One of the trip highlights for me was this encounter with a Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris) at James H. Robbins Memorial Park, Smith Point. The park is quite small and isn’t much to look at, but with a Seaside Sparrow singing on a fence and a Clapper Rail running around in front of us, I was happy.

Skinny as a rail? Rails actually do have laterally compressed bodies.

We also had a very cooperative Sora (Porzana carolina) in Galveston County.

Bolivar Flats was good, though not completely spectacular. We saw had a chance to study and compare all four small plovers: Wilson’s, Piping, Snowy, and Semipalmated. I think Fjord was a bit overwhelmed. I was also paying close attention to the calls of terns, trying to learn them all.

I imagine this Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) looks rather haughty.

A beautiful Spiranthes orchid (lady’s tresses or ladies’-tresses) grew in the marsh at Bolivar Flats. I have little hope of identifying it to species.

Willets (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus/Tringa semipalmata) like posts.