Anahauc and the Bolivar-Galveston Ferry

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After the chaos of the Smith Oaks rookery, Anahuac NWR was remarkably quiet. The only birds we saw were White Ibis, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, American Coots, Common Gallinules, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, Barn Swallows and a single Great Egret.

However, alligators were plentiful: We saw 15 adults while driving around Shovelers' Pond.

The most exciting sighting came when we stopped at the bridge leading to the boardwalk at Shovelers' Pond. In the water below the bridge were no fewer than 26 baby alligators. (As they were less than 2' long, I assume they had been born early last fall.) We and several other visitors watched fascinated as the babies chased small fish and tadpoles and even caught the occasional bug.

On our way back to the hotel, we took the Bolivar - Galveston ferry.

The Bolivar ferry landing area was busy with Laughing Gulls and displaying Great-tailed Grackles.

White Pelicans lined the breakwater and a couple swam past the ferry.

As the ferry crossed to Galveston, it was accompanied by an odd mixture of birds - Laughing Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants (below), Great-tailed Grackles and Rock Pigeons!

A few dolphins made up our last sighting of the day.

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Smith Oaks Rookery

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After feasting our eyes on the myriad bird species at Rollover Pass, we drove the few miles to High Island to see another spring birding spectacular – the Smith Oaks rookery at High Island.

Several observation platforms look out over islands that are crowded with Neotropic Cormorants and various species of large wading birds.

The Cormorants are generally the least entertaining of the nesting birds. Their main contribution to the scene is to provide a soundtrack of incessant croaking noises.

Great Egrets, beautiful in their breeding plumage, either stand or sit on nests or fly back and forth bringing in nesting materials.

A smaller number of Snowy Egrets are also busy bringing in nesting materials or looking for nesting sites.

For most visitors, however, the undoubted stars of the show are the Roseate Spoonbills. Whether flying in with twigs or arguing over nest sites or picking their way carefully through the trees and bushes, they are always worth watching.

Some of them even manage to take a nap amidst all the noise and chaos of the rookery.

The water around the islands wasn't very busy on this visit but there were a few American Coots, Common Gallinules and Blue-winged Teal (below).

 

If you live in our area and have never been to the High Island rookery, you should definitely try to visit it over the next couple of months. Soon you'll be able to watch the birds sitting on and occasionally turning their eggs. After that there is even more to watch - and listen to - when the young birds appear and require constant feeding.

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Rollover Pass

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Our first stop on Saturday was at Rollover Pass on the Bolivar peninsula.

As usual, there were thousands of birds standing on or around sandbars, while a few other birds were scouring the edge of the beach.

March is always a great month for American Avocets on Bolivar and several hundred were lined up in the water; many were in breeding plumage.

The closest sandbars had a wonderful variety of birds: Brown Pelicans, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, hundreds of Black Skimmers, Marbled Godwits, Willets, Short-billed Dowitchers and a solitary American Oystercatcher. They also had several tern species: Royal, Common, Black, Sandwich, Forster’s and Least. 

From time to time a bunch of Skimmers would take to the air and zoom over the water. Unfortunately, none of them used the fishing technique that gives them their name.

 Royal Terns were lined up on the sandbanks.

Sometimes they and Sandwich Terns would straighten up their necks and, heads high, strut around. 

There were only a few Forster’s Terns.

By contrast, there were scores of Least Terns, many of which were busy looking for lunch.

 

A solitary Willet watched as I walked by.

Most of the smaller shorebirds rushing around on or near the beach were Sanderlings.

However, there were four plover species also: Black-bellied, Semipalmated, Wilson’s and Piping (an endangered species).

 

 

In the distance a white-morph Reddish Egret danced its way through the shallows, trying to stir up fish. A few minutes later, and much closer, a Snowy Egret proceeded to imitate the Reddish.

 

After 30 minutes we tore ourselves away from Rollover and headed to High Island. The continuing southerly winds were likely to mean few migrants would be landing there but we planned to spend some time watching the antics of the nesting wading birds at the Smith Oaks rookery.
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A Weekend at the Coast

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I haven't had time to sort through my photos from the weekend yet. So today I'm posting a quick, illustrated outline of the trip. I'll post more detailed reports later in the week.

We started with a short visit to Rollover Pass, where, as usual, there were thousands of shorebirds, terns and gulls. Unfortunately, most of the birds were on sandbanks well away from the beach. 

We were planning to revisit Rollover the following day, when we hoped conditions would be better. (And they were!)

Later on Friday we dropped in at Lafitte's Cove on Galveston. We had no luck with warblers but there were several species of ducks and shorebirds.

Saturday morning we went to High Island. Boy Scout Woods produced only a Hooded Warbler and a Louisiana Waterthrush but the Smith Oaks rookery was a hive of activity.

Anahuac NWR was quiet for birds. However, there were more alligators than we'd ever seen there before.

The ferry ride back to Galveston gave us good looks at several bird species, including American White Pelicans.

Sunday morning I paid another visit to Lafitte's Cove and this time I was a little luckier. As well as some warblers, I saw lots of Brown Thrashers.

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