Texas Trip : December 11-20, 2019
Part 3 - Brownsville and Houston
December 16: Brownsville
In the Brownsville area, I drove out to Boca Chica Beach past the SpaceX facilities, then the highway to Bahia Grande and Port Isabel.
Crested Caracara
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Killdeer
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Boca Chica Beach
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Royal Tern
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Starhopper
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Starship Mk 3
Osprey with fish
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Whimbrel
Harris's Hawk
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Northern Mockingbird
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Northern Harrier
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Meadowlark
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Red-tailed Hawk (?)
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Black Skimmer, gulls, and terns
Ruddy Turnstone
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Black-necked Stilt
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Snowy Egret
American Oystercatcher
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Brown Pelican
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Osprey with fish and fishing line
Harris's Hawk
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Kingbird
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South Padre Island
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December 17: Laguna Atascosa NWR
Northern Harrier with a hunk of bark
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Northern Mockingbird
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Great Kiskadee
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Jailbirds
Green Jay
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Hispid Cotton Rat
White-tipped Dove
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Brown Thrasher
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Redhead (?)
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Brown Thrasher
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American Kestrel
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Hawk
December 17: Brownsville to Houston
The flight to Houston was a chance to check out the SpaceX facilities, Whooping Cranes, and some of my prior days' stops from the air.
SpaceX facilities at Boca Chica
Starship assembly area
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Starhopper launch site
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South Padre Island
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Padre Island National Seashore Visitor Center
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Port Aransas Ferry
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San Jose Island Airport
Dunham Bay and Intracoastal Waterway
Whooping Cranes
Probably white pelicans
Probably cranes
Probably brown pelicans
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Aransas NWR observation deck
Heron Flats trail
Aransas NWR Visitor Center
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Point Comfort
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December 18: Johnson Space Center
So much history here...
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JSC hosts The Longhorn Project
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Flowers from "Cindy"
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Mission Director console
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Shuttle Aft Flight Deck Simulator
Space Vehicle Mockup Facility
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The maiden voyage of the Starliner was just a couple days after my visit.
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Flight deck on Independence
Orbiter Access Arm from KSC Pad 39-B
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Flight Director console
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December 19: Houston
A visit to Armand Bayou Nature Center and the Challenger Seven Memorial Park.
On the flight out, I made a landing at Ellington and got to see NASA 908 take off.
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Northern Cardinal
Little Blue Heron
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Great Egret
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White Ibis
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Johnson Space Center
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NASA T-38
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Silver Wings Airport, home of Fletchair Fleet Maintenance