High Island, Texas Apr 13—17, 2008
Posted by Brennan Mulrooney
Brennan Mulrooney
Brennan Mulrooney was born and raised in San Diego, California. Growing up, his heart and mind were captured by the ocean. He split his summer days between helping out behi...Related Trips
High Island, Texas is legendary among North American birders, and with good reason. There are few other destinations that can offer such diversity and exciting birding in a relatively small area. The woodland preserves in High Island and nearby Sabine Pass offer tremendous birding for migrant landbirds; the mudflats of the Bolivar Peninsula, along with the flooded farm fields near Winnie, can hold an amazing diversity of shorebirds; and the wading bird colony at Smith Oaks is one of the great spectacles in North American birding. Further afield, the piney woods of East Texas hold a host of breeding birds that are easily accessed and add a little spice to any trip to the Upper Texas Coast.
Even though we didn't experience a true fallout, or even have any really favorable weather for good songbird migration, we still managed to see 17 warbler species in a single day, and had 20 species for the trip. Some of our songbird highlights were a warbler flock that held Blue-winged, Golden-winged, and Worm-eating; a mulberry tree with male Baltimore Oriole, Summer Tanager, Scarlet Tanager, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak; Kentucky Warbler and Worm-eating Warbler coming out into great light to drink and bathe; and Hooded Warblers hopping along on the boardwalk right in front of us. Swarms of swallows included all those regularly occurring in eastern North America, with great eye level looks at Cave Swallow.
The great thing about birding the Upper Texas Coast in spring is that even if the woods aren't full of warblers, there is still so much great birding that can be done. For example, the day after we saw 17 warbler species we birded the flooded fields near Winnie and the impoundments of Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and were able to tally 27 species of shorebirds in a single day; we saw 31 total on this trip. In addition to all those shorebirds that day, we had great looks at Least Bitterns and Purple Gallinules clinging to and creeping through the cattails. This shorebird "big day" was also an amazing day for rails, with King, Clapper, Virginia, and Sora all making it on the tally sheet.
Our last day at High Island held a special treat, a visit to the wading bird rookery at Smith Oaks. This rookery probably provides the best opportunity for North American birders to experience the sights and sounds of a diverse wading bird nesting colony. Not only is there a great diversity of nesting birds—six species nesting in close proximity—but they are also incredibly close to the lucky observers who can only sit and gape in awe of the wonderful spectacle unfolding right in front of them. Great Egrets had large chicks already and we watched as they competed for food from their doting parents. Tricolored Herons displayed and worked on their nests. Snowy Egrets looked like they had stuck their toes in sockets, as their breeding plumes stuck straight out in a gaudy exhibition of their breeding readiness. But the Roseate Spoonbills were, perhaps, the highlight. It's easy to steal the show when you're bright pink. Often this scarce species is only seen far off, feeding in expansive marshes, but here they are point-blank, less than 100 feet away and in their full breeding colors. We could see each black striation in their improbable spatulate bills, the intensity of their ruby-red eyes, the deep magenta of their carpal bars, and the tangerine color of their tails. We watched as breeding adults chased younger loitering birds, perhaps trying to steal a covert mating. We saw adults exchanging sticks, working on their nest construction, and saw several nests being incubated. It was an unforgettable experience.
To cap off an already fantastic trip, we spent our last morning seeing some of the breeding birds that nest just inland from where we had been looking for migrants. Up in the piney woods we were able to locate many of the common breeders like Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Bluebird, and Prairie, Pine, and Yellow-throated warblers, but the highlight had to be Swainson's Warbler. This species is somewhat of a ghost in migration, and even when singing on territory can be very difficult to observe. We were fortunate to have lengthy close-up looks from the road, as this stealthy denizen of the dense undergrowth belted out his song right in front of us. It was a triumphant finish to a most enjoyable tour.