scott___3

The stretch of 87 between Galveston and Port Aurtherhas been gone for

some 10 years now (though they've committed to rebuilding sometime

soon). Honestly, the place for birding in that area is High Island.

Either go through Galveston, take the ferry across, and follow 87, or

take I10 to Winnie and (124?) south to High Island. Personally, I've

never thought that the Texas side of the Sabine Pass offered much in

the way of wildlife ops (relative to nearby areas). Sea Rim suffered

badly this year with the drought all summer; I haven't been there

since the rains started up again.

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Big Thicket is an awesome, but expansive, place. It may well be too

much for the time frame you're talking about. You may, however, want

to go a little further east to the Creole Nature Trail in LA (I10 to

Sulphur, south on 27). Part of this is the stretch of 82 you

mention. Great area for wading birds, snakes, alligators, etc...

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This area of TX is extremely diverse in topography and wildlife.

There are lots of great state parks that few people ever here about;

really look through the Texas P&W page

(http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/admin/pkbirds.htm).

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http://www.fieldguides.com/mig.html (ignore the advertising),

http://www.americanbirding.org/edutxtr2.htm,

http://www.lapage.com/crt/a-cj-lkc.htm

Wow, I must admit I haven't been checking through the archives, as it

was temporarily defunct last time I was here. Rather than risk such

a scathing rebuke, I'll have to research 'afore I ask any well-

intentioned questions...

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Anyway, you may also want to investigate Boca Grande and some of the

islands (Cayo Costa, Cabbage Key, etc) on the other side of the bay.

There's a good deal of historical, as well as aesthetic, value in the

area. Usually, these places are also MUCH less occupied than Sanibel.

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http://www.cyberstreet.com/lvcb/bg3.htm

http://www.state.fl.us/gfc/viewing/sites/site72.html

http://www.wfla.com/indepth/advent/cabbage.htm

His site's got a working link now:

http://www.leppphoto.com/TheNaturalImage/NI.html. I requested a free

backissue yesterday; I'll be interested to see how long it takes to

arrive now...

The Rebel G is a good camera to start out with. If your interest

continues to grow, you'll notice it's shortcomings, and you'll want to

expand. Not all of us have the wherewithal to start out with $400+

bodies and f1.8 lenses. Definately scour the internet, as you can

save a lot of money going throu REPUTABLE mail-order firms, as opposed

to the corner camera shop (see the "Where to Buy" section of

photo.net).

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Good luck!