Flock Of Seagulls At Sikes Lake Low Tide With Tacoma's Mount Rainier

Though the high today is predicted to be a whoppingly HOT 106, I thought the clouds I was seeing from my window view, and with a strong wind blowing, that a walk around Sikes Lake would be pleasantly temperatured.

I was wrong.

Way too HOT.

Rain and thunderstorms are on the weather menu for later this 5th day of September.

As you can see, via today's photo documentation of Sikes Lake, the lake is in dire need of some water. If this were a saltwater scene I would think the tide is out. Those spots of white you see at the lake's edge are a flock of seagulls. 

No idea why seagulls are at this lake instead of a saltwater sea.

Speaking of seagulls on an actual sea of saltwater, I saw the below scenic view this morning on Facebook.

That is the Tacoma waterfront you are seeing, with Mount Rainier hovering in the distance. When you drive around Tacoma the Mountain is always seeming to move. It can be a bit disorienting. 

My nephews, David and Theo, and niece, Ruby, live a short distance from the above view.

The Tacoma waterfront has a lot of restaurants, one of which is what you see at the bottom of the photo.

It has been six years since I have seen a real mountain. Or a saltwater beach.

Time flies by way too fast...

Flock Of Seagulls Make Sikes Lake Sea Their Home

With a few days until the incoming Polar Vortex drops the temperature at my location to way below freezing, on this first Sunday of the 2021 version of February I rolled my bike to Sikes Lake for a couple rides around the lake.

I had sufficient layers of clothing layered on, but still.

BRRRRR.

Particularly when heading into the wind blowing from the north.

I stopped my bike at the coffer dam which crosses Sikes Lake for no reason apparent to me. I am referring to the coffer dam having no reason apparent to me, not me stopping at the coffer dam having no reason.

My reason for stopping at the coffer dam was to aim my handlebars at the dam and the flock of seagulls which have taken up residence there, to take the photo you see above.

That must be one sad flock of seagulls. Hundreds of miles from the nearest sea, they must have decided Sikes Lakes was as good as it was going to get. Too bad they did not continue flying a few more miles south where they would have found a much larger lake in Lake Wichita. Or fly a few more miles further south where they would have found the way larger Lake Arrowhead.

Is it a normal thing for a flock of seagulls to take up residence at an artificial fresh water lake?

Sikes Lake Biking With Flock Of Seagulls Henry & Ralph

What with the temperature barely above freezing this morning when I considered the idea of going on a bike ride on this third Sunday of February I decided today would be a good day to stay inside in a temperature controlled environment.

And then, about an hour before noon, whilst looking for something else, I came upon my ski gloves which I did not remember had made it to my current North Texas location.

And so, what with super insulated gloves now available, I decided to layer on the layers and take myself on a bike ride.

Turned out I was overly layered.

Blue sky, a temperature a dozen degrees above freezing, almost zero breeze, and add in a little exercise and by the time I made it to Sikes Lake I found myself switching out the ski gloves for my regular bike gloves, then removing two layers of hoodie, and unzipping the windbreaker.

Lately the geese at Sikes Lake seem to have gone somewhere other than their regular home. I have read rumors about geese invading the small town of Iowa Park, located a short distance northwest of Wichita Falls. And upon hearing this wondering if this is where the Sikes Lake goose flocks had migrated.

Today there were a few more geese than my last lake visit. But the seagull population has soared. In the above photo documentation you are seeing on a few of the flock of seagulls. Me stopping to take a picture sent most of them into panic mode, from which they quickly recovered to return to roosting position.

Why so many seagulls at Sikes Lake? I've seen nary a gull ever at nearby Lake Wichita. Shouldn't seagulls be somewhat near, you know, a sea? As in saltwater. The nearest such wet thing is hundreds of miles distant, that being the Gulf of Mexico.

Anyway, I ended up having myself a mighty fine time rolling my bike wheels. Eventually I made my way back to the Circle Trail and soon thereafter my phone made its incoming text message noise. I stopped at the first swinging bench I came to so as to dismount the bike and see what the message was.

The text message was from my favorite Jason and Joey nephew's dad, who also is my little brother.

The text in the message...

"Henry is hugging Ralph. Henry's Dad also hugged Ralph when he was a little boy."

I tried to read this message in bright sun, and was not able to accurately do so til I got back to an interior space. Bright light and the small version of the attached photo also did not become clear til I got it off the phone and onto a bigger screen.

Henry's dad is the aforementioned Joey nephew. I have no memory of this Ralph character who is being hugged by Henry. The older I get the more I seem to forget.

I do not know if Henry (and his dad) will by joining his cousin, Spencer Jack, and uncle Jason next month for the hiking expedition up Camelback Mountain. My best guess is this is unlikely....

Chilly Bike Roll To Thirsty Sikes Lake With Seagull Goose Peace Accord

Though the outer world temperature was barely over 40, looking out my flag viewing window on the world nothing seemed to be blowing strong enough to do any flag unfurling.

And so I layered on some insulative outer wear and rolled my wheels to Sikes Lake and beyond.

Sikes Lake is beginning to suffer from the mini-drought. The creek which feeds water to Sikes Lake is no longer doing so, which you can see via the view over my handlebars, looking west from the Bridge of Sikes, where currently no gondola can possibly float under.

It now seems obvious to me why swimming, kayaking, canoeing and other type water activities are not allowed on Sikes Lake. The lake is too shallow. The lake is so shallow now most of the birds no longer float in the water. They simply stand in it, which is what they are doing below.

Previously I made mention of the apparent conflict between the Sikes Lake invading Seagulls and the resident Goose population. An accord seems to have been reached, as you can see above, with the birds peacefully fraternizing and ignoring, for the most part, that adage about birds of a feather sticking together.

As you can see, beyond the birds, a beach has formed.

In other locations on Sikes Lake islands have popped up. How is the Sikes Lake fish population doing under this current stress?

With the exposed lake bottom one can see the type mud which made Mount Wichita, when late in the previous century Sikes Lake was dredged, with the dredged material hauled to Lake Wichita Park to be formed into the region's one and only mountain.

Methinks maybe it is time to dredge Sikes Lake again and maybe make another mountain next to lonely Mount Wichita.

Someday if the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project ever comes to fruition Lake Wichita will get dredged. So far I have not read of any plan to make that dredged material into a mountain, or mountains. Seems like an entire range of mini-mountains might be possible.

Possible and a real good idea...

Sikes Lake Geese Flocking Against Seagull Invasion

No, I did not drive to Galveston this morning to ride my bike on the seawall. One would be foolish to think such, looking at this photo of a bike's handlebars and a relatively calm sea which looks nothing like the Gulf of Mexico.

Those handlebars are aimed at Sikes Lake in Wichita Falls, not Galveston, a Sikes Lake with waves almost big enough to make whitecaps, due to a strong wind blowing in from the west.

That strong wind blowing in from the west is predicted to bring with it some extremely cold air, dropping today's balmy 80s somewhere down near the freezing zone.

Yesterday, or maybe it was the day before yesterday, I mentioned the fact that the Sikes Lake geese have become, well, I said militant, possibly radicalized, after learning some of the human species they see walking by them every day roast their kin for Christmas dinner.

On further examination I think it more accurate to suggest the Sikes Lake geese have become territorial, protecting the turf they believe to be theirs.

The territorial thing occurred to me when I came upon the scene below.

Okay, I only had my phone camera with me, which was not able to totally capture what is going on above. Sikes Lake is divided into two pieces by the dam barrier you see above. Why this dam barrier exists I have no idea.

Since I was at this location yesterday a huge flock of seagulls has arrived, possibly confused, thinking they have arrived at that aforementioned Gulf of Mexico.

You can see the spots of white seagulls on the north side of the dam barrier. On the south side of the dam barrier dozens of geese have taken up defensive positions, denying seagull access to what now appears to be the GEESE ONLY part of Sikes Lake. My sad bad photographer skills with a phone camera only show a few of the geese maintaining  a flock of seagulls vigil.

Soon after I left the Seagull/Goose Standoff Zone I came upon one of the GOOSE CHECKPOINTS one must pass through to make transit around Sikes Lake.

I showed my I.D. papers to the Inspector Goose on the left, after which, about a minute later, I was granted safe passage. Even so, one does not drop being wary about the possibility of getting goosed.

Due to all the mention made of late, by me, about geese, Betty Jo Bouvier, she being one of what are known as the Wild Women of Woolley, is thinking of acquiring a goose for house pet purposes, after consulting Aunt Alice about how Aunt Alice trained her goose, Gertrude, to use a litter box, among other domesticated behaviors which rendered Gertrude a welcome house guest of Aunt Alice's for many years.

I suspect I shall not be returning to Sikes Lake tomorrow to check in on the geese and seagulls, due to a near freezing temperature making such an excursion likely unappealing....

Power Walking Wichita Falls With A Flock Of Sikes Lake Seagulls

I am feeling mighty fine. I have recovered from both Thanksgiving and my recent rare bout of ailing from a sore throat, cough, congestion and most of the other maladies which come with a cold.

Yesterday, that day being Sunday, I returned to Mount Wichita, a day after Saturday's pitifully weak singular summit climb. Sunday's mountain climbing went much better, albeit with the additional challenge of a strong wind battering me, particularly at the summit.

Today I opted to power walk north to Sikes Lake. A strong breeze walked with me, which made the windbreaker I was wearing extremely useful.

At Sikes Lake I came upon something one does not expect to see hundreds of miles from any salty ocean type bodies of water.

A flock of seagulls.

The photo above only shows a few of the large flock of Sikes Lake seagulls. For photo purposes I zoomed in for a close up of the blue heron guarding the flock of seagulls, with the zooming in cutting off most of the seagull population.

A couple weeks ago I took a photo of a blue heron at this exact same location. I assume it was the same bird today. This particular blue heron is not skittish about human contact, unlike most birds of this species I have encountered over the years.

It is now time for some Thanksgiving aftermath.

Turkey soup for lunch.....