[OM] Re: [OT] Alligators, birds

[Malcolm Clay]

>Original Message: <snip> ... Have you done any birding around Matagorda? 

Until recently, I lived in that neck of the woods and it certainly is a very 
rich area for birding. You have to have a boat or ride the state ferry over to 
the island. Texas Parks and Wildlife has a web page for the island: 
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/matagisl/matagisl.htm 

My recommendations: 
1. Take bug spray. 
2. Take water (unless they have added water, there isn't any on the island) 
3. Know what Texas summers are like if you haven't experienced them before. 
(Down here it is the heat AND the humidity that will kill you.)

Another very popular birding area close-by is Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. 
US Fish & Wildlife site: http://southwest.fws.gov/refuges/texas/aransas.html 
includes a link to the official birding list of the refuge: 
http://159.189.96.215/resource/othrdata/chekbird/r2/aransas.htm which lists the 
392 species which have been seen there.

I also have a little group of pages that act as a short simplistic virtual tour 
of the refuge. (All the photos were shot with my trusty OM1 or OM3Ti) it is at 
http://www.zuiko.org I put the site up as an ending project for an html class I 
took. Need to rescan some of the photos and toss others, but it's all I have 
for now.