K B Srinivas: Spring Migration birding at High Island

This year visited High Island again to witness the Spring Migration. There was a fallout of birds on April 15 and 16. My trip had been planned for April 24 and 25 hence missed witnessing the fallout. But nevertheless there were lot of Warblers and other birds that could be found in the parks around.

First morning of the trip I planned to visit the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. The idea was to see if I can find the Rails. I had see Clapper Rail and Sora before. But other Rails have been elusive to me. First I did a loop around the Shoveler's Pond. It's a good spot to see the Bitterns, Ducks, Rails and other shore birds. On the way in the water I saw lot of alligators of different sizes and some were out doing sun bathing as well. The only ducks I saw were Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Mallards, American Coots and Blue-Winged Teals. In the shorebird category I saw the Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlins, Spotted Sandpiper and Black-necked Stilts. Among the rails I saw only Sora here. I saw at least 4 Sora's here which was really good. The Common Gallinule and Purple Gallinule were everywhere. I did see couple of Least Bitterns, Great Egret, Great-blue Herons and Roseate Spoonbills. And in the butterfly garden I saw Scarlet Tanager and nicely hidden Common Nighthawk.

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Least Bittern

Sora

Blue-winged Teal

Lesser Yellowleg

Black-necked Stilt

Common Gallinule

Scarlet Tanager

Common Nighthawk

The King Rail I was after could not be seen anywhere. I asked the other birders around and they mentioned to drive around in the dirt roads and keep an eye on the reeds by the side of the road. As I drove around I saw lot of Kingbirds catching their morning breakfast flying from their fence poles. I also saw lot of Brown-headed Cowbirds There were both Boat-tailed and Great-tailed Grackles around, a lone Dickcissel was singing from the fence and there were quite a few Barn Swallows as well. As I kept driving I saw something very small moving in the grass along the road. I parked my car and waited to see what it was. I saw couple of small black furry balls moving in the grass. Initially I did not recognize these but I saw Rail moving and another Rail calling from the other side of the road. I waited for a while to see if they would come out and then after a while I saw the mother Rail coming out and 4 of its chicks followed the mother. What a sight it was, I was hoping to see 1 King Rail but here I was seeing both a male and female King Rails along with 4 babies. I was over the moon. There were other birders behind my car who were enjoying this entire moment. The best experience of the trip.

Boat-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle

Western Kingbird

King Rail

Brown-headed Cowbird

Dickcissel

Barn Swallow

After this I went to Bolivar Flats to see if I can find Long-billed Curlew. After reaching I did not see any curlews but there were lot of Terns(King, Caspian, Black, Sandwich and Royal) and Gulls(Herring and Ring-billed). I also saw a lone Reddish Egret trying to catch fish in a small pool of water. Couple of Wilson's Warblers were moving around along with couple of Piping Plovers. Saw a lone Snowy plover and a lone Horned Lark as well. In the far end I saw lot of Dunlins and among them I saw there was a lone Red Knot. There were lot of Cormorants, American Avocets and Brown Pelicans here. And among these Cormorants I saw a Gull which looked quite different. I could not recognize the bird, I took picture of the same and after coming back to the hotel I realized it looked like a Iceland Gull(Thayer's) which was confirmed after asking other Gull experts. I also saw another Gull which I could not identify but it turned out to be a Lesser-black Backed Gull. Both were big bonuses and big finds for me. There were couple of Willets, Ruddy Turnstones and lot of Sanderlings running around. It was a very productive trip to the Bolivar Flats.

Royal Tern

Mix of Tern's

Sanderling

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Wilson's Plover

Reddish Egret

Semipalmated Plover

Least Sandpiper

Red Knot and Dunlin's

Greater Yellowleg

Piping Plover

Horned Lark

Ruddy Turnstone

Herring and Ring-billed Gull

American Avocet

Iceland(Thayer's) Gull

After this I went to visit the Boy Scout Wood Sanctuary and the Smith Oaks sanctuary. The Boy Scout Wood sanctuary was quiet and could not find much birds. But the smith oaks was very busy. There were Tanagers(Scarlet and Summer) everywhere. Among the Warblers I saw Black-throated Green, Blackpoll, Yellow, Black and White and Tennesse were seen a lot. I had read that some had seen Black-throated Blue warbler here. I was hoping to see one and at the end of the day when I was just sitting in front of the drip this bird made a quick visit before flying away. I was ecstatic to see this bird. I got very brief looks but it was very satisfying. I also got to see both male and female Cape-May warblers. My second sighting of these beautiful birds. And near the rookery I saw lot of nesting Egrets(Great, Snowy and Cattle), Roseate Spoonbills, White-faced Ibis and Herons(Little Blue, Yellow-crowned). But the highlight here was lone Magnificent Frigate flying over. He was doing rounds around the lake here. I had seen one flying over while driving to Keywest from Orlando. Did not get a chance to take a picture then but here I got a chance. I was so excited. I also visited Hooks sanctuary where they had setup a new water feature and there I saw Northern Parula at a very close range. It was trying to find bugs to eat in the tree close by. When I was leaving the Smith Oaks sanctuary I was talking to couple of other birders who mentioned that Sabina park was busy with lot of birds in the afternoon. So the plan for next day was set to visit Sabina park which was about an hours drive from where I was staying.

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Red-eyed Vireo

Carolina Wren

Wood Thrush

Worm-eating Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Veery

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Scarlet Tanager

Armadillo

Tanager female

Black and White Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Grey Catbird

Common Yellowthroat

Northern Parula

Magnificent Frigatebird

Roseate Spoonbill

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

White Ibis

Cape-may Warbler

Sabina woods was busy with lot of birds. I could hear lot of Rails calling in the tall grasses in front of this park. There is a water feature here which was the busiest especially after noon when most of the birds visited the water drips here. There were also lot of bull frogs in the small pond here. One of the birders mentioned how an alligator sneaked from behind to get into this pool to eat these big frogs. There were at least 15-20 birders when this happened and all of them were so scared that an alligator could sneak up on them like that. Here I saw lot of different warblers(Black and White, Tennesse, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Green and Hooded). There were quite a few American Redstarts who were putting quite a display for us. We saw both Summer and Scarlet Tanagers here. Multliple Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were found too along with few Blue Grosbeaks. We saw lot of Indigo Buntings and couple of Painted Buntings(only female) too. Blue Jays and Common Grackles were coming to the drip too. The only Orioles we could see were multiple Orchard Orioles. We also saw couple of Northern Water-thrushes too. But the highlight from here was a lone Palm Warbler which came to the water drip. This was my first sighting of the day. As the day was getting busy with lot of these birds it started to rain. Since I had to head back to Dallas I started driving back home. But after reaching I went back to ebird and I saw there was big fallout from the thunderstorm that afternoon. There were lot of Bay-breasted and Magnolia warblers which arrived with these storms. I was so sad that I missed this. I had to plan a trip for the following weekend just to see these birds again.

Sabina Pass is definitely a place that everyone should visit if they are doing coastal birding tour along Houston.