April 26, 2014 - Day 5 of Texas - Skimmer Boat Tour for Whooping Cranes in Rockport, travel to Rio Grande to our stay in Alamo B&B - Keith's place

WHOOPING CRANES!!!!  YIPEE

Hi All

Today we went on the Skimmer Boating Tour of the water preserves around Rockport and the big bays.  Our target and everyone else on the 40 passenger boat was the Whooping Cranes.  The official boat tours to see the Whooping Cranes finished last week, but this same boat line still does the same marshes.  Lucky for us.....apparently most of Whooping Cranes have left but 10 still linger and we saw 8 of them spread over the preserve.  According to the biologist on board and also the Captain (Jack) of the boat these cranes are territorial and separate about 1/2 mile apart with their family group so we had close looks and some farther looks but it is no mistaking the birds, they are big.  It was a wonderful boat tour, especially for Barb as the Gravol worked as sometimes it doesn't.   Colleen and I were quite thrilled with the views and the many other birds and dolphins we saw on the boat.  It was overcast the whole time we were on the boat, so we did not bake out there.    Whooping Cranes were a lifer for Colleen and I.  One of those mystical bird species that have been brought back from extinction. 

After the boat trip we left Fulton for the Rio Grande birding.  As I drove, the temperature rose steadily and I did not have the heart to tell Colleen that it was 98 degrees.  It was not bad as there was a stiff breeze outside.  We ate a picnic lunch and stopped at Riviera and the area looking for the Harris' Hawk (no luck) and the Green Jay (YES) and a lifer for Colleen.

As we drove by a house on this road of a couple of houses, a fellow ran out of the house in bare feet trying to get our attention.  I thought he needed some kind of assistance, but he saw that we were birders and he wanted to show us photos of an Indigo Bunting he had visit his feeders.  This fellow was under 50 for sure.  We asked him about the Green Jays as we were just starting to look for them.  He said that they were just there are his feeder and sure enough, the Green Jay turned up.  There was a big smile of both of our faces.  It is one sweet bird.  Birders just never know who one can encounter and that leads to more birds or target birds, sweet!

We arrived in Alamo around supper time and checked into the Alamo Bed and Breakfast.  We then took off for Santa Ana Wildlife Preserve which is pretty nearby Alamo Texas and found the place but it was closed.  According to a couple we met at the gate, due to the border problems all of these places shut down at supper time and there is no dusk viewing like we had in Port Aransas.  So this will change the length of our birding day.  The habitat here is quite different from where we have been in Texas so far and I guess one has to be more careful.  Tomorrow, very early we head to Santa Ana and maybe Bentson State Park to bird.  

We will plan to bring our cooling scarves and lots of water so we should be fine in the heat.  There are a lot of birds that we hope to see.

At the Alamo B&B, so far... we could not lock the door until someone who works here showed us that one has to pull hard on the door to get the lock to work.  We thought the key that came from the mat under the front door did not work.  We managed to blow a breaker by plugging in the kettle and the microwave at the same time.  I fixed this and we won't overload again.  The shower does not work, at least Colleen and I can't get the shower to work.  And we have parked in a no parking zone as there is no where else to park.  Oh yeah, we have to move rooms for the last night of our four night stay here.  The garden here is wonderful though and there are Nighthawks that roost on the property.  

It was another fun day in Bird Land, we loved it.

Barb & Colleen

May 2, 2014 - Day 11 of Texas - High Island spots to the Galveston- Port Bolivar Ferry, Corps Woods, Galveston parks and shore

Our last day of birding Texas and it all went so fast!

We started the day at Boy Scouts Camp with the the young birding fellows from Tropical Birding that lead the 8 am and noon and 4pm walks each day for the Houston Audubon.  Scott, John and Andreas are brilliant young men who have an enthusiasm for the special moments of birding.  The 8 am birding was slow at Boy Scots but with the inclement weather, Hook Woods was lively.  Colleen and I headed over there and there was lots of warbler and vireo activity and it was warming up and the warblers were coming in with Hook Woods being the first forest at the point that a migrating birding would find.  Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted, Black and White and Blackpoll and Canada were there.  Colleen and I got 10 warbler species in a short time.  I am not sure what a fall-out is like but this is the closest to a fall-out that I have seen.  It was a lot of fun.

We then checked out of the Gulfway Inn and headed to Anahuac with the bird leaders for noon as this was the place to wanted to concentrate on, specifically, Upland Sandpiper and the flooded rice fields for shorebirds.  It was amazing, about a dozen shorebirds, Buff-breasted, Hudsonian Godwit, Least, Lesser and Greater, Sanderling and Dunlin, American Golden Plover and Black-breasted Plovers to name a few.  We had thousands of these in the fields and they were starting some murmurations and it was a wonderful sight to be there to see it.   From there we went to the marsh at Anhuac where the Ruff was located along with a Least Bittern and many other marsh birds.  This was the last time Colleen and I would be there and we left to drive the road up to the gulf literally and we came across a gem, roosting Lesser Nighthawks on the rocks right by the road, these were beautiful birds.

We said goodbye to High Island and headed down to suggested birding spots around Galveston which is a real resort town, even though directly behind it are oil & gas refineries stretching as far as the eye can see.  Here there is rampant development as opposed to the High Island section which it looks like time stood still.  We met someone who lived through Hurricane Ike in 2008.  The land is really low and a bad storm surge washed the area of homes and people back then.  This lady lost her house but they got out.  She said people were trapped since they stopped the ferry the day before and people were trapped when the waters came.  She said that there are still people missing.  They were told to evacuate and it is not that they were going to stay, but the ferry shut down and the land is so flat.  Car were washed away and she said some people managed to walk out while others lost their lives.  The area of Crystal Beach was destroyed. This explained this area's new homes everywhere which are built up very high on stilts.

We crossed on the ferry and headed to Corps Woods birding trail across from the naval installation.  We had about 67  Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Canada Warbler, Summer and Scarlet Tanagers.  This spot was suggested by birders, a lovely older couple we met in Sabal Palm Sanctuary and by another older gent at Boy Scouts and it was a super spot.  We also visited LaFitte's Cove (yes named after the pirate who had a base here) but the marsh was virtually dry and had only a few birds.

We drove over the causeway to Houston and had a beautiful sunset.  The drive to the Ramada at the airport was good and we managed to repack all of our stuff into our suitcases.  It was midnight, but no matter, we had a nightcap while doing our trip list and we saw approximately 205 birds in our 11 days of birding with Colleen with about 65 lifers and I had 28 lifers I think.  Some of them I have to check against other birding I have done.  We packed our slightly heavier bags.  We left the hotel at 5 am to return the car (it went easy at the airport rental) and to catch our first of three flights home at 7:30 am to Dulles.  I guess that is the downside of flying on points and the flights were full.   We arrived home at around 5 pm and it was cool at home with some rain threatening. Colleen's Paul picked us up and we were both very happy to be home.   I am short some hours of sleep and will sleep tonight at home dreaming of Texas and the places we birded and the birds we saw.  A really great trip.

Barb & Colleen


Photos here were Summer Tanager, Western Sandpiper, Common Nighthawk and Yellow-crowned Night Heron

May 1, 2014 Day 10 of Texas - High Island, Boy Scouts Sanctuary, Smith Oaks Sanctuary, Roll Over Bay and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge

Today we explored and birded High Island.  We went for three organized walks at Boys Scouts Sanctuary, Rollover Bay, Bolivar Flats Sanctuary, and Smith Oaks Sanctuary.  High Island has lots of different habitats.  There is a birding festival that the Houston Audubon is putting on here so we timed this perfectly.  The guides know the area and lead us there and have scoped out the highlights.  It is all very well organized.

We heard there was a Ruff at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and we went over to the refuge.  Anahuac is huge with many different habitats and another wonderful place.  It is similar to Blackwater Drive in Merritt Island or the Drive in Ding Darling.  We saw a Clapper Rail cross the road in front of us from one side of the marsh to the other and Least Bittern out in the open.  We saw  flocks of Avocets, Dunlin, Dowitchers, etc all in breeding plumage, which is such a nice treat.  The Ruff was the only lifer for me and Colleen got her first Barn Owl at Boy Scouts Camp Sanctuary.  There are lots of birders around and the whole area is great.  A month here just going from place to place every second day or so would be birding heaven.  On a drive for miles around the marshes and fields we had a Common Nighthawk roosting right on the side of the dirt road.  The whole place was great.

We did get some rain also and it has cooled off considerably today.  It never got hot for me today.

Tomorrow we are going again for the three organized walks and another trip to do the drive at
Anahuac and then will head over on the ferry to Galveston and then out to Houston to spend the night at a motel near the airport as we have the usual very early morning flight back home

We plan to get a Texas bird list printed and count up our trip list.

Barb & Colleen

Photos include White-rumped Sandpiper, Eastern Kingbird, Wilson's Phalarope, Short-billed Dowitcher, Clapper Rail, many wintering shorebirds, Tennessee Warbler and a Least Bittern

April 30, 2014 Day 9 of Texas - left the Alamo B&B to The King Ranch for the day then drive through Houston to High Island

This will be a short email as we had a brutal early morning start, a long drive to get to the right entrance for the King Ranch and then birded all day on the King Ranch.  This was a very professional tour and worth the drive.  The ranch is like its own country and it is huge.  From here we drove on to High Island to arrive in the late evening.  Colleen's navigational skills  got us through Houston in the dark and now we are in our beach motel on High Island.

King Ranch was super.  We were a group of 10 birders with two knowledgeable expert guides employed by King Ranch.  One could drive all day here.  The two professional leaders said that they are thinking of opening up one of their cottage/cabin hamlets to birders for overnights.  We got the Tropical Parula and Kingbirds, Olive Sparrow, Botteri's Sparrow, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl and Hooded Oriole here.  All wonderful birds.  We heard the Bobwhite and saw many of the usual Texas birds.  We had lunch under a corral type picnic spot and visited many different habitats.  The day went so quickly.  Oh yes the Curved-bill Thrasher also. 

It was a great place.  I would go back someday.

Tomorrow it is High Island and there is front moving in so we may get some new birds.  We just had a very busy day and it did not end until late, so we are tired and excited because of today and what is coming tomorrow.

It cooled off today and it was only in the 80s this afternoon.  Now that we are north, it is a cool evening.

Barb & Colleen

Photos include the Olive Sparrow,Baltimore Oriole, Prickly Poppy Flower, Tropical Parula, Vermilion Flycatcher, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, and Lark Sparrow.