Spring on the Central Texas Coast Apr 18—23, 2010
Posted by David Wolf
David Wolf
David Wolf is a senior member of the VENT staff and one of our most experienced tour leaders. After birding the U.S. and Mexico for over a decade, an interest in the wildli...Related Trips
For birders there is simply nowhere else like the Texas coast in April. This is the peak of spring migration and the sense of bird movement is everywhere, as countless numbers of migrants pour northward through the region. The diversity of birds on the move can be stunning, from raptors, shorebirds, and large waterbirds to warblers and many other passerines. Some days they are more numerous and visible than others, but there is always something happening. The best days are those during and following stormy weather, as the last cool fronts of the season move through the region. On these occasions "fallouts" may occur, as birds of a wide variety fight the rain and unfavorable headwinds and magically appear in favored groves of trees, marshes, and other concentration spots. These are the days that Texas birders long for.
Our 2010 Central Texas Coast tour was lucky enough to start off with a major fallout. The previous two days had been stormy and unsettled, with locally heavy rain, but by dawn on April 19 the wind had shifted to the north and the skies were partially clear—the perfect setup. We headed to tiny Blucher Park, on the edge of downtown Corpus Christi, and hadn't been out of the van for more than a few minutes before we knew that a large number of birds were on the move. The "zip notes" of passerines filled the air and soon we were spotting them as they passed low over the trees and buildings. Right in front of us, in perfect light, flocks of 5–20 Indigo Buntings and Orchard and Baltimore orioles flew past every few seconds, most of them colorful adult males. Every now and then a bright red tanager zipped along, or a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, or a kingbird, or even a tiny warbler or vireo. Some briefly landed in the trees, while others flew past us in all directions. We simply stood there and gawked in utter amazement for almost two hours as I kept a rough tally of the numbers seen.
By mid-morning the flight was slowing down, and we hit the park and nearby yards. Now many of the birds were feeding and bathing, moving more slowly. There was something to look at simply everywhere, and by noon we had tallied 18 species of warblers, a Chuck-will's-widow, and a smattering of flycatchers, vireos, thrushes, and other migrants, almost all of them yielding good looks. At lunch I quickly added up my tally of the dominant species: 525+ Indigo Buntings, 225 Orchard Orioles, 50+ Baltimore Orioles, 30 Swainson's Thrushes, and 25 Summer Tanagers! We continued to find birds throughout the day as we worked our way northward to Falcon Point Ranch, including 2 rare Swallow-tailed Kites, and swallows filling the air as far as the eye could see at every stop. Numbers and words, however, do not adequately convey what we experienced. It was exhilarating, it was exhausting, and it doesn't happen often.
Though the numbers and variety of migrants would not be as high in the following days, we found a wonderful variety of shorebirds and other special Texas coast waterbirds. Raptors were a frequent sight and we had many looks at the lovely White-tailed Hawks and comical Crested Caracaras. This region has a definite South Texas element, and we had great looks at Least Grebe, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Great Kiskadee, Couch's Kingbird, and Long-billed Thrasher. Falcon Point Ranch proved to be a great facility for us, with lovely rooms, great food, a most hospitable staff, and centrally located to a variety of birding areas, including right on the ranch. Our time went by all too quickly, but the memories will linger for a long time.