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.

Birds of Bolivar

October 18, 2015

I rushed to get to the ferry, after sleeping in Sunday morning. I wanted to see check out what birds were hanging out on Bolivar Peninsula. There are many great birding sites there, more than I  would have time to visit. 

I missed the ferry by one car and then had to wait about 20 minutes for the next one. The usual suspects were hanging around: great-tailed grackles, brown pelicans, laughing gulls, and double-crested cormorants. Very few birds were flying because cool north winds were blowing at about fifteen miles per hour. When I went to the top of the ferry, I saw most people in jackets and hats.  I was in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.  I could only handle about fifteen minutes outside at that chill point.

The ferry ride is always interesting, with lots to see.  Foreign ships are always going by, shrimpers are shrimping (in season), a lot of birds are loafing or fishing, and there are pleasure boats speeding about or fishing.  Sometimes one of the cruise boats is coming in or going out. Bottlenose dolphins ride on the bow wave of the ferries or are  just cruising around in the bay.

Galveston Bay Shoreline

A popular park for fishing and birding

I got to look down at a juvenile brown pelican

Birds follow the shrimpers waiting for bycatch

The concrete ship, the S. S. Selma which has been here since 1922

A very colorful boat - not sure of its function, but it was working in place

It was 8:30 when I got to Bolivar so I immediately started birding, with the plan of going as far east as I could before noon. Frenchtown Road was nearly empty of birds. I stopped at Fort Travis Park and found the most amazing birds of the day - over 100 marbled godwits, feeding in the lawn grass. I continued on to Yacht Club Basin and Roll-Over Pass before I ran out of time. I never made it to one of the best birding places, Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary.

One of about 125 marbled godwits I found at Fort Travis Park

They were feeding in huge groups - I counted 111 in only three groups 

One of a group of seven cattle egrets - they are leaving cattle fields
and gathering on the coast to migrate

Naptime for Forster's terns and laughing gulls

A few royal terns were with the gulls and Forster's terns

This juvenile was the only American white pelican I saw - with a few marbled godwits

I saw a dozen avocets in their winter prison garb

Another juvenile brown pelican  - this time from below

My impression was that there were fewer species of birds than normal, as well as fewer of each species. But the winds were high and there were lots of people around, so perhaps the birds were hiding. The tide was also high which always causes birds to disappear. Hopefully, for both the birds and me, there will be more to see next time. 

For re blogs about birds from around the world, click on the picture below to see the posts on Wild Bird Wednesday.

I'm still in South Louisiana visiting my friend Hulin.  We have gone on a short paddle and Tuesday,  did an 8.5 mile bike ride. He is just getting back to full activity after getting a hip replacement in May. Hope I can be that active at almost ninety-one.

Wild Bird Wednesday - A Visit to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge

On Friday, November 14,  my wrist was healing well from my carpal tunnel surgery and I found I could hold my binoculars and camera, so I could once again visit one of my special places, Anahuac NWR. This refuge is on the Upper Texas Coast and is only a few miles from High Island, one of the top ten birding destinations in America. It is a winter vacation land for geese, ducks, waders, raptors and some passerines, including vermillion flycatchers. The weather also cooperated, giving an afternoon of good light and warming temperatures, between the first two cold fronts of the season.

A hunting great blue heron

Loafing birds - how many species can you find?

The common gallinule seems to be in decline here 

A great blue heron hiding in plain view

Neotropic Cormorant

Great Egret

One of over a dozen pie billed grebes

The adult white ibis I saw - but saw over 100 white-faced ibis

A pair of pie-billed grebes were catching the invertebrates the ibis stirred up

There were hundreds of black bellied whistling ducks and scores of these fulvous whistling ducks

Great blue and neotropic cormorants

Swainson's hawk

A western willet showing a hint of his beautiful, patterned wings

The beautiful light on Galveston Bay near sunset

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