[texbirds-freelists] [texbirds] Brazos Bend and Quintana, 3/30

From: Justin Bower <justinbower@xxxxxxxxx>
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 09:10:34 -0500
Friday was a nice early migration sojourn down to Brazos Bend State Park
and Quintana. The migrants were light, but there were a few nice finds,
despite the looming rainstorms.

Ranger David Heinecke lead an early morning bird hike at Brazos Bend,
turning up some early migrants including a few very vocal Prothonotary
Warblers and a Northern Parula once the fog lifted. The hike attendees also
got the chance to see a nesting Red-shouldered Hawk near the Park's Nature
Center.

After the hike, I jaunted down to Quintana to see how things were doing on
the coast. Saw my FOS Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on the way. The Neotropical
sanctuary was pretty quiet (the racket of grackles notwithstanding). A
couple Orchard Orioles flew through, and a pair of Black and White Warblers
were bouncing around in one of the oaks near the front corner. Martins
soared overhead, but not much else showed up at the drips. The Xeriscape
yielded a few of the usual species of sparrow and a lone Ruby-throated
Hummingbird, but not much else. The one surprise was a Green-tailed Towhee
that gave me some great views for a couple minutes until he got bored with
me and flew off (he was seen in the northwest corner of the refuge where
the road ends, and a trail starts behind the sign for the County Park).
Several of us staked out one of the drips, to no avail (at least while I
was there). The beach didn't yield a great deal either. The jetty seemed to
be under repair, with a barge and crane moving the large rocks around, so I
didn't venture out to look for birds in the water. Some Forster's , Least
and Royal Terns were around, and a Wilson's Plover or two were skittering
along the beach in and out of a flock of Sanderlinds, as well as the usual
mix of Gulls. The road leading to the easternmost beach access point
through the tidal marshes had a pair of Horned Larks (which had been noted
previously), but little else. The small wetland areas adjacent to the LNG
plant had some lingering Teal, Gadwall and some Black-necked Stilts. The
levee road had some views of a smattering of Ruddy Ducks, Gadwall, and a
flotilla of Coots. A sole Northern Harrier prowled the airspace.

Justin Bower
Houston, TX

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[texbirds-freelists] [texbirds] Brazos Bend and Quintana, 3/30

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