Day 9 Birds at the Refinery!

The Texas City Refinery from the Dike

Yes, that is right! We birded at the refinery. Last night I mentioned the Texas City Refinery (a multi corporate owned set of buildings and towers) and today we did our birding in, around and near that complex. As the refinery is situated right on Galveston Bay and the ships and barges have to traverse by the dikes, and on the canals and passageways to the port, that means they have encroached on the natural and historic habitats of the wildlife in that vast area. The main canal was dug in 1889 at 8 feet deep ,.Over the years it was redug to meet the ships sizes to 12, 25, 30, 38, and now 50 feet deep. These ships are huge today.

"Bad Hair Day" for the Merganser--

Starting at the south end of the complex across from the bridge to Galveston, we stopped along both sides of the road there and began our survey the ponds on both sides of the road. That road took us directly through the refinery grounds and by the official Port of Texas City. It led to a 5.5 mile long dike that heads out to Galveston Bay. It is huge! The road and dike were built to guide the flow of water through the Bay to the Ocean. It has been added onto in width almost every year. And today there were trucks bringing more fill and huge, above ground 6 foot in diameter “pots” in which to plant trees. It is a great fishing spot as it practically “touches” ships going in and out of the Bay and the Ship Canal. We ate our "picnic" lunch along the dike and watched a large flock of Black Skimmer mixed in with Laughing Gulls, Sanderlings and those Common and Forster’s terns. Nice lunch treat!
One special group of birds we saw in the ship canal, were a number of rafts of Eared Grebes,100-200 in number, which we have seldom seen. The day began to open up with the early clouds starting to part. By the time we arrived, later, at the trailer, it was sunny.
The second last leg of the day was along the Hurricane dike that stretches for many miles on the east bank of the wetlands. From that vantage we saw some American Pipits, and a group of Bonaparte Gulls. This dike is well groomed with sloping sides down on both sides ending some 30 feet below the road level.
---The Hurricane Dike at Texas City

Finally we looked for and found (Jim skids to a stop) the Texas Prairie Chicken Preserve right off highway 146. This Preserve was created to help reestablish the Attwater Prairie Chicken whose number have been as low as 50 individuals in the last 20 years. Without a breeding program they would have been extinct already. The Center was not open but we talked with the administrator and learned that ongoing work is being done on this 2,203 acre plot donated by the Mobil Oil Co in 1996, with a $2.2 million donation. See this site for a look at the Attwater Prairie Chicken. http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/preserves/texascity.html
The other birds we saw today (not already mentioned) were: Brown Headed Cowbird, Belted Kingfisher, Mourning Dove, Common and Great Tailed Grackle, Northern Mockingbird, Snowy Egret, Double Crested Cormorant, Pied Billed Grebe, Green Winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egret, Brown and White Pelicans, White Ibis, Coot, Royal and Caspian Terns, Great Blue Heron, Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead, Purple Martin, Pintail Duck, Starling, Blue Winged Teal, Willet, Common Golden Eye, Common Loon, the Herring, Ring Billed and Glaucous Gulls, Red Breasted and Hooded Mergansers, Common Tern, Semi- palmated Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, Northern Shrike, Cattle Egret, and the Bonaparte Gull.
That ended the day’s exploration and as usual Ruth downloaded the pictures, and sorted the shots. The tabulations are taken in the field as we move along or hike a trail. Today was close to the vehicle all day. (Water sites mostly)
The day was a bit cooler as the High Pressure slides by south of us and tomorrow we shall see some increase in temps when the winds shift to the south. Weather predicting is quite easy here for the most part. (Says Jim)

Tomorrow we will explain how we set up the camers, use the binoculars and the telescope for viewing. It's not rocket science.
Thanks for the encouragement for the Blog and I am sure the weekend will find others reading it when there may be more time. May the days begin to warm”Up North”. Y’all enjoy the weekend, --Jim and Ruth