Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula

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Saturday morning we drove down to Galveston for a weekend of birding.

We started with a disappointing visit to the Corps of Engineers Wood. The main path was so overgrown that it was difficult to reach the observation deck and all we saw were common birds.

We therefore took the ferry over to Bolivar. As usual, the ferry ride provided good views of Pelicans and Laughing Gulls.

No Magnificent Frigatebirds showed up on this trip and we had to make do with watching a Sandwich Tern fishing on each side of the ferry's bow.

We also saw a score or more dolphins. Boy, are they hard to photograph!

The shorebird sanctuary on Bolivar was a disappointment, too, because most of the beach was impassable by car. However, we were able to watch several Ruddy Turnstones and a couple of Willets.

We headed to Rollover Pass, always a great place for gulls, terns, waders and shorebirds. However, the main road on Bolivar was blocked by an overturned cement truck and so we had return to the ferry. We stopped at Fort Travis for a picnic lunch on the way. 

Back on Galveston, Lafitte's Cove had a few migrants, mainly at the main drip: Northern Parula, Pine Warbler (below), Hooded Warbler (below), American Redstart (below), Black-and-while Warbler (below), Hooded Warbler and White-eyed Vireo.

The ponds at Lafitte's were empty of shorebirds but several Snowy Egrets were fishing, while a pair of adult Black-bellied Whistling Ducks kept an anxious eye on their ten ducklings.

Our final bit of birding for the day consisted of a drive along Sportsman's Road. As always, the marsh beside the road had Roseate Spoonbills, Tricolored and Great Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, and White Ibis. Unfortunately, the new camera I used to photograph these jammed and I wasn't able to recover the photos.

Luckily, I used my old camera to get a couple of photos of an Osprey perched on a utility pole.

After this we decided to call it a day and headed for our motel in Texas City, after an excellent early dinner at Mario's on the Seawall. Our plan for Sunday was to spend some time on the Texas City Dike before going back to look for migrants at Lafitte's Cove. A cold front was forecast and it was sure to bring in some more migrants. Or was it?
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Injured Hummingbird

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While I was at work on Monday, I got a call from a colleague telling me that he and his daughter had found an injured hummingbird. I went over to where they were and saw they had a juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird with a damaged wing. I initially advised them to leave it on the ground. However, back in my office I checked and found that there is a wildlife center in Houston that can handle injured birds. So I picked up the bird and took it home.

Deanne and I kept it alive until the following day by persuading it to drink sugar water via a flower from our red firespike plant.

It wasn't long before the bird had recovered sufficiently to start actively demanding more sugar water.

Every now and then it would get a little confused and would try to drink from Deanne's red-painted nails.

Yesterday we were able to drop the bird off at the Wildlife Center of Texas, where licensed rehabilitators will take care of it. 

As we entered the Wildlife Center, we were met by a Red-tailed Hawk, which greets all visitors.

We were also checked out by an Eastern Screech Owl, which lives at the reception desk.

In case you live in our area and ever come across an injured native bird or other animal, here are contact details for the Wildlife Center of Texas:
7007 Katy Rd., Houston, TX 77024       Tel: 713-861-9453
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Houston Area Woodpeckers

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I probably get more questions from non-birder friends and acquaintances about woodpeckers than about any other type of birds. So let me give a quick overview of the woodpecker species that people are likely to see around the Houston area.

Year-round we have five species of woodpeckers in our area. Two of these are very common residents in our woods, parks and yards: the Downy and the Red-bellied.

Downy Woodpeckers are small (c. 6.75") black-and-white birds. The male and female are very similar in appearance, except that the male has a little patch of red feathers on the back of his head. I would be surprised if a day ever went by without a Downy visiting the suet feeders in our yards. 

The Red-bellied Woodpecker is much larger (c. 9.25") and much noisier. The female has red on the back of her head and neck while the male has red from above its bill to the back of its neck. Because of this red, most non-birders mistakenly call it the “red-headed woodpecker”.

So why is it called “Red-bellied”? Well, if you look carefully, you will see that it has a red/pink patch of feathers on its belly.

About the same size as the Red-bellied Woodpecker is the Red-headed Woodpecker. This is a much less common visitor to yards, although it can be seen fairly easily in most of our area parks. As you can see from the photo below, it certainly deserves its name.

The fourth of our residents is the Pileated Woodpecker, which generally lives in more mature woods. At over 16” tall it is almost twice as big as its Red-bellied and Red-headed cousins. Its call is distinctive, being similar to the laughing call produced by Woody Woodpecker.

The fifth resident woodpecker in our area is the rarest of all: the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. This endangered species is found only in mature pine forests, such as W G Jones State Forest near the Woodlands. Its nest cavities are in live pines and they are surrounded by sap, which the birds keep flowing in order to protect the nest from the attention of snakes and other predators.

In addition to our five resident species, two other woodpecker species appear all over our area every winter.

One is the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which spends the winter months in our parks and yards.

The other common winter woodpecker is the Northern Flicker, a very handsome bird that frequents many of our parks. Unlike other woodpeckers, Northern Flickers can often be seen on the ground, where they hunt for and eat ants.

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Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge

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We had lunch in the old visitor center building. The Barn Swallows that spend the summer here had all left but their bowl-shaped nests remained.

I was surprised to see, though, that Cliff Swallows had also nested here, as evidenced by the gourd-shaped nests they had left behind.

The butterfly garden was busy with Gulf Fritillaries feeding on Turk's Cap.

The Turk's Cap was drawing in numerous Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, too.

Here as elsewhere on the refuge there were many dragonflies.

Shoveler's Pond was looking beautiful, partly because of the presence of water lilies.

As usual, Great Blue Herons were fishing at the edge of the pond.

So, too, were Tricolored Herons and Great Egrets.

I initially took this to be a Great Egret. Then I realized it was a Cattle Egret.

The most numerous birds on the water were Common Gallinules. Many of them were in family groups.

Earthen berms further back in the pond were covered in scores of resting Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. I was disappointed not to see any Fulvous Whistling Ducks among them - until I noticed several swimming among the lilies, much nearer to hand.   

Although I was too slow to get a photo of an adult Purple Gallinule, several juveniles were less secretive.

On our circuit of Shoveler's Pond we were surprised to see only a couple of alligators, compared to the twenty or so that we had seen on both of our previous recent visits to Anahuac.

Our final sightings were of Forster's Terns fishing the edges of the pond and of a Laughing Gull (below) resting by the side of the road.

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