We started off early on Tuesday by walking over to the Houston Audubon Boy Scout Woods Sanctuary. It was just across the street and about 100 yards away from the RV park. During the migration season (April), Houston Audubon has a shelter with volunteers who collect fees and sell birding items. They charge an $8/day fee for a pass or $30 for a yearly patch (a very nice embroidered patch) which gives access to all their sanctuaries. As we hadn't gotten one at Sabine Woods, we opted for the patch. Two days a Sabine Woods and two days on High Island was about the same price.
Actually, we had to come back to get our patches since they hadn't opened the store when we arrived. The gates were open (I don't think they are ever locked) and we went off birding in the woods. Boy Scout Woods is a bit more dense than Sabine Woods, so the birds were a bit harder to find. It was now sunny and warm and two days after the "fallout", so many of the migrants were moving on, but it was good birding none the less. We found 28 species including 13 warblers. One of the highlights was our first Yellow-breasted Chat of the trip. I also spotted a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, but Ellen missed it. Not bad for a morning.
After lunch, we went a couple of blocks down the road to Hooks Woods, a small sanctuary owned by the Texas Ornithological society. We heard that it was very good as well. We were on a hunt for a Swainson's Warbler. After two hours and 20 other species, we finally found one, deep in the woods on the ground. After unsuccessfully trying to photograph it, we headed out of the park, only to have another one pop up right next to the trail. It was a bit more accommodating and even hopped up on a branch only a few feet from us.
The warbler is hard to see because it forages in the leaves on the forest floor. It is basically plain and brown and the leaves are plain and brown. This seems to be the case with the ground dwelling forest birds, but we seemed to have been pretty lucky with others as well, spotting Swainson's Thrush, Wood Thrush and Ovenbird on our quest. We hear Ovenbirds all the time at home, particularly at Wompatuck State Park in the summer, but almost never see them. On this trip we've seen five of them so far.
After Hooks Woods we returned to the High Island RV Park in mid-afternoon to wind down and take showers. The park has about 25 RV sites and several tent sites, but only a single bathroom with toilet and shower. It is a bit of a challenge to not have a long wait.
After dinner, we were sitting around reading with the side door open as there was a nice breeze. It had gotten dark and I looked up as a mozzie flew by. Uh-oh! I quickly closed the door and when I looked up at the ceiling above the driver's seat, it was carpeted with mosquitos. The battle was on as they were starting to move towards the back of the van.
We turned the skylight fan on high and got out the Thermacell insect killing machine. I left the Thermacell on the table in the front as it put out its allethrin fog. Meanwhile, we squashed the few who were making it to the back. Most of them moving towards the backwere sucked onto the fan's screen and couldn't escape as the air flow was too strong. Carnage ensued as repeated wiping of the screen decimated the horde. The Thermacell took care of the rest. We had a mosquito-free van once again and a lesson relearned...close the door when the sun goes down.
Today, we checked out of the RV park and drove over to the Smith Oaks Sanctuary. We spent all morning and much of the afternoon there. It is much larger than Boy Scout Woods and also has several ponds, one with a sizable heron, spoonbill and cormorant rookery. It was not as abundant in the woods, but we still managed 37 species for the day including hundreds of Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets and Neotropical Cormorants nesting at the rookery, many with chicks. Lots of downy egret chicks...and several alligators waiting along the banks of the rookery island for any inattentive adults or falling birds.
We left High Island and headed west down the Bolivar Peninsula, stooping at the Big Store (and practically the only store) for a few groceries. We have ended up at the county beach campground at Bolivar Flats. There is Houston Audubon shorebird sanctuary at west end of the beach. We had picked up a Bolivar Beach Permit at the Big Store ($10/year) which allows us to drive on the beaches. We've stopped at the free camping area on the beach for the night. We were a bit leery of camping on the beach after bogging down in the soft ground in the Winnie County Park the last time we were near here, but the beach is quite hard-packed and cars, trucks and RVs seem to be having no problems. There is a porta-loo, but no other facilities, however we have a full water tank, full batteries and lots of sunshine predicted for our solar panels, so we should be fine.
Tomorrow morning, we will spend time at the shorebird sanctuary. We've timed it right since low tide is around 8am. In the afternoon we hope to walk along the road to the marshes we passed on the way in. We took a stroll down the beach to see how far the sanctuary entrance is and managed to spot a dozen species of shorebirds and gulls...with a few Brown Pelicans and a Great-tailed Grackle thrown it.
No comments:
Post a Comment