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July Edition
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NOTES FROM THE COAST
BP Bolivar Flats Clean-up — July 6, 2007 The storms started at 5:00 AM. I called my BP contact at 7:00 AM to tell her the weather was questionable and to consider canceling. She said they couldn’t get the bus money back so they would try to come, thinking it would stop raining. It rained, poured, thundered and lightninged. I headed for High Island to pick up cart, bags and gloves. Many subdivision roads were flooded. Sometimes I drove in the center lane because of high water. Laughing Gulls waded in large mowed yards, picking up floating invertebrates. It rained, poured, thundered and lightninged. By Mundy Marsh, 7 miles from High Island, the BIG pickup truck in front of me turned around because of high water. I turned around too. It rained, poured, thundered and lightninged. At 8:15 AM I called Houston Sliger who was in High Island, and he had had 3.75 inches of rain since 6:00 AM. This was on top of the 16 inches that have fallen since the "rains" began At 8:30 AM I called my BP contact and told her to turn the bus around. I eventually got back to the beach house. My rain gauge here said it had rained 4 inches since 5:00 AM, but so much came sideways with 30 mph winds that I think an inch or two missed the gauge. The frogs and toads were singing in the interdunal swales but I couldn’t see the gulf. The beach house is a great place to be stuck in a storm when it is raining, pouring, thundering and lightning. The rain gauge hit 5 inches at 10:20 AM — I dumped it. 
The rain stopped at 11:00 AM; we had had 6 inches of rain in 5 hours. When the rain stopped, I went to see what the birds were doing. I found Rettilon Road flooded with Snowy Egrets standing in the road trying to catch the fish that crossed the road. Laughing Gulls filled the flooded fields, probably eating the insects, etc., which had been flooded out of the grass. One yard was full of Marbled Godwits probing the lawn. Mottled Duck and Clapper Rail families were preening on the sides of the road. Ditches were full of herons and egrets. There were a few ibis in the fields but not as many as I expected. Toads were calling everywhere; there are an amazing number of amphibians on the coast.
On Saturday, July 7, most of the water had drained away. I went to High Island; I couldn't get there yesterday as there was 2 ft of water on the road. They have had 18+ inches of rain on High Island this week. Sanctuary ponds are up, and there are still birds on nests in the Rookery. Don Verser found a Black-and-white Warbler and a Red-eyed Vireo in Boy Scout Woods, and a Prothonotary Warbler was seen yesterday. It is getting to be a jungle on the coast. We still have a lot to clean-up at Bolivar Flats. - Winnie Burkett, Sanctuaries Manager |
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