So much for the weather report, as I know you wanted to know how we were doing and how the bird count is going. Well, in spite of the rain (or maybe because of it) many birds were down on the ponds and puddles created by the rain, which made for birding of a different sort. We looked for them along the rural roads and fields. We did find a bunch.
It was not all birds as there was anabundance of these Lantana along the roadsides and windbreaks.
After staying in the trailer during the worst of the rain, we ate lunch and ventured out in a light rain to see what we could see. Between our campground (the SW end of the Island) and the city of Galveston, there are many developments especially on the "bay" side or back side away from the Gulf. You know, the kind near the Ocean that have tall 10' stilts to hold them up. These are plopped in between non-developed land, often soggy, and used for cattle or lying fallow getting ready for a real estate sale for development. These are where the birds were today as ponding in fields means the food was stirred up by the rain, and seeds float and worms have a hard time staying in the ground. (My theory anyway). I am sure there are arthropods and other "goodies" in that water.
We headed down these narrow, often gravel roads to see what we could see. Every once in a while a bird species would surprise us, like the three Northern Shrikes we saw one after the other. On a family front lawn, a large flock of White Ibis' were feeding in the grass. (see)
Another surprise was, when we were quite a way off the main roads, there was a golf course that had potential. Near there were; a Roseate Spoonbill, three Snowy Egrets and a Neotropic Cormorant, working a rushing torrent of fresh water that was draining a subdivision into the Ocean on the bay side. (That is different from our "Northern" Cormorant, called the 'Double Crested')
The Roseate Spoonbill on the left is a beautiful bird and easy to spot a great distance away due to its coloration. Behind it is the churning water that the Cormorant and the Egrets were working over for food. Note the bill of the R.Spoonbill.
Below is the campground today during the rains that fell. The campground is sandy so after 3-4 hours of no rain it was quite devoid of puddles and ponding.
A few of the species today besides the ones mentioned were; Black Bellied Whistling Duck (Never saw one of those, I'll bet) , Redheads, Coots, Gadwalls, Shovelers, Blue Winged Teal, and Scaups in the duck families. The ubiquitous Laughing Gull was all around, and on that golf course in a distance working a ponded green were two Black Necked Stilts and a Marbled Godwit. Now that WAS a surprise. Even the sand traps were water filled. The total today in all the rain was an excellent total of 32 different bird species. All that without getting out of the truck , but for a few times when I wanted to get a closer look.
which we saw and did a "double take"and turned around to get another look, They were in the front yard of a store on the main highway (3005), where there was a ponded front yard.
On the right is a bird we had seen only once before. Not a terrific shot, but it is a White Tailed Kite, which is a member of the Accipitridae family, or, we should say ..."It is a Hawk".
So a great start to the birding part of the trip, and a chance to get into the surrounding land to see the birds that come through this wonderful place on the Gulf. We do not know what tomorrow will hold so we will make the best of it. -Jim
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