California

I traveled for work again but this time to California. A team from Sandy Alexander was making a presentation for a potential client and I was there to talk about data security. The hotel was close to Polliwog Park and you can imagine my delight at seeing at least 50 hummingbirds buzzing around feeding on the blooming Bottle Brush. After the client presentation, it was dinner on the Redondo Pier where I scanned for birds and saw many Brandt’s Cormorants amongst the gulls and pelicans. My coworker Jack Emery, a marketing guru, was giving me a ride to the airport the next morning and I talked him into another stop at Polliwog Park. He was amazed at the hummingbird spectacle and has been back a couple of times since but it was nothing like that day.

Texas

Migration has been a little slow in Florida so Mike has been monitoring eBird and the Weather Channel, looking for possible migration fallout along the Texas Gulf Coast. There seemed to be a storm system approaching so we booked a last-minute flight from Tampa to Houston, leaving after work on Friday, April 10^th.

We got up early the next day for the drive east to High Island, one of the most celebrated bird sanctuaries in the U.S. There were already dozens of birders onsite by the time we arrived around 8:00 am. The Houston Audubon had arranged with Tropical Birding to bring in top guides to provide free tours of the facility during the busy migration season and we were happy to join several groups this day. Our first tour was through the Boy Scout Woods where we found Inca Dove, Chimney Swift and Summer Tanager. Next, we went down the road to the Hooks Woods Sanctuary and got nice looks at Acadian Flycatcher and Northern Waterthrush, along with Kentucky, Tennessee and Cerulean Warblers.

We had a really nice barbecue lunch prepared by the marvelous ladies of the St. Matthews  Methodist Church. In the afternoon we joined a guided tour to the coast, stopping first at Rollover Pass to find both Bonaparte’s and Franklin’s Gulls as well as Least, Black and Common Terns. Maybe the best stop of the day was the next one where the guides called out a lifer Seaside Sparrow just after we saw a White-Tailed Kite and Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher.

After that, there was still enough daylight left to head back to High Island and Smith Woods for a mad mixed flock containing Blue-winged, Blackburnian, Orange-crowned, and Yellow-throated Warblers among other birds. High Island Sanctuary has definitely lived upped to its reputation for us and is one place any serious birder has to experience at least once in their lifetime. I know for sure that we will be back again someday, hopefully soon. (After working on this blog we booked a trip for this year!)

 

We caught the ferry to Galveston Island just before dark and headed to the Harbor House Hotel, a very cool place located on Pier 21. There are a variety of excellent restaurants on Pier 21 and we walked just across the street to Willie G’s for an awesome seafood dinner. We woke up to a view of a cruise ship that appeared during the night. After breakfast, we walked the pier area and found several of the usual suspects, Herons, and Gulls hanging out by the local fishing boats.

Galveston Island, we soon found out, is a highly underrated birding area. Driving south along the beach we turned onto 8 Mile Road /Sportsman Rd. where over the next two hours, found almost 40 different bird species in the flooded fields and marshlands. The next stop was a little jewel of a place called Lafitte’s Cove which was loaded with Warblers, Orioles, and Grosbeaks, a total of 37 species here, just amazing for such a small sanctuary. Wish we could have stayed there longer, but with a flight to catch, it was time to move on. Stopped for lunch at the Waterman’s Restaurant for great views of the bay and a perfect soft shell crab sandwich, Texas-style.

On the way to the airport we couldn’t help but make one more stop on Galveston Beach. We ended up behind a surf shop checking out the salt marsh and found a lone Gull-billed tern among the many other shorebirds.

This trip to Texas has so far covered less than 48 hours and we have seen so many great birds that we can’t possibly list them all here. There is no place that compares to the Gulf Coast in Texas or Florida during the spring bird migration.

Next up: Grand Circle Tour

Trip : Total Species:   131  Year Birds:  55  Life Birds: 1

2015 : Year Birds: 231   Life Birds: 6

Here’s the list: 2015 Bird List