Did my usual big bird trip again today starting on the ferry to bolivar,
east to rollover pass, back to Galveston east beach and ending on the texas
city dike. Great day with good birds and lots of birds mainly due to lots
of sargassum weed arriving on the beaches. Probably not liked by beach
cleaners but the birds were eating well. Wind never let up all day.
The ferry going across had almost no birds. but poking around port bolivar,
I had Wilson's phalarope, pectoral sandpiper, osprey and crested caracara.
The caracara is possibly the reason why there are new broods of mottled
ducks but no older broods. The stilts, killdeers, and willets really go
after them. Also had the only summering osprey I have found.
A stop on Retillon Road had a distant calling black rail that was hard to
hear due to the wind and a great disturbance among the local willets who
had gathered on the road to holler together.
The beach going down to the bollards is still very wide and smooth with a
good sargassum edging that had just arrived. It was full of sanderlings and
ruddy turnstones with a few non-breeding black-bellied plovers and some
eastern willets venturing out on the sand.
Walking down the sanctuary, the birds and wide sand stayed the same until
you get to the corner. There large numbers of shorebirds were roosting and
resting as well as feeding in the sargassum. A group of a dozen full
breeding plumage black-bellied plovers came in from the gulf, stopped a bit
and then headed north. Most of the flats that have been out for the birds
were underwater. No sign of any duck.
Basically, I found a good spot and stood there for almost an hour and a
half and let the birds come to me. I had a whole row of napping sandpipers,
a flock of avocets than ran around and did a lot of courtship piping, even
had brown pelicans come in to sit next to me rather than trampling everyone
to get away. Lots of the birds were too close for picture taking but great
to watch.
Birds kept coming in from elsewhere. Had 2 gray knots to start, then the 2
tinged birds showed up, the one legged bird, 2 red birds, and I had 10.
Last time I counted had 19 red knots. Short-billed dowitchers came in to
sleep. Other birds including most of the peeps were sleeping further east
on the bare open sand. Most peeps were semipalmated sandpipers. And a
spotted sandpiper. Many dunlin roosting but none were feeding in the
arriving sargassum. 2 marbled godwits including one with a bright orange
bill.
One franklin's gull, a dozen not adult ring-billed gulls and even a couple
of breeding plumage birds. And several candidates for mangy gull of the
summer and its still spring. No white pelican for the first time this
spring but there were only 2 last week.
Good numbers of black terns scattered around mostly with the least terns.
Only a few sandwich and royal terns. One least tern was banded probably
locally. No small plovers except for a few Wilson's plovers tucked into
holes in the sand.
If I had a chair that would sit out in the water, I would have spent the
day.
Going up the peninsula, there wasn't much beach left and they were
diligently cleaning what was there. More spots have dried up but Bob Road
was full of tidal water. Still had my favorite whimbrels in his favorite
parking lot. Rollover Pass was basically full with water coming in fast.
Headed back west and looped through Port Bolivar and checked the bridge on
Frenchtown Road that had black and least terns feeding in the water coming
into the flats from the bay.
The ferry ride was great with all the laughing gulls being fed all the way.
No other birds seen other than pelicans, grackles and pigeons.
Out at east beach, there was a big influx of sargassum at the jetty along
with many sanderlings, turnstones and a few Wilson's plovers and my only
western willet of the day. If you like black terns in flight, this is the
place as they were working the edge of the sargassum as it grounded and
snatching up little critters that came out. And the sandpipers were shaking
the weed bunches to dislodge critters. Really great fun.
Did go up to the texas city dike but it was close to birdless. Only a few
laughing gulls, maybe 10 terns in total, and a few sanderlings and
turnstones. The wind going over the hurricane levee at the base of the dike
created updrafts that flocks of brown pelicans were using to go feeding.
--
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx
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