Elementary School was A Long Time Ago

Long-billed Curlew captured by Z 9 / Z600f4 TC @840mm

Bolivar Flats simply does not disappoint! This is our second year to hit the sands of this legendary birding area and while a shadow of its once grand self, we still photographed fourteen species in just two hours, 8199 captures before the tide chased birds and photographers off the tide line. Two species of delight were the Whimbrel and Long-billed Curlew. Both Arctic nestors, the Texas Coast is their first land fall after the cross the gulf. The Long-billed Curlew was a special treat, a bird that kinda started it all for me!

Long-billed Curlew captured by Z 9 / Z600f4 TC @840mm

I had just started third grade when I took a sincere interest in birds. I rode my bike to school each day. I went across the baseball / football fields to get to where I would park my bike. These fields were covered in fall with hundreds and hundreds of shorebirds. Riding my bike through them and seeing them part in harmony just grabbed my imagination. Especially the bird with the long “nose.” It was the Long-billed Curlew and I was incredibly fortunate that my third grade teacher Mrs Rayban was a birder and seeing my interest (and knowing how “distracted” I could be in my back corner seat) encouraged me to get into birds. Laying on the sand yesterday morning, those memories came rushing back. Elementary school was a long time ago.