[texbirds] Houston Ship Channel - California and Glaucous Gull
- From: C-T Lee <cintylee@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 18:09:29 -0600
Hi there, spent an hour in the rain at the Houston Ship Channel. This is
east of Houston and accessed via Monmouth Road exit from I-10. As soon as
you exit the freeway, turn right and you will see a T-intersection (Market
St) and the Houston ship channel beyond the fences. This is all private
property so you have to scope from the road. There is a sand spit that
extends from the bridge crossing on Market (if you turn left on Market, you
will see the bridge crossing) all the way west of Market & Monmouth for
about 200 yards. The spit is most exposed at low tide. At other times,
only the east part of the spit (viewed from the bridge) is exposed. Note
that much of the east spit was blocked today by large ships. Sometimes the
gulls will sit on the docks, though not today.
This afternoon, on the west part of the spit, there were hundreds of
gulls. These included 1 striking first winter Glaucous Gull and 1 2nd
winter California Gull. I was able to photograph the Glaucous Gull, but
could not get any photos of the California Gull as it was weaving in and
out of the Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls. The California was slightly
larger than the Ring-billeds and distinctly smaller than the Herrings. It
had a medium gray mantle, long black wing tips, pale bill with black tip,
all black tail, and a heavily streaked head, with the streaking continuing
down to the upper chest and sides, giving the bird a dusky headed
appearance. Interestingly, the California spent most of its time running
around the sand spit chasing away Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls. Herring
Gulls didn't seem to mind. I also counted at least 6 Lesser Black-backed
Gulls of different ages.
My hunch is that these gulls go back and forth between Lynchburg reservoir
(which can be accessed from Crosby-Lynchburg Rd), the Baytown
Dump/Thompson's Fish camp, and Monmouth. When the dump is not operating
(weekends), Monmouth and Lynchburg reservoir are loaded with gulls. You
will need a high powered scope to view though.
Note that other birders have mentioned to me that they have been told in
the past not to scope the Houston Ship Channel. I must be lucky because
this has not yet happened to me, including today when one of the workers
dropped by and chatted with me about what I was doing. Please stay on the
shoulder of the road and do not venture down to the fence-line).
C-T Lee
Houston
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