FLIGHT OF THE GODWIT FIELD  TRIP

  

     Long-billed Curlew on Bolivar Peninsula, TX

 Blog 1. 20-24 April 2019. Bethesda, MD to Arroyo City, TX.

Saturday 20 April. Departed home at 5:34am, before sunrise. I drove 835 miles over 13.5 hours to Eutaw, Alabama, staying at the tidy and unpretentious Travel Inn just off Interstate 59. The drive took me through Roanoke and Bristol, VA; Knoxville and Chattanooga, TN; a rural corner of Georgia (only remembered town was “Rising Fawn’); and Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, AL. The technology that allows me to drive such as distance is cruise control, a godsend, which allows me to rest my leg muscles over long stretches.

     Laughing Gulls on Galveston Ferry 

21 April. Eutaw, AL, to High Island, TX. Drove in the clear and cool spring morning to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to visit Mary LeCroy, who has recently retired from the Ornithology Department of the American Museum of Natural History. Mary and I worked on the birds of New Guinea for a number of decades, and she served as technical editor of the Checklist I co-authored with Thane Pratt. Mary lives in a beautiful and quiet neighborhood, not far from her daughter Sarah. Bird highlight of day was a Red-headed Woodpecker in the tree across from Mary’s home. We went to lunch on this Easter Sunday at The Shed, in the countryside a bit north of town. The shed is a large shedlike building featuring an array of picnic tables and a bustling business serving families all kinds of barbecue and the standard side dishes of beans, coleslaw, and potato salad. And of course ice tea to wash things down. Mary and I reminisced about our work together and about colleagues.

After saying my farewells to Mary, I headed west on Interstate 10 and 12 into Louisiana and then to Texas. Two accidents on the Interstate forced me onto rural backroads and resultant delays. Stopped for a boudin ball east of Lafayette (excellent, as always). Crossed into Texas after dark, arriving at the RV park in High Island, TX, at 9 PM. Slept in the back of the car to save time. Quite comfortable. Have screens on the back windows for ventilation.

    Great-tailed Grackles are everywhere in east Texas

22 April. High Island to Arroyo City, TX. Another very long day of driving, arriving at my county campground on the Rio Hondo at 730pm. Start the morning at High Island, famous for its songbird migration in spring. As always, misty and cool here in the morning. High Island rarely sees a sunrise because of the mists. Visited the gate at Boy Scout Woods to see if there was any migrant activity (quiet—only a Rose-breasted Grosbeak). The early birders were straining to find migrants (not many because of north winds). Then drove down to Rollover Pass on the Bolivar Peninsula (a drive of 10 minutes) and checked out the flats—skimmers, Marbled Godwits, clots of Avocets, hundreds of noisy Laughing Gulls, a few fishermen. Nice but not spectacular this AM. Next stop at the western terminus of the Bolivar Peninsula was Fort Travis Park, with expanses of mowed lawns that attract shorebird migrants. This AM there was a Long-billed Curlew, Whimbrel, Great-tailed Grackles, and more Laughing Gulls.

     Boca Chica Beach in the far southeastern corner of Texas--Rio Grande mouth is 1 mile south of here

The ferry to Galveston city was delayed. I spent 90 minutes before boarding. I was in a crowd of very annoyed travelers who had hoped to get to work on time this Monday morning. Highlight of the ferry are the Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns in the wake of the boat. Drove onto Galveston Island and followed the long barrier island (much like Ocean City, MD) to its end. Counted 17 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (recent arrivals), 7 Loggerhead Shrikes. The southwestern sector of the island is quiet and very pretty and not overdeveloped…

     Gigantic wind farms mark the coastal prairie of the lower Valley

Back on the mainland I traced my way through Lake Jackson (a suburb of Houston) and then into the coastal prairie countryside, following “Farm to Market” roads… These tiny roads allow drivers to top 70 mph… some places 75! Interesting birds: Crested Caracara, shrikes, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Dickcissels… North of Corpus Christi I linked up to highway 77 and took this down to Raymondville, were I shopped at the HEB for groceries and ice. Then east toward the Laguna Madre and Rio Hondo.

     Cactus Wren in song at the Adolph Thomae County Park in Arroyo City, TX

My campsite, at Adolph Thomae County Park, is right on the shipping channel, a very popular fishing site for Speckled Trout and Redfish. The two fishing piers are lighted all night for the fisherfolk, who are out there, hoping to catch something… The park abuts the northern boundary of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, most famous for its population of Ocelots (currently estimated to be 11 individuals). Also a place to look for Javelinas (Collared Peccaries), and more than 300 species of birds. The refuge encompasses wetlands and coastal prairie just back from Laguna Madre, which is formed by the great barrier island of south Texas—Padre Island.

The campsite has low chaparral vegetation. Luckily my campsite has some 20-foot-tall trees that give me some shade. This area is always breezy and mainly cloudy, and humid, of course. The birds that I see from my picnic table include: clusters of displaying Great-tailed Grackles, pairs of Curve-billed Thrashers, Eurasian Turtle-Doves, and Black-crested Titmouse. Common park birds include Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Olive Sparrows, Common Ground-Doves, Inca Doves, Cactus Wrens, and more.

     A curious male Golden-fronted Woodpecker at the Adolph Thomae County Park in Arroyo City, TX

24 April. Woken pre-dawn to the sound of a nearby pack of Coyotes yipping and squealing—this pack sounds no more than 100 years off. Today I explored South Padre Island, Laguna Atascosa NWR, and Boca Chica beach. The southeastern corner of Texas—centered on Brownsville—is very urban and heavily developed. The protected areas offer oases within this rather drab urban setting. Most of the rural landscape is intensive rowcrop agriculture, and groups of wind-turbines add to the developed scape. South Padre Island looks like Miami Beach. Too busy for my blood. Thank the lord for Route 4 and Boca Chica. This is where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico. This is mainly protected landscape—sand flats, prairie, bunch grass fields, and low chaparral vegetation. Some of this is national wildlife refuge. Very birdy—White-tailed Hawks, caracaras, vultures, lots of songbirds. Also some wetlands filled with migrant waders, my focal group…. Large numbers of Dunlins, dowitchers, Stilt Sandpipers, yellowlegs, Willets (breeding birds here) being noisy, and lots of peeps, include the occasional Baird’s Sandpiper. Stilts also and avocets in the distance. Vast open space and virtually no relief. I visited this site mid-day, which is not the time to see nature. I plan to get back here soon in the early morning… I am told I can drive on the hard sand beach south to the Rio Grande river mouth. Will try that to see what waterbirds are down there. Also of interest is that Boca Chica is the site of Space-X’s launch site (see photo of a strange structure on the launch pad…).

      Space-X Launch Site at Boca Chica in the very bottom of Texas....

Take-home point of my first two days down here in the Deep South: the migrant shorebirds arriving here in the lower Valley find an urban landscape and need to stay east near the coast to find habitat for productive stop-over feeding. Upper Padre Island, Laguna Madre, and Laguna Atascosa are for the birds. I plan to boat out there to see what I can find….