Birding with Laurel: Bolivar Peninsula

January 5, 2020 afternoon


We planned to spend the afternoon visiting as many birding hotspots as we had time to find on Bolivar Peninsula. This requires a ferry ride and often a wait for the following ferry(s). But we got right on the ferry and prepared to enjoy the ride.

Laurel (far left)  stayed on the bottom while I went up to the top deck

I always get a kick out of the gulls that hitch a free ride, often jumping off to catch a bite

The S.S. Selma a concrete war ship laid to rest here in 1922 - I think she is going to last past my lifetime

A sister ferry

Our birding luck took a turn for the better after we hunted for birds missing from Frenchtown Road and the town of Bolivar. We went to the Bolivar Jetty, which faces east and is the place to get  afternoon pictures of some of the birds that use Audubon's Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary.  I thought we were going to be mostly skunked again.  Most of the birds were either very distant or were western willets. But then, it seemed the dinner bell rang, and birds started flying in to join the willets feeding there. We spent an enjoyable few hours taking lots of pictures of the same birds in different poses.

This was probably a fourth of the group of white pelicans - one of the few birds that seem to be holding their own

A Forester's tern offered to give me practice chasing flying birds

Resting laughing gull (l) and ring-billed gull

Then the cafe opened and more birds started showing up

I couldn't quite make our what this long billed curlew was saying

Lesser yellowlegs,  marbled godwit, western willets and laughing gull

We caught greater and lesser yellowlegs together.  The bill of the lesser is about the same length as the diameter of the head, while the bill of the greater is about one and one-third the diameter of the head. 

Marbled godwit and greater yellowlegs

Willets and greater yellowlegs - I probably saw at least twenty willets here

Incoming marble godwit

Long-billed curlew and godwit

Several flocks of avocets flew in, fed a few minutes, and flew back to the sanctuary -
ring-billed gull and greater yellowlegs in background

A few black-necked stilts liked the avocet hangout

Love those prison uniforms

Marbled godwit and lesser yellowlegs

We still had a little time left so we stopped by Fort Travis.  I was full of people enjoying the outdoors but not many birds. We mostly birded our way to and from the restroom but picked up a few new species.

Immature double crested cormorant

Long-billed curlews enjoy feeding in the lawn grass

The ship channel is always fun - but it was Sunday and these boats were at rest. 

Starlings are still doing fine everywhere but I usually don't photograph them

The following day, we completed our tour with a visit to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. We were not able to get there until the sun was high and had very few birds with the exception of black bellied whistling ducks, roseate spoonbills, and northern shovelers. My Facebook post is here.