Wednesday, November 26, 1997
Ahh! April, the birding season on the Bolivar Peninsula is in full swing. The birding season ? What is the birding season ? Well, to me, the birding season is spring, when birders from all over the world head for the Upper Texas Coast for spring migration. They come hoping to see a fallout, those amazing events when neotro pical migrants rushing northward are stopped on the Texas coast by adverse weather. They also come to see the tens of thousands of shorebirds that stop in the mudflats, prairies and rice fields, and to see the large numbers of gulls, terns, pelicans, heron s, egrets and spoonbills that nest on the islands in the coastal bays. Who can blame them for coming? The birding is spectacular.
The season lasts from early March to early May, when everyone goes home, or somewhere else to bird. Being a Bolivar Peninsula addict, I don't quite understand this phenomenon. In May, migration is still going on. There are fewer northers and fewer fallouts, but the fallouts that do happen can be spectacular some of the best fallouts ever recorded have happened in May. There have been days when thousands of birds have filled the woods and fields. One Mother's Day I found a tree with 36 Empidonax flycatchers feeding in it. What a sight! I couldn't identify even one. After mid-May, I see few birders on the Peninsula, but there are still lots of great birding opportunities. Yes, it is hot, but the coast is the coolest place in Texas in early summer.
Summer is the time to "get to know" our breeding birds. The first young birds fledge in early June, and adults vigorously protect them. Sometimes, if the adults aren't around, it's hard figuring out what the young ones are. One day in early June, I was at Bolivar Flats and saw a medium-sized brown tern. Brown tern? I couldn't remember what tern was brown. One of the parents quickly let me know. I was dive-bombed by an adult Forster's Tern. Those parents let me know in no uncertain terms that they didn't want me within a mile of their chick. I probably wouldn't have been able to identify that tern without its parents.
By early June there are young birds with attentive parents everywhere on the Bolivar Peninsula. In the salt marshes, Clapper Rail chicks watch their parents search for fiddler crabs, and Willet parents scream at anyone who looks in the direction of their chicks. Young Black-necked Stilts, who look like fuzz balls on very long tooth picks, probe shallow ponds with their parents, and oystercatcher families explore the shoreline, looking for anything edible.
There are no oysters on the Bolivar beaches, but there are lots of oystercatchers. These oystercatchers eat clams on the mud flats and dead fish on the beach. Some days they will even probe garbage bags left by beachgoers, maybe looking for an oyster poor -boy? Oystercatchers hang around in families for several months. The youn g are easily recognized because their bills are grayish orange or dull orange, not bright like those of adults. There is frequently aggressive interaction between oystercatcher families, the kind that says, "You stay out of our feeding territory!" These in teractions often take place between other shorebirds, too, and make behavior-watching fun.
In July, small colonial waterbirds from all over Galveston Bay bring chicks to Bolivar Flats. At low tide the pools are full of large flocks of waders. Pale pink sp oonbill young feed with their bright pink parents and are regularly joined by hundreds of Snowy and Great Egrets. Klutzy young Reddish Egrets are easy to spot as they stagger around tide pools trying to catch fish. In the middle of the month, terns and gul ls from big colonies on the Galveston Bay islands start to fledge. These parents also bring their chicks out to Bolivar Flats, which is closer to food sources. By late July there may be 50,000 birds on the flats in the evening, half of which are young bird s "hollering" for dinner.
Even on High Island there are baby birds. Of course, you would expect Cardinals and Blue Jays, but Eastern Kingbirds and Orchard Orioles are also common in the sanctuaries during summer. Yellow-billed Cuckoos are present in fairly good numbers, but you do n't see them in the woods, as they are very secretive; you see them as they cross the roads. In 1995, at least one pair of Parula Warblers stayed to nest.
Nesting birds aren't the only birds you see on the Bolivar Peninsula duri ng the summer. You can also see birds which come north to summer in Texas after breeding in Mexico, such as Magnificent Frigatebirds and Wood Storks; you may even see wandering or lost birds. The Curlew Sandpiper that showed up at Bolivar Flats in July, 19 94 and the Masked Booby found in Galveston the same month are good examples of these. A Black-whiskered Vireo was found in the High Island woods one summer. Who knows what else may be stopping by there when no birders are around? I often heard a mysterious singer during a couple of weeks last summer, but never could find him. The call wasn't one which belonged at High Island in the summer, but I never found out where it did belong.
In late July, when it's very hot and very buggy, and you would think there would be no bird events worth witnessing, fall migration begins. Adult shorebirds finished with nesting stop over in the marshes on the UTC on their way south. In July, 1995, the U .S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist, Rick Speer, counted 36,000 shorebirds in Brazoria NWR in one day. There were 4,275 Lesser Yellowlegs, 3,135 Dowitchers, 3,403 Stilt Sandpipers, 7,236 Western Sandpipers, 1,595 Least Sandpipers, 7,605 peeps (those are the small sandpipers you and he can't identify!) and 3,545 Black-necked Sti lts. Now, wouldn't 3,545 Black-necked Stilts be a sight? Altogether that day, Rick had 23 species of shorebirds. Not too bad for July! He also had LOTS of shorebirds in August, too. Alas, fall shorebird migration on the Bolivar Peninsula is witnessed by on ly a few birders, as most are inside snuggling up to the AC.
A Swallow-tailed Kite seen on High Island on July 15, 1995, shows that it isn't only shorebirds which fly south early. By early August, the Orchard Orioles have formed large flocks and the kingbirds have started to leave. A variety of warblers are showing up, but they are not the tired, cooperative birds of spring; you have to work to see these birds. Since it is usually dry in the fall, the best place to look is by water. Purkey's Pond at Boy S cout Woods and the little pond at Smith Oaks are magnets for thirsty birds in the fall. One hot afternoon last fall, ten species of warblers were seen at Purkey's Pond, including Nashville Warblers, Mourning Warblers and Yellow-breasted Chats. Some species , like Mourning Warbler, aren't seen on the Peninsula in spring; you have to go birding in the fall if you want to see one.
Fall hawk migration on the UTC is nothing short of spectacular. I have been to Hawk Mountain and Cape May; what you can see at Sm ith Point, just around the corner from the Bolivar Peninsula, is easily equal to what you see at either of these very famous spots. A large percentage of the Broad-winged Hawk population of North America flies over the Upper Texas Coast. Often, thousands o f these birds funnel through Smith Point, where they are joined by large numbers of accipiters, falcons and Mississippi Kites. Actually, you may see almost anything migrating over Smith Point: Woodstorks, White Pelicans, Snipe, hummingbirds, kingbirds, lo ts and lots of swallows, warblers, flocks of orioles, Dickscissels, butterflies and even migrating dragonflies show up there. The main thing that is lacking is birders. On many spectacular days there are only a few birders, and they can't see everything. W ho knows what is being missed?
Smith Point isn't the only place on the UTC to see hawks in the fall. As many as 200 Broad-wings have been seen over the woods on High Island. Peregrine Falcons, Merlins, Kestrels, Sharp-shinned Hawks, White-tailed Kites and Harriers are regulars on the Bolivar Peninsula. Swainson's Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Harris Hawk and Crested Caracara have also been seen on the peninsula in the fall.
In the fall there aren't too many places in the United States where you can see a greater variety of birds than you can on the Upper Texas Coast. It can be hot and buggy, but it is our own back yard. Great birding.
Fall migration probably ends in December. Ducks, geese, sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers have come to spend the winter. A mo rning in the woods on High Island can turn up just about anything. Mixed-species foraging flocks almost always have Solitary Vireos, Orange-crowned Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. This winter, Golden-crowned Kinglets and Red-bre asted Nuthatches joined the winter residents. Most winters a few warblers who should have gone south will hang around. Often there are several Wilson's Warblers and sometimes a Black-throated Green. Two years ago we even had a Black-throated Blue. Some d ays it is thousands of Robins, and some days it is hundreds of Goldfinches. This winter was a Woodcock winter, with as many as nine seen in one day.
Winter along the coast means thousands of wintering shorebirds at Bolivar Flats, flocks of Bonaparte's Gulls along the coast, Gannets and large flocks of scaup offshore, many species of ducks in the marshes and maybe an odd gull or two here and there. I don't know if we can ever beat this winter's odd gulls Kelp, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed, and Glaucous Gulls.
Enjoy the birding season, but please don't put those binoculars away in May. Unless we are out there looking, we won't know what is around. Keep going down to the Bolivar Peninsula where there are always a lot of birds to watch
The above article and information was reprinted from the Houston Audubon Society The Naturalist Aprin 1996 by Winnie Burkett.