This past weekend we were visiting family in Houston and decided to leave a few days early to take the kids to the beach in Galveston and the Houston Space Center. During contract negotiations about itinerary I managed to preserve one morning of birding. Friday morning (my favorite time to bird by the way) I headed out early knowing I only had a few hours. I grabbed a quick Texas-shaped waffle, yogurt, and coffee from the hotel lobby just as it opened and headed for the car. I pulled out of the parking lot to this sunrise.
Not sure what the saying is but I'm going with "Red sky at night, birder's delight." My plan was to hit about four spots on the Upper Texas Coat (UTC) Birding Trail that were on the island within ten or so miles from the hotel. The first stop, toward the city, held twice as many transients as birds (2 homeless men - 1 pelican). Without getting out of the car, I quickly moved on to my next spot which was scheduled to be a location on the bay between the airport and Moody Gardens. Unable to find it and losing valuable time, however, I kept traveling West on the island on a commercial street through the center of town. As business became fewer and father in between, I began to notice a few more birds but at this point I was worried that it was going to prove to be a very uneventful day of birding. Not long after, however, a large Crested Caracara took off from some tall grass in an open field to my right. As I pulled over he alit on a telephone pole granting me a few nice pictures.
With my hope restored I continued on the road until the turn off to my next stop, a section of agricultural fields and marshes stretching out toward the bay. Brown Pelicans and Laughing Gulls continued to fly overhead and a few Eastern Meadowlarks briefly popped up on to grass stalks and fence posts. On of the more common birds that day, Willets crossed to road and called down to youngsters from telephone poles.
As I continued down the road the tall grass on both sides of the road were dotted with various egrets and herons. As I past one turn in the road I came across a small pond that almost abutted the pavement. To my surprise nearly every type of wading bird I could have expected to see was sharing the water. I rolled the car to a stop, rolled down the windows, and shut off the engine. The 50 or so birds for the most part ignored me. For half an hour I was able to watch and listen as the birds ate, bathed, and communicated with each other, each in their own evolved way.
A Roseate Spoonbill made its way through the shallower parts moving its large bill from side to side.
Undeterred as he was forced to move around a Great Egret.
A Reddish Egret pranced through the water in its unique feeding dance.
Its shaggy neck feathers fluffing up as other birds approached his space.
Eventually, the spoonbill flew away and I decided to move on to see what else I could find in the time I had left that morning. On the road back I finally stopped to take a picture of one of the hundreds of White Ibises I had seen that day.
In the next field over a Cattle Egret shared a pasture with a grazing cow.
At the entrance to a nature preserve a pair of Loggerhead Shrikes were perched on the rail to the boardwalk. I saw quite a number of these birds that morning which was great because I had seen only one around Austin in the last year.
By this time, I needed to return to the hotel. After picking up the family, I wanted to drive back by the pond to see if the kids could see all the different types of large wading birds. Unfortunately, fishermen had come and the birds had scattered. We drove a little further down to where the road ended at the bay and the kids got out of the car to stretch before the drive back to Houston. In the five minutes we were standing on the rocks looking out at the bay I saw two birds I missed in the morning.
First, a Magnificent Frigatebird flew overhead.
And as we got back into the car I noticed the distinct orange bill of an American Oystercatcher in the grass to my right.
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