Birding with Laurel: Galveston Island

January 5, 2020 - morning

Laurel and I left most of our upper coast birding for last, as I was going to be Natalie's house sitter while she went to be with her daughter for her grandson's birth. I figured we could easily bird as long as we got back in time to let the dogs out.  I was pretty sure we could get the early parts of our tour in before that happened. We started our last four tour days with a visit to Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula birding hotspots.

As usual for this tour, I promised many more birds than I could deliver. We stopped at Lafitte's Park on the way to Galveston Park and found only a handful of birds. Often the ponds outside the boardwalk part of the park can keep me entranced for a half hour.  This day they only had a pair of ring billed ducks.

A ring-billed male  duck 

And his female

On  the other side of the pond, around the block, we did find a healthy number of sleeping black crowned night herons. I took a picture of one right by the road.

Black crowned night heron

There were NO birds visible at the start of the boardwalk. We have seen up to five species together there.  We walked on to the large pond and only found a great blue, a pair of buffleheads, and a trio of white ibis.

Great blue heron and bufflehead pair

The back pond only held another bufflehead pair and we found no birds along the walks. This place is best in migration, but we usually find hawks, doves, and small wintering birds here. 

In only a few minutes, we proceeded on to Galveston State Park where I got to visit with my friend who was on duty there. We couldn't access the beach - it is closed for two years as the park gets rebuilt with a permanent visitor center.  But we looked high and low elsewhere until we were too depressed to continue. 

I practiced chasing flying birds on this Forester's tern

Just before we left, I spotted a bird in a bush and walked out far enough to find it was a white tailed kite, one of my favorite wintering Texas birds.  It was kind enough to come closer and stoop, giving me several pictures.

White tailed kite

Stooping

Another picture in the stooping series

That's all folks.  We saw a couple of grebes and a few white ibis through grass but nothing else that was close.  We did see a few little birds but didn't chase them.  And this in a place where a morning walk usually brings in twenty or more species. 

However, I checked back on my blogs on Galveston Island State Park and found I was already complaining of missing expected birds. Check that visit from 2015 here. 

Our day continued with a ferry ride to Bolivar Island and finally to the Bolivar Jetty where we had enough birds to entertain us for a few hours. Stay tuned. 

One of my favorite spring visits to this park gave us forty-seven species and includes one of my favorite bird group picture. Click here for that blog. 

Birding at Galveston Island State Park

Last spring, I met a lady that was photographing birds in South Texas.  She was just starting to enjoy birds and asked me lots of questions. My friend, Winnie, an avid birder and I invited her to join us.  We were birding at Estero Llano Grande State Park, part of the World Birding Center network.

We stayed in touch, and just before I left Galveston,  I got a message from her that she was in town and wanted to go birding.  I suggested we meet at the Texas City Dike, and she suggested 8:30 AM.   I arrive early and take some pictures in good light.  After I was almost ready to stop looking for photographic birds and go to our meeting place, she called and suggested we bird at Galveston State Park.

The following pictures were from the birding loop that starts just before the dike.

White pelicans

Juvenile black crowned night heron

Roseate spoonbill greeting  sunrise

We met at the Nature Center at the park and immediately starting birding.  We began with the little trail behind the center.  Some very shy pied bill grebes dove and then hid as soon as we arrived at the pond, but these mottled ducks were more cooperative.

Next, we slowly drove through the bay side of the park, stopping often to look at birds. It was fun to see our largest heron together with one of our smallest.

Great blue and tricolored herons

Osprey with fish

White ibis fighting over feeding territory

A reddish egret

White ibis

Juvenile yellow-crowned heron

There were so many monarchs flying and feeding, that I was constantly thinking I was seeing a bird flying, but it then saw it was just a monarch.  Goldenrod is coloring up whole fields and is an important source of nectar for the migrating butterflies.

Monarch on goldenrod

Sparrows have barely started arriving. The only sparrow I could see enough to identify was the lark sparrow below.

This was another high tide day, so we missed many species that are usually found on the mud flats on the bay side. And I had to leave before we got to really explore the beach.

Lark sparrow

Birds were still in short supply.   I was hoping for the pair of white-tailed kites that are found here in winter, but apparently, they too have not yet arrived. (I checked eBird, and found one was reported a few days earlier.) We would have found a few more species on the Gulf side, but ran out of time before we could even get started.

If you bird here,  start on the Gulf side first.  There are more birds on the beach before the joggers and beach-goers arrive. Texas was the first state to map out birding hot spots. Galveston State Park is on the Galveston Loop map which will give you a day or two of great birding.

When this blog comes out, I'll be playing with my friend, Laurel in South Carolina.  Then I'll get to meet a blogging friend for a paddle in North Carolina before checking in on my job the following Monday.  Stay tuned for reports of my adventures and my new home at Alligator River NWR.

For more wild bird blogs from around the world, click on the picture  below.