Chasing Birds

 On my last days off, I decided to wander where my spirit moved me and see how many birds I could photograph.  I first went south to San Bernard where there were few birds and none willing to come close enough for pictures. I was only able to get a eastern phoebe along the trails. The ponds only had common gallinules and American coots except for one alligator and two blue-winged teal.  The auto tour felt like Brazoria, with lots of coots, gallinules and blue-winged teal. The most activity was at the viewing platform, which had lots of herons, egrets, ibis, and teal. 

Eastern phoebe

The viewing platform was getting a lot of use

By late morning, I was starving, so set my GPS for On the River Restaurant in Freeport. The meal was delicious.  I checked out the Old Brazos River across the street, but only found a an osprey. Soon I was on my way to Galveston to catch the ferry. 

Osprey

That trip lasted much longer than I expected, as it took three ferries to get all people ahead of me across.  So I ended up crossing at sunset and not getting to bird Bolivar, North Jetty and all the other birding hot spots along the way.  I got excited about eating at Stingaree Restaurant only to find it was closed.  So I checked what other eateries were along the way.  I found a new-to-me Steve's Landing Restaurant.  It didn't have nearly enough wait people for the crowd, but the shrimp tacos were by far the best I've ever eaten. 

Sunset from the ferry

Sleep spot

My goal for the following day was to be at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge at sunrise.  I slept at the rest stop in Chambers County where I enjoyed the lullaby provided by the eighteen wheelers. The sun and I arrived simultaneously at the entrance to Anahuac. I started off the day by watching huge flocks of geese fly out. I had fun driving around the auto tour, although there were fewer birds than I expected. 

Dawn sky filling with birds

A flock of white-faced ibis

A closer view of a white-faced ibis

One of a few visible alligators

A distant view of black necked stilts

A pair of caracaras

I finished up my Anahuac tour by going to frozen point, stopping to photograph the huge flock of black bellied whistling ducks. 

A fly up of black bellied whistling ducks

A pair of very tame neotropic cormorants

I also wanted to find to find the whooping crane that has been spending winters near Winnie, Texas. I used the coordinates provided by e-bird and found it in the same field where it was originally reported. After enjoying some time with it, I went after supper and another night at a rest stop. 

Whooping Crane

My next mission was to find the limpkin reported at Sheldon Lake Reservoir, so I got up in time to make the hour's drive in time for sunrise.  I was a few minutes late, but still got some pretty cloud pictures. I saw another birding couple and went to see what they knew.  We ended up looking for the limpkin for about an hour, while I shared my favorite birding places with them. After about an hour, we found not one, but two limpkins sitting in trees. We moved around to try to get a view that wasn't directly into the sun.  They sat around patiently for several minutes, before  disappearing into the swamp to feed on invasive apple snails.  We were joined by several other birders, including one that arrived after both birds had disappeared.

Sunrise was blocked by clouds leaving this view

The first limpkin flying off

While the second finished up its toilet

By this time, I was hungry and done with birding, so I continued on to spend a couple of days with Natalie and cook a New Year's Eve dinner before driving back to work New Year's Day, 

Happy New Year. Surely this will be the year COVID will become endemic.  Be safe.

Birding with Laurel: Brazos Bend State Park

January 7, 2020

We spent our last four birding days at Natalie's house.  Natalie was able to go birding with us  one day and picked Brazos Bend State Park.  That park still has enough birds to be fun.

Blue winged teal were the ducks de jour

You know birding is tough when coots start looking good

I think this was the only little blue heron we saw on our tour

Common birds looking pretty - Great egret and white ibis

Vermillion flycatcher - one of the few birds holding their own or even expanding their territory 

White ibis

Tricolored heron

We saw ring necked ducks only twice on our tour - but there were several in forty acre lake

A serendipitous find - I practically  fell over an American pipet when I stopped to find a restroom 

We have to take an alligator picture or two here

I saw my first ever black bellied whistling ducks here my first Christmas count in Texas - I think 1990 -
since then,  their population has exploded

This ibis was under the roots of a tree making it possible to get a good picture in bright sunlight

I don't know where the cormorants are - hopefully still up north - but we only saw a few on our tour

When there are few birds, turtles will do

A little orange crowned warbler that made me work hard for this picture

I got separated from my buddies, but they had no problem entertaining themselves

I joined them on the bench and we sat there, recuperating and enjoying the black bellied ducks, when a couple biked past us exchanging hellos. I was in the process of chasing down the orange crowned warbler when I realized they had screeched to a halt and were coming back.  I heard "Marilyn".  I said yes and the woman said, "it's Chuck and Jill. Do you remember us?" I replied, "Chocolate Peanut Butter Unbaked Cookies. " (We had camped together a few decades earlier, and Jill had taught us to make them. ) We enjoyed a visit with them - they were camping at the park-  then they asked me to take a picture with them. We also asked them to take a picture of the three of us.

Jill, Chuck and Yours Truly

The three stooges

We had a wonderful time birding and visiting.  We didn't find either woodcock or snipe, although both had been found on the Christmas count. 

Our adventure will end tomorrow - at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.

Birding with Laurel: South Llano River State Park

January 2- 4, 2020

Laurel and I made our last camp at South Llano River State Park. This is another favorite park, both for birding and paddling on the South Llano River. Friends and I usually spent the first weekend in May there where we caught the lingering sparrows, year round specialities, and the peak of spring migration. I remember it for the hoards of singing Bell's vireos, painted buntings, sparrows and many other species. But it is also a fun winter camping place because it used to be the winter roost of 800+ turkeys.

But alas, it too is suffering bird decline. We saw only seven turkeys, when I was used to seeing them everywhere and having a trio of Toms strut down the trail toward us in full display. When I asked, I was told that the staff only knew of the seven Tom turkeys.

But there are four blinds where birds are fed,  and where there is usually moving water, so even in times of few birds, they are concentrated at the blinds, making for lots of entertainment.

One of the seven Tom turkeys - taken near our camping area

A blackbuck antelope, an exotic species, at the neighboring ranch

View of a put-in the park on South Llano

A bathing field sparrow

House finch

A black crested titmouse

Black throated sparrow

Bather

Another cute field sparrow

House finch

Female and male house finches getting a drink

We had lots of these fast moving guys - black crested titmouse and I finally started getting better pictures of them

View along river trail

I think this is Old Man's Beard, (Clematis drummondii)

One of my favorite views of South Llano River from the river trail

We found several donkeys in the land adjacent to the park at the end of the River Trail

Cardinal and house finch sharing a feeder

A very snappily dressed black-throated sparrow

Carolina wren - we had Bewick's also but I didn't get to capture him

Love these guys

Chipping Sparrow

I was lucky to get this very distant view of a tiny verdin while coming back to camp from a blind

I only saw this one fox sparrow - but I took maybe fifty pictures of him in very dim light

A field sparrow deciding to try some peanut butter mix

Our water faucet was stripped and wouldn't turn off to the delight of birds and this armadillo

Our last night at South Llano State Park was the coldest night we encountered. I got up the next morning and dressed in my long John bottoms and a heavy fleece shirt plus jacket and hat. I took my tent fly to the bathroom and ran the hand drier to melt the ice on it and start it drying. We had to stop several times to go warm our hands while taking down the tents. I had the foresight to pack everything else up with plans to get coffee and breakfast in a warm cafe. When we stopped to eat mid morning, I had to change to a short sleeved shirt and remove my long Johns. It was 70° when we reached Natalie's house in Houston.

Camping is over but the fun isn't done. We have three days of birding and one day of canoeing to go before Laurel has to leave. We just get to sleep in Natalie's beds at night.