rain on Sunday. Yesterday was a particularly beautiful day to be out on the island. | |
| We've also been conducting behavioral observations of recently-tagged birds. While a few spend hours preening, they seem to settle into a normal routine pretty quickly. Observations give us a rare chance to focus our full attention on the rhythms of a pelican colony-- feeding, napping, rearranging the nest sticks, fighting, napping again. | |
| Port Aransas is an odd, fun little town, full of souvenir shops and honky-tonk karaoke and giant plaster sculptures of marine life. Walking out on a jetty the other day, we were surrounded by pods of dolphins, green sea turtles, black terns, and pelicans, all foraging in the bright-blue water. | |
We'll be sad to leave Port Aransas tomorrow, but we won't be going far-- just up the coast to Port O'Connor. Stay tuned!
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