Roadside Portrait

Another case of "drive-by birding."

As I was driving along Bolivar Peninsula one day, I saw a fairly large shorebird fly up from a nearby field and alight on a fence post just ahead of me. I carefully slowed to pull alongside the post and snapped a couple of quick shots before moving on.

The Willet didn't seem the least bit concerned at the truck pulling up next to him. I was rather pleased with the portrait I ended up with:


Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)

Avocets on Bolivar Peninsula

In a return to last year's spring migration, I took an afternoon one day and trawled along the mudflats and beaches of Bolivar Peninsula — just across the channel from Galveston Island — searching for shorebirds, terns and gulls. The weather was nice and a strong southerly wind was blowing in from the gulf, so most of the migrating birds were high above, taking full advantage of the wind currents. However, I did happen on a small group of avocets taking a break from their long journey to hunt for food in the Texas surf.


American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana)


males


female
This is actually the only time I've found these beautiful shorebirds in the area, and it was an exciting addition to my life list.


As always, you can click on any image to see a larger version. Also, check out Bird Photography Weekly #123 for more great bird photos from around the world.

Notes from the Coast (Update)

Following up on Friday's post regarding the post-Ike status of bird sanctuaries on Bolivar Peninsula.

There was a new (and much more optimistic) report this morning on the TexBirds listserv from the Houston Audubon Society's Sanctuary Manager, Winnie Burkett:

Bolivar Flats has been absolutely spectacular the last couple of days. Thousands of avocets and peeps — with hundreds of willets, snowys, White Pelicans and Marbled Godwits make for a nice show. There are nice numbers of other birds too, but no dowichers. I haven't seen dowichers there since Ike and wonder what food they like has disappeared. Birds are still best viewed from the North Jetty, you also might have an opportunity to see the 2 Peregrines who sit on the Coast Guard tower, a block north of the jetty, they were screeching at each other on Thursday and whenever they rearranged where they were sitting all the shorebirds would get up to.

There were Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderlings and 14 Knots on the beach north of Rettilon Rd. This is progress as it has been a while since there were any birds feeding on the beach. The flock of scaup just off the beach has grown and may include other things but I didn't have time to scope it out.

There are now a couple of restaurants open on the Bolivar Peninsula. La Playita in Port Bolivar has reopened and there is a new restaurant Coconuts in Crystal Beach I hear that Stingaree is also open too. The Grocery Store in Crystal Beach opened last week.

Yesterday Claybottom Pond at High Island was full of birds . 130 Spoonbills, 30 Black-crowned Night Herons, Snowys, Great Egrets and several hundred White Ibis all just roosting on the north side of the pond out of the wind. We counted 35 alligators including some pretty big ones. Previously the most gators I have counted at one time was 15, but with fresh water in such a short supply I guess others have moved in.

50+ volunteers worked on the woods this weekend and it definitely getting easier to see birds on the ground. They were also removing Chinese privet and replacing it with native trees and shrubs. Wayne Nicholas and family worked on the photo blind in Boy Scout Woods, which definitely needed work. What would we do without volunteers????

Thanks for the update, Winnie!

Coastal Texas Recovery Update

So it's been right at five months since Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast, and with spring migrations just around the corner I've been wondering about how things are looking at the hard-hit bird sanctuaries on Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula.

And as often happens, the answer came along before I even have a chance to voice the question. Last weekend, two members of the TexBirds listserv posted their recent observations from the Bolivar Flats area.

First came this report from Winnie Burkett (who is the Sanctuary Manager for the Houston Audubon Society):

We have been working at Bolivar Flats a lot lately, getting the last run on debris, (no we haven't got it all just all that we will get) getting some of the fences rebuilt and starting to rebuild the vehicular barrier. There have been very few birds on the beach and that started me thinking about why. I looked at the vehicular barrier poles that are left and it hit me "the sand is gone". Over 4 feet of sand was pushed inland and I think all the invertebrates that the birds ate were in that sand. The larva of most coastal invertebrates are mobile so I am sure they will get reestablished it will be interesting to see how long it takes. The birds are still out there but hard to see as they are WAY out there.
Read the rest of Winnie's report...

This post was quickly followed up by some even more detailed observations from Joseph Kennedy. He not only gave a good report on what birds can currently be seen in the area, but also delved into some of the related effects from the storm on native trees, plant fertilization and the local honey bee population.

Winnie's observations closely agree with mine. I have been out there twice now trying to count the evidence of worm/clam availability for the birds. By coincidence, I had taken many pictures of the worm and clam mounds etc just before Ike and have a baseline. I was really unable to find enough evidence of life to take any pictures. Creature holes are far apart. Shorebirds mainly eat little things but if there are no things a little bigger there [are] probably no little things too.

The birds I have seen have been picking rather than probing. They are more nervous and spend much more time moving around looking for a feeding patch.
Read the rest of Joe's report...

If you are the least bit interested in one of the most important stopovers along the Gulf Coast for migrating shorebirds, I urge you to read these two posts. They give a good overview of the current situation in the area and on the affects the hurricane damage may have for the near future.

There are also a few more reports and observations on the status of Bolivar Peninsula from Audubon members on the January Bolivar Bird Count page.