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Although the lake in the Bay Street Park was empty of ducks, it did have two American White Pelicans, a Great Blue Heron, a Great Egret and ten Snowy Egrets. I enjoyed watching the latter running and jumping around, stirring up prey with their yellow feet.
The most common species at the duck pond was American Coot.
The ducks there included a solitary Lesser Scaup, a few Northern Shovelers (below) and several Gadwall (below).
The sky over the park was busy with Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans.
Dee and I were excited to see a male Vermilion Flycatcher hanging out near the parking area. We never fail to be impressed by these stunningly brightly colored birds!
A score of Savannah Sparrows (below) were grazing on the grass while eight Eurasian Collared-Doves (below) shared the trees with Great-tailed Grackles.
Judging by the noise coming from them, the reeds near the lake were full of Red-winged Blackbirds. We didn't see a single Blackbird, though, perhaps because a Red-shouldered Hawk was lunching at the edge of the reeds.
Our picnic over, we drove up to San Jacinto State Park, where I once again spent 15 minutes vainly looking for the Harris's Hawks that have been wintering there. One of these days I'm actually going to see these birds!
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Leaving the dike, we drove along the top of the levee to reach Texas City Bay Park. The strip of water between the levee and park was busy with wading birds: Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, White Ibis and Roseate Spoonbills.
Just before reaching the park, we passed a Belted Kingfisher and then disturbed a Red-tailed Hawk.
We picnicked on a bench, surrounded by huge totem poles (carved by Boy Scouts) and looking over the lagoon that runs along one edge of the park.
One of the trees nearby had a fine Red-shouldered Hawk.
Other trees had Loggerhead Shrike, Eastern Phoebe and a pair of Eurasian Collared Doves.
Most of the birds, however, were in and around the lagoon.
The water's edge had Savannah Sparrows as well as Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.
Yellowlegs
A Spotted Sandpiper flew off as I approached but a Snowy Egret was less skittish.
The most common birds on the lagoon were American Coots, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Pied-billed Grebes, Gadwalls and Lesser Scaup.
Northern Shoveler
There were also other types of duck present. Although I didn't have a scope with me, I was able to pick out Ruddy Ducks, American Wigeons, Blue-winged Teal and Green-winged Teal.
Green-winged Teal
When I totaled the birds that we had seen along the dike and in the park, I was surprised to find that we'd seen 45 species in less than two hours. So apart from the area being much more attractive than we had expected, it was also very productive for birding. We'll certainly be heading down there again before too long.
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Dee and decided to take advantage of the good weather to drive over to a site we've never visited before, the Texas City Dike. It would also be a good opportunity to try out my new zoom lens.
When we arrived in Texas City, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the area was not the mass of oil refineries and other industrial buildings that we were expecting. In fact the road to the dike went through some attractive farmland. The view at the dike itself was also much better than we expected, although part of the shoreline was taken up with refinery buildings.
Both sides of the 5 mile-long dike had Double-crested Cormorants, Forster's Terns and three types of Gulls: Laughing, Ring-billed and Herring.
There were also plenty of both Brown and White Pelicans, always fun to watch.
The right hand side had the first Buffleheads and Common Goldeneyes that we've seen for a while.
Buffleheads
It also had half-a-dozen Common Loons.
The only songbird we noticed was a solitary Savannah Sparrow, seeming oddly out-of-place two miles from the shore.
Just before the end of our visit, we pulled into a parking area to watch a Snowy Egret and a Great Blue Heron and wound up watching a pair of American Oystercatchers instead.
There was a coldish wind blowing across the water, so we decided to drive along the levee to have our picnic lunch in the Texas City Bay Park, only a little north of the dike entrance. As you'll see from my next post, the park was certainly worth visiting.
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