The Houston ship channel runs to the southeast and Galveston Roads. The channel from texas city runs east and then curves to the right to also go out of the bay. The dike runs sort of parallel to the ship channel from texas city for 5 miles. It aims at the bolivar peninsula and if extended all the way would about hit the bolivar ferry landing. Lots of birds go back and forth following ships and currents. The barge was coming down the channel to go around the end of the dike and go up the other side of the dike to texas city. The video on tv showed the ship steaming right into its side. It was foggy but the pictures were from more than a mile away and all Is supposed to be controlled by radar. The east side of the dike has a beach and shallow sand flats extending out to the ship channel and the barge is grounded out near the end on those flats. So it is not under water entirely. There is some oil on the jetty sand according to the Houston chronicle pictures and large numbers of gulls and terns roost and rest on that spot. They feed and follow boats and ships for stirred up killifish and so are going out into the site of the oil leak where the boats are going. The wind is northeast which with an outgoing tide will tend to push it toward the Galveston side of the Roads but if the wind lasts enough the wind/tide will take the oil out of the bay and it will seep through the bolivar jetty to the flats at least out where there is water on the flats side of the jetty. The huge avocet roost often feeds there and swims as well as wading. The chronicle is updating the article and adding pictures and it is at the top of the page http://www.chron.com/ The Galveston daily news also has coverage and says oil is starting to come ashore at the east end of Galveston with a picture. Also at Sea Wolf park and the back side of pelican island and the shorebird areas there which are only accessible by boat will perhaps be the most affected. http://www.galvestondailynews.com/ KTRK which is channel 13-abc in Houston has some shots from the air which show a large area of bay covered and then lots of oil washing up on pelican island from what looks like the west of south end of the lagoon there. There is a long no comment video showing booms, oil and a glimpse of the barge in relation to the dike. Coast guard says oil is out 12 miles into the gulf and when the wind shifts it could come back almost anywhere in the area. The boom only covers a bit of pelican island and is not being skimmed so it goes around the end to the beach. The ABC national news on tv tonight showed a good sized avocet flock taking off from a few yards from a boom. No oil noticed in the area. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/ And the other stations may have stuff to other than pictures of the police car keeping people from going out on the dike which is the major story line. Good news is that the oil in the other tanks on the barge has been removed but the damaged tank is still leaking. And it is really thick oil; you have to cook it before it can be used as fuel as it does not flow well and will not evaporate much. On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 2:17 PM, Brush Freeman <brushfreeman@xxxxxxxxx>wrote: > . > I think I am pretty up on the layout there, but can't visualize this in my > head. Has the front hit there yet? Will these strong north winds help or > hinder? > ********************************************************************** > Brush Freeman > 503-551-5150 Cell > 120 N. Red Bud Trail. Elgin, Tx. 78621 > http://texasnaturenotes.blogspot.com/ > Finca Alacranes., Utley,Texas > > Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at > //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds > > Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission > from the List Owner > > > -- Joseph C. Kennedy on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner