A flower and another bird

A morning glory blooming right in the boardwalk.

And here's a fuzzy picture of a medium-sized brown shorebird I hadn't seen before. I'm going to have to dig out a bird guide soon....

Gulf Glory

It was a dark and stormy noon, so here's another picture of a boat. This one docks regularly here (as does another one called MS Joy that looks just like it). My wild, uneducated guess is that it services some of the local gas rigs.

Natural gas rigs

This is some of the many natural gas rigs out in Mobile Bay and the northern Gulf of Mexico. They have softly blinking lights at night, and some of them also softly whistle.

And since the ones pictured above are the closest to the boardwalk, here's an educational sign about them.

Spartina or Juncus?

According to this educational sign on the boardwalk, there should be lots of Juncus romerianus, with Spartina around the edges.

Here's what the view looks like right in front of the sign.

And here's a shot with some actual Juncus in it. :)

New educational sign for the boardwalk!

So yesterday as I was walking back to work, two guys in a truck went past me the other way with this sign. Looks like they've installed it.

And here's the weather station that the sign talks about, at the end of the narrow pier. It's one of several around Mobile Bay.

A heron and some more peas

A great blue heron was standing around at the line of rocks today.

I also found another of those pea plants. This one was only about a foot tall. Its pods are more spherical with one pea instead of two.

A Snowy Egret

Shorebirds like to hang out on this line of rocks. I regularly see gulls, terns, brown pelicans, egrets, the occasional great blue heron, and smaller beach birds.

For the past week, there's always at least one snowy egret.

Some ducks and a boat

I see a lot of different kinds of shorebirds out here, but this is the first time I've seen mallards. I'd always figured they were freshwater only birds but I guess there's no reason they have to be.

Also, that cooler is still there.

Also also, here's a random boat going by. I think it's a cargo barge.

More peas and a cooler

So here's a fuzzy closeup of the flowers of last Friday's peas. Some of the pods are starting to fall off the plant and scatter around the boardwalk now, but I guess it keeps on making more.

(It looks like I'll have to dig up a better camera than my phone soon.)

In other news, someone lost a cooler. There are fishermen who keep various traps under the boardwalk near where it's floating, so I'd guess it'll have a new owner shortly.

Some peas and a seagull

 The way to the end of the pier is getting a bit overgrown with these "peas." I'm not sure what kind of plant it really is, but it must be able to tolerate salt marsh conditions pretty well. The pods look a bit like snow peas.

This juvenile seagull (probably a laughing gull) let me get almost right up next to it. Gulls in general are more fearless than other birds that hang out here.