Thurs., Jan. 29: arrived in Houston, had no time for birding, but along the freeway in the cloverleaf at Rte 288 & I-610 there was a hunting female plumage Northern Harrier at close range.

Fri., Jan. 30: The day began with dense fog, but Galveston was clear and fairly warm. We were with local birder Don Verser and Dick's brother Jim, in from Tulsa. Our stops were:

1. Washington Park rec. area on Offatts bayou to 10:50. - 15 Common Loons were the highlight here and a Bonaparte's Gull was our only one of the trip..
2. East Beach areas - butterflies (Monarch, fritillary, Red Admiral) and beach birds. We were hunting the large gulls in vain but began to find numbers of waders.
3. Then lunch and the free ferry to Bolivar, docking ~ 2:30
4. We drove around a bit and found some places with good birds including a male Greater Scaup, 2 American Oystercatchers in the oyster beds and a "dancing" Reddish Egret. Then with the tide having come back up enough, we went to the North Jetty and walked out into a wonderland of shorebirds and friends. The numbers were so impressive and much was quite close. Dowitchers were frustrating though as most were silent, even when they flew, but then some Short-billed were definitely heard ( though tails looked dark like Long-billed.) We were surprised at the numbers of American Avocets, then realized a big white smudge farther out was all avocets too. At one point everything became agitated and flew around and the avocets crammed into a really tight grouping and we saw a Peregrine hunting over them. It landed on the jetty and sat awhile.

We went around to the other side of the beach (Bolivar Flats) and saw more big numbers of shorebirds. On the road in we had a Merlin perched on a wire, a F. c. columbarius. Special on the beach were the small plovers: lots of Piping, several Wilson's and Semipalmated. Also liked the knots that came in briefly. There were so many special sights today and a lovely sunset too.

We took the ferry back to Galveston and saw Black-crowned Night-Herons in the lights of the ferry dock.

Sat., Jan. 31: We began this morning at a little city preserve, the Russ Pittman Park. Hummingbird feeders were the big draw. Really nice was a singing male Pine Warbler as well as an immature plus two Rufous Hummingbirds.

Still not knowing what the weather would bring with a forecast of thunderstorms, we went toward Brazos Bend, meeting Mike Gray on the way to the spot where a Couch's Kingbird had been present, but in windy conditions, it was a no-show. We did see geese in a field, Snow and Greater White-fronted with White Ibis mixed in and Sandhill Cranes around.

At Brazos Bend State Park we searched the marsh area that in previous years has hosted Masked Ducks and saw good numbers of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks as well as two Fulvous that were inexplicably diving. Also Cinnamon Teal, many other ducks and water birds, the alligators for which most people know the park and a male Vermilion Flycatcher. We had lunch in a picnic area with various land birds then looked at some oxbow lakes. There were 2 Anhingas, but only Don and Mike saw a Bald Eagle.

With rain finally making a small appearance, we went to Davis Estates road off 762 and Don quickly found the sparrows and we had good looks at 2 Harris's Sparrows. Continuing on this road we saw 40+ Pied-billed Grebes in a tight flock and a little pasture with Brewer's Blackbirds and finally out in a prairie area a huge flock of Snow Geese that came near the road and contained many Ross's Geese.

Sun., Feb. 1: Don and Jim came about 9:30 to lead us down Rte 288 to Freeport and the coastal area of Quintana with the legendary jetties (now with a paved surface!) and a little migrant trap park.

Before reaching the park, the road goes along wetland where there were a lot of Ruddy Ducks and we finally saw two Black-necked Stilts and lucked into a large rail along the near edge. It was apparently a King Rail because of brown feather edging on the back vice gray. In the park there weren't many birds, but we did see a Brown Thrasher and Mike Gray found a rare Ovenbird that the rest of us missed. Driving on, Dick and I saw an immature Cooper's Hawk fly into a tree and perch briefly before moving off. We walked out the jetty, amazed with the warm day and our continued luck with the weather, the rain STILL holding off. Not much activity but we enjoyed close approaches to Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings.

We ate in Freeport and then went to San Bernard NWR. We explored a little on the trail (opposite the Moccasin Lake auto tour drive) where a boardwalk is under construction. It finally began to sprinkle a little here, but was mostly just threatening. birds were quite nice, but not super cooperative. Good birds included a Blue-headed Vireo and a Song Sparrow seen and heard. We drove the auto tour as we began to get more rain. We were totally frustrated trying to get Le Conte's Sparrows and the Sedge Wrens that Jim was hearing. But at the corner we had lots of shorebirds, including the snipe it looked perfect for in one spot, lots of calling BOAT-tailed Grackles and some Canvasbacks. A Marsh Wren even popped up in full view. Back at the trailhead we were greeted by a White-tailed Kite, used the facilities, got directions to start our journey south and said our good-byes. At 5:30 at the entrance we went our separate ways.

Mon., Feb. 2: We woke to cloudy skies in Rockport but the forecast included more rain, gale warnings and small craft advisories. So it wasn't too surprising that our boat trip to see the cranes was canceled. HOW SAD! That immediately meant we would be going to Aransas NWR to look for Whooping Cranes. In general the conditions were terrible, but it wasn't raining too hard when we got to the observation tower and we easily saw the 3 cranes feeding out in the marsh. About 50 avocets below included several coming into breeding plumage. There were a lot of birds on the ocean and each time we looked there were different ones. Big numbers of Eared Grebes were a surprise to us but despite the code in the checklist we had quite a few Horned too. Among the Bufflehead was a female Common Goldeneye. Other additions to the trip list were American Robin and Osprey.

Along SR 35 going back to Rockport we had each Harris's and White-tailed Hawks plus 15 American Kestrels. We wanted a place to eat our lunch with an ocean view, but Goose Island State Park had an entrance fee and we decided to go on to Rockport where the best spot looked to be the public beach which also had a fee, but the $3 seemed worth it for the big numbers of shorebirds visible there and now it was dry. We ate in view of ~300 Marbled Godwits in the surf on the beach headlining the following: Com. Loon 3, Eared Grebe 1, Brown Pelican 3, Double-crested Cormorant 2, Reddish Egret 1, Lesser Scaup 1, Red-breasted Merganser 1, rail (King/Clapper) 1 heard in the marsh behind us, coots, Black-bellied Plover 10, Semipalmated Plover 8, Piping Plover 6 (we looked for Snowy in vain), Am. Oystercatcher 3, Willet 10, Marbled Godwit 300 (and Dick had fun photographing them!), Long-billed Curlew 2 in the grass on the inland side of the park, Ruddy Turnstone 20, Sanderling 50, Least Sandpiper 12, Dunlin 10, Short-billed Dowitcher 9 (though in salt water, they looked dark-tailed in flight, BUT they called a rapid "tu-tu-tu" which is Short-billed), Laughing, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, Caspian Tern 2, Royal Tern 1 and lots of Great-tailed Grackles.

We drove south and around Corpus Christi in the afternoon as the skies cleared, though winds remained. Rte 77 south of Kingsville is super with no development around and lots of wild vegetation. There were several Harris's and White-tailed Hawks. We stopped at the rest area with comfort station south of Sarita where we really knew things had changed as we saw Black-crested Titmice (maybe nest-building) and a Green Jay. Further along a Crested Caracara was flying up the median area.

Tue., Feb. 3: Audubon's Sabal Palm Sanctuary in Brownsville was our goal this morning where we arrived at 9:00 to clear skies with some wind and chilly to start but warming in the sun. The feeders had lots of White-tipped Doves and allowed good looks at a Buff-bellied Hummingbird. The resaca was good but regular birding on the forest trail was tough and we missed a lot recently reported -- most especially the hoped for Tropical Parulas. We were stunned by a Carolina Chickadee that has been a rarity this winter, It was nice to find a Yellow-throated Warbler working the centers of palm trees.

Santa Ana NWR was nice from 2:15 to 4:45, but we got bitten up by nasty mosquitoes that we just weren't expecting. We went around Willow Lake, making sure to check the shrimp plants at the site of the manager's residence (now long gone) where we saw a Buff-bellied Hummingbird and a dark (Pipevine?) Swallowtail. We saw a young Harris's Hawk perched over the trail feeding on some rodent and an adult Red-shouldered Hawk near what we think was an immature. We finally got to see red eyes on the dark ibis (White-faced Ibis); a Yellow-rumped Warbler was an Audubon's; good looks at some things, but still big misses. Other butterflies were Zebra Longwing, probable Julia, Snout Butterfly and various others.

We wanted to get dinner in McAllen then look for Pauraque at Bentsen but got a shock at how the area has grown up with development in the 12 years since we were here. But we went to the center of McAllen as we knew it and had a good meal at a Mexican restaurant and then found a Pauraque on the dike outside Bentsen and heard at least two.

Wed., Feb. 4: We got back to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park before the office opened at 8:00. We went to the resaca and parked. It was chilly enough for gloves. It turned out a lot of people were looking for the Tropical Parula and at one point a friend of the Gambills found it across the area (primitive campground along the resaca), but when a few of us arrived, there were a lot of birds to hunt through and the parula not readily apparent. But I was hearing something parula-like a few trees over and finally had to check it out and found it, softly singing!!! Eventually most saw it and we were SO pleased.

We went back to the entrance and paid the $2 ea. and got a 50c checklist then parked by a trail loop restroom and walked toward #23. There we saw the 2 Black-headed Grosbeaks and several Indigo Buntings, but never caught up with a Blue Bunting even though a male was at #23 about 8:00. We checked the blind, etc. but nothing. We went back to the resaca and ate lunch then took the Rio Grande trail. We only meant to go as far as its resaca but that looks grown up in phragmites and we wound up all the way to the river where a Least Grebe swam away from shore and downstream. Along the trail out a male Hook-billed Kite perched on a snag near us briefly. He was striking with his gray-barred underparts. A female was flying around the resaca in the morning. Also on the trail we caught up with a "Solitary" Vireo and it was a Blue-headed with a strong contrast between blue head and olive back. We were sad to miss the kingfishers and buntings, but it was time to go. We drove out at 1:53 and returned to Harlingen and up Rte 77, seeing lot of hawks and water birds between Raymondville and Kingsville. A weather report on the valley gave precipitation for the month as 1.11" and 1.18" for the year and as there was talk of "an inch of rain Sunday" (Feb. 1), it seems that storm dumped on a really dry area. We assume that was the reason for all the casual water along the road as well as flowers in the grass of the median. The last birds we saw were 9 Sandhill Cranes in small groups heading toward the coast at sunset south of Victoria and a probable night-heron as the light faded.

Thurs., Feb. 5: On our way at 7:45 in light rain. Houston 124 miles. We arrived at the W. G. Jones State Forest in late morning. They were very helpful at the office and there is an active "cluster" of Red-cockaded Woodpecker accessible by mown trail from behind the office. However, it was raining and very few birds were active. We did see trees in various states of use and were surely in their presence, but if I were a woodpecker in a warm, dry hole, I would have stayed there unless very hungry. The bird list has 8 species of woodpecker and all but sapsucker nest. In winter 5 are listed as common while Hairy Red-cockaded and Pileated are uncommon. Still we heard not a peep and saw not a glimpse of any of them. We were cold, the rain continuing and the area really silent after lunch and we called it quits. Jones Forest is close to Houston Intercontinental and I'd like to go back.

This week long trip was a good break from work and we had the opportunity to sample quite a diversity of habitat and especially enjoyed the numbers of birds at Bolivar.

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Send mail to: Dick & Jean Hoffman (djhoff@ix.netcom.com)

Last updated: June 3, 1999