[texbirds] Harris/Chambers Tri-City area - another Great Black-backed Gull and others

From: C-T Lee <cintylee@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 17:43:33 -0600

Hi there,
We spent half a day out in the Tri-City area, which encompasses Thompson's
Bait Camp and Ash Lake in Harris County, as well as the sand spit southwest
of the Baytown dumpsite (Chambers County).  The dumpsite is the large (by
Texas standards) mountain that you can see from the Harris county side.

The sandspit on the Chambers county side is loaded with gulls and
shorebirds. Hundreds of avocets, western sandpipers, dunlins, etc. and
thousands of gulls.  The exact vantage point is at these coordinates:

29.664609 -94.925888

To get there, take 1405 south, then turn left on Tri-City Beach Rd and then
right on Cedar Point Road all the way to the end.  Park along the road.  We
then walked around the industrial facility (private property) and out to
the tip of the peninsula. It's about a half mile walk out to the point,
pretty muddy and brushy in some parts, so not for the light of heart
(though if you stay along the shelly berm, it's not too bad). Watch the
tides.

Highlights in that general area included
1 female Black Scoter
7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 2nd winter Great Black-backed Gull (this was actually around the dump;
PRIVATE PROPERTY)
lots of Seaside sparrows

This Great Black-backed Gull was a 2nd winter, so it is a different
individual than the one John Berner, Drew Dickert and I found at Thompson's
Bait camp in Harris county a week ago.  However, these gulls move between
the dump, the spit and Thompson's all day long, so be on the lookout if
you're in the area. The same goes for the Black Scoter.  It could easily
swim across the border into Harris county for all you listers.

At Thompson's Bait camp, Janet Rathjen had a 2nd winter Thayer's Gull, one
that looked different than what I had earlier in the week.  So this makes
possibly 4 Thayer's Gulls in the general area.

Early in the morning, we had a very unusual gull at Thompson's Bait camp,
but I am not sure of my ID and so hesitate to report.  Trying to sort it
out.

on another note: end of Tri-city road on the Harris county side is the best
spot in Harris now to watch gulls. HOWEVER, I reiterate that there are tons
of nails at the very end of the road, so park up near the Y-intersection
and walk.  Also, the gentleman who lives at the end told me today that one
should be careful around there.  There are illegal oyster fishermen, drug
dealers, and he also reported somebody was attacked; all of this was in the
night though. I myself have never had a problem...But to be safe, watch
gulls with a buddy and be aware of your surroundings.

C-T Lee
Houston


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[texbirds] Harris/Chambers Tri-City area - another Great Black-backed Gull and others

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