April 19th 2015
After seemingly endless days of dawn opening with an unbroken cover of ashen
sky; this Day of Worship opened instead with blue skies, coupled with sun
warming people's faces for the first time in days. Spring had sprung, as it
were! However, birders are an odd bunch, and some were unhappy with this ânew
dawnâ. The birds though must have been ecstatic, so much so that many of the
warblers, especially, had upped sticks and left overnight, leaving the morning
walk in HAS Boy Scout Woods bereft of many of the birds of recent days.
However, spring represents a time of change as winter transitions into summer;
and there are no more clear indications of rapid change than the day-by-day,
(or even hour-by-hour), tooing and froing of birds in High Island in this
season. The morning walks had opened for the past two days with a male Cerulean
Warbler; but on this day those sky-backed birds had now gone north, and left us
with merely a Baltimore Oriole to open the walks; beautiful, yes, but that bird
does not have the aura or celebrity status of a Cerulean for sure. The walks
were quiet, warbler-wise, a big mid-season clearout being evident from the
first moment forward. However, that is not to say there was not avian
entertainment out in the woods, some enjoyed watching a male Golden-winged
Warbler toy with their emotions for a while; others watched an Ovenbird parade
by, and some saw a Kentucky Warbler hop on through. However, all in all,
warbler numbers, and diversity, was conspicuously down. Other migrants needed
to step up and fill the void, and so birds like Great Crested Flycatcher and
Swainson's Thrush stepped in. There had been a clear movement IN of the latter,
with the sun-drenched woods ringing with the sound of them, all morning long.
Another inbound species seemed to be Yellow-breasted Chat, a handful being
heard, but less being seen. Arguably, the highlight of the morning though were
the prominent Painted Buntings; they studded the yard of the High Island Field
Station opposite HAS Boy Scout Woods, and a male put on what can only be called
a âshowâ, again (it has been seen on and off there in recent days),
singing, and bathed in sunshine, by the observation platform at the south side
of the woods.
Noon came around quickly, and with news of Wilsonâs Phalaropes having been
seen down on the shore, an eager group of birders headed down there for the
Houston Audubon organized drive. Our first stop was Rollover Pass, the âTern
Capitalâ of the Bolivar Peninsula. A bright sunny Sunday, the first in a
while, had the local fishermen out in force, which led to more distant
waterbird viewing than we have been normally accustomed too, but all the same
we totted up the full suite of coastal terns one-by-one (i.e. Least, Black,
Forsterâs, Common, Sandwich, Royal and Caspian, as well as Black Skimmers
with their âswollenâ bills). No one seemed to have told the local American
Avocets or Reddish Egrets to clear off when the local fishermen are on their
turf, so they fed at absurdly close range for a time. With shorebirds few, and
anglers many, we made the decision to go further down the peninsula to Houston
Audubon's Bolivar Flats sanctuary, which proved an inspired choice. By the end
of the walk, the full quartet of small plovers was on allâs minds and lists,
(i.e. Snowy, Piping, Wilsonâs and Semipalmated), and a good selection of
other shorebirds besides; most notably four different Red Knots, some of which
were flushed salmon below in the first vestiges of breeding dress. In regards
to the hoped for phalaropes, we came up short, with a couple flying by at hyper
speed, leaving all but a few wanting much more. But they are just now starting
to make their migration moves, so there should be further chances in the coming
days. With balmy weather continuing, and a light southerly tailwind being
offered to the migrating migrants this afternoon, we all headed back to High
Island for the afternoon walk in HAS Smith Oaks, with a feeling that the
variety that we have become accustomed to in recent days was going to take a
serious nosediveâ¦
Prophecies can often be misleading, or downright wrong. However, the
doom-mongers predicting migrant-free woodlots this afternoon were not far
wrong. By and large, a mirror image of the morningâs pattern emerged; few new
birds appeared to have dropped in, but there were just enough lingerers to keep
the birding punters psyched. Not least among them was one or two Golden-winged
Warblers hanging on in HAS Smith Oaks, one of which literally dangled,
invitingly, in front of nearly a century of birders gathered for the afternoon
walks. Scant attention was paid to a âlowlyâ male Black-and-white Warbler
shinning along a branch nearby, who in âwarblervilleâ is way down the totem
pole from a GWWA! However, several Chestnut-sided Warblers fed low enough to
make people pay them their full and undivided attention too. In general, the
woods were again, predictably, quiet in the afternoon. More evidence of the
inward motion of Swainsonâs Thrushes on the day was seen, supporting the
morningâs impression, although in reality these were probably drop ins from
the night before, and not newbies of this afternoon. A lonely female Cerulean
Warbler, several Blue-winged Warblers, a few Ovenbirds and Northern
Waterthrushes, and the odd Yellow-throated Vireo, provided just enough for
birders to be suitably entertained. The mulberry âposseâ were also still
around (fluorescent Scarlet Tanagers, more subdued Summer Tanagers, and gaudy
Baltimore Orioles), although in markedly less company than in recent days. For
this reason, they were given more attention than recently, with birders
realizing how fortunate theyâd been recently to have gotten to the point that
they were becoming shamefully blasé about them.
Looking ahead, for avian-based hope on the horizon, it is hard to see what the
âmorrow will bring; on the one hand the wind is shifting to that northerly
flow that can bring migrating birds juddering to a halt in the woodlots, which
may yet yield something new and different to behold. Furthermore, we have now
reached that heady peak-time of migration, when birds are moving in such barely
fathomable numbers, that whatever the weather, drops ins and good days can
still occur, even in seemingly benign conditions. I'll hold on to that
optimistic thought, when I'll be stepping out on to the High Island boards
tomorrow!
Sam Woods
Posted by
Winnie Burkett
Friendswood & the Bolivar Peninsula
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