When we came to the Rockport area, we had no idea that we were entering one of the best bird-watching areas in the United States. Many different species live here year-around (great blue herons), migrate through here (hummingbirds) or make it their winter home (whooping cranes). In the area where I took this this picture, e-bird reports that 100 different species of birds have been sighted IN THE LAST 7 DAYS! There may have been more long telephoto lenses here at the park than at the Super Bowl. Pictured here are short-billed dowitchers, a couple common gallinules, an American coot and blue-winged teals. Maybe. So hard to tell.

This photograph was taken last Saturday morning at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, Texas. (Nikon Z5, 1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100, 400mm, cropped)

One of my favorite activities is drinking coffee in a coffee shop. Pure coffee. No sugar, no cream, no hazelnut, no chocolate syrup. Preferably in a real mug. Preferably with friends. Fortunately, the Rockport area has several good choices. My favorite on nice days is sitting outside at Duck Blind Coffee adjacent to Fulton Harbor. According to my reward cards (buy 9, get 1 free!), I have been there sixteen times. So far. We will be here for another two weeks… until next winter… ❤️☕️

This photograph was taken Monday morning at dawn in Fulton, Texas. I had a cup of coffee just after I shot this. (Nikon Z5, 1/80 sec at f/4.5, ISO 100, 45mm)

Wall Art made from this photograph is available for purchase on benmessickphotography.com.

Wendy and I decided that we were going to get up early yesterday and take pictures of the sunrise. I think the hardest part was figuring out what time to get up. My photo app gives me the following information: 5:51 a.m. Astronomical Twilight, 6:18 a.m. Nautical Twilight, 6:46 a.m. Blue Hour, 6:56 a.m. Golden Hour, 7:11 a.m. Sunrise. I don’t get up early often enough to know when is the best light for sunrise pictures. We decided to get up at 6:10a and drive about 15 minutes to shoreline north of us. We arrived just in time. We only had about 5 minutes of extraordinary color. After those magical minutes, I didn’t even take anymore pictures because the world seemed so pale. Maybe I should get up earlier more often. This photo was taken at 6:44 a.m.

This photograph was taken before dawn near Lamar, Texas (Just north of Rockport). The settings were not at all what I would have picked for the conditions. This was the first shot of the morning and I hadn’t changed anything from the last shoot. I changed the settings after this photo. Ironically though, this was Wendy’s favorite from the morning. She said the photos taken after this were not as "whimsical." It’s all about the light.‍ (Nikon Z5, 1/800 sec at f/2.8, ISO 6400, 68mm)

Wall Art made from this photograph is available for purchase on benmessickphotography.com

We arrived in Rockport on November 27 and had no idea what to expect. We were just targeting somewhere south of I-10 in Texas. The Rockport area seemed to have a plethora of campgrounds and randomly picked one with a good reviews that we could book online. WHAT A GREAT DECISION! Rockport has been an incredible place to spend the winter. We have been overwhelmed by the kindness of the people here (Thank you Hope Church Rockport!) and the natural beauty that surrounds us. Another surprise we found was the number of foggy mornings. Thick, pea soup foggy. It has gotten much better this month, but we still have seen way more fog than back in Indiana.

This photograph was taken shortly after we arrived on the very foggy morning of November 29, 2022 at the Cove Harbor Bird Sanctuary near Rockport, Texas. (Nikon Z5, 1/13 sec at f/2.8, ISO 100, 28mm)

Wall Art made from this photograph is available for purchase on benmessickphotography.com.

The Rockport area has many American White Pelicans and Brown Pelicans. We see the White Pelicans much more often. One of the most memorable bird moments in Fort Wayne was when we saw chatter on FaceBook that there were White Pelicans at Eagle Marsh. We drove over and saw them ourselves. Lots of them. Even the WANE news did an article on them. Apparently, they numbers have increased significantly in recent years and can be seen migrating in more and more areas.

This photograph was taken yesterday of the sunrise on Aransas Bay as seen from the southern end of the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Bridge near Fulton, TX. (Nikon Z5, 1/8000 sec at f/13, ISO 100, 400mm)

Wall Art made from this photograph is available for purchase on benmessickphotography.com.

Moonrise Over Rockport

Welcome to a new series of posts where I share a photo of mine and some thoughts on it. I turned on commenting for the first time, so if you have a question, please ask!

I am currently living as a "Winter Texan" in the Costal Bend of Texas. We will be here until the first of March when we start the slow journey to Montana. Coastal Texas is a beautiful place teeming with wildlife and and I want to start this collection with a set of photographs showing the local beauty.

This picture is a composition of two photographs taken in the Ivy Lane Bird and Nature Site in Rockport, TX on February 3. In one picture the moon was in focus, and in the other, the trees were in focus.

Wall Art made from this photograph is available for purchase on benmessickphotography.com.