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.

Little Hike at Bogue Chitto State Park

Hulin and I decided to go a little further afield for a short hike, so  visited Bogue Chitto State Park in south Louisiana.  The day was partly cloudy with times of sunlight. We arrived mid morning and found it to be very quiet and totally without humans except for the ranger who took out entrance fee and ourselves. 

The landscape there is very different from my Montana views.  It is flat, wooded, and very green.  There was only a few trees showing any color: sumacs, tupelo, sweetgum and a few other species I didn't know.  The color was more like bits of jewelry, rather than the full blitz I've been seeing further north. I was scolded by a few Carolina wrens and blue jays, but otherwise birds were scarce. 

A bit of fall color across one of the ponds open for fishing

There are lots of invasive plants - these are elephant ears - a menace to wetlands

Even the cypress trees are finding it hard to realize they should be turning -
days are 70's - 80's and nights are in the 60's - 70's. 

Only a few flowers were still blooming

This leaf caught my eye because it is the exact pair of colors I used to
paint a friend's bedroom for a Christmas present

The river is open for paddling 

The Bogue Chitto River has both very low banks to higher ones. The campground is on a bluff.  We didn't visit it this trip.

View looking upstream on the Bogue Chitto River - currently running very high and fast

The river has lots of sandbars - great for overnight paddles with camping

I had to take extreme closeups to capture fall color

There are lots of acorns to feed squirrels - for some reason a squirrel had
eaten only half of several acorns

View on the way down into the gorge

One of the most interesting parts of Bogue Chitto is that is seems to have both sand dunes and swamp within it.  There is a gorge, which is accessed by 65 steps down and then, then by a boardwalk through a swamp.  All of this is almost pure sand. But the bottom was very swampy. There were also a few other places on the trail where the trail changed elevation over what appeared to be sandunes, now covered with trees.   Even though leaves are not turning, lots of them had fallen, making the damp steps and boardwalk slippery.

Hulin coming down into the gorge - 65 steps

A tiny clear streamlet, draining the lowlands along the boardwalk at the bottom of the gorge. 

Mushrooms in pumpkin color

A tupelo tree leaf I found on the boardwalk

Oakes mostly turn from green to brown but this one was a little redder than most

There were few Yaupon berries  and they were protected by mockingbirds

Another bit of fall color

Part of the path after I came out of the gorge

In the piney highlands

Sweetgums may be my favorite trees in fall.  They turn shades of yellow to red to purple,
sometimes all  on the same tree.  And I love to watch chickadees hang upside
down from there spiny fruit balls while extracting the seeds. 

It was a good hike on a nice day. But we did work up a sweat in the heat and humidity.  I'm looking forward to my departure Monday to slightly cooler environs.

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.

Spa Time in Yellowstone

It's hard to get a shower in Yellowstone National Park. There are NO showers at the park campgrounds and you have to drive a long way to pay to take a shower.

Laurel, my last friend to meet me at Yellowstone, knew there was a place where people were allowed to soak in warm to hot water. We found it was at the Boiling River where it flows into the Gardiner River.  Boiling River is a big hot spring that runs a very short distance before it joins the Gardner River, north of Mammoth.  The spring enters the river from river left, and then mixes with the very cold river water,  so you can choose among temperatures that will burn to ones that will freeze.  Most of the people just find a place that feels good and then just sit and soak. And even in those spots, it sometimes gets too hot or too cold as the streams swirl together.

We took the short hike to make sure we were where Laurel expected to go swimming one morning.  The mornings were cool - we had ice on our tents and car - so Boiling River was making a lot of steam.

Junction of Boiling River and Garner River

 We ended up going to soak three times. We enjoyed the hot soaks and also visiting with other people there.   I now have a new Facebook friend I met there. And of course, the views were fabulous. I took my camera with me the time we went late in the day and had pretty light.

There are beautiful views from the trail along the Gardner River

Looking upstream towards Boiling River - it's not yet in view 

Another trail view

Another Gardner River view

Bathers just below the Boiling River  - it is coming in from the right side in several places

Longer view

Boiling River comes out of here and goes down a short channel before joining the Gardner River

Looking downstream on the Boiling River

One of fingers of Boiling River entering the Gardner River

The Boiling River 

Laurel enjoying the soak

After I put my camera in my bag and went into the water, a cow elk and her baby waded across the Gardner River just upstream of the bathers.  She didn't seem to be at all concerned about us.

All in all I had a few great times, and I ended up with a much less offending smell.

 Be sure to bring your swimsuit and enjoy this wonderful experience when you go to Yellowstone. For more information on this swimming spot, click here.

On the personal front, I'm visiting a friend in Hammond, Louisiana before setting off for several more days of travel, adventures and visiting friends, including one that I'll meet for the first time in real life but who has been a friend I met in Flickr.  We share a passion for gardening and paddling and will do a paddle together.