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
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