Category Archives: Goose Island State Park

More Port A Birds

We had just stepped on to the boardwalk at the Port Aransas Birding Center when these two birds greeted us: a Snowy Egret and a Tri-colored Heron side by side.

Just ahead, a Green Heron posed and then did a little hunting while we watched.

This Common Gallinule was fun to observe.

The little walk, full of looks at good birds, ended with this American Bittern almost close enough to touch.

When I lowered the camera, he struck, got a small fish, and gobbled it as we watched only yards away. I think the head of the prey is visible in his beak.

We extended our visit an extra three days to enjoy the birds and the nice temperatures. Come on down, you-all!

Companions

While I record each species we see and use eBird to track birds as we travel, my birding partner is more interested in "slow birding" – taking time to "smell the flowers" – to mix metaphors. It’s got me seeing more and enjoying birding even more.

We came upon these gulls just after a lesson from a local bird walk leader. So we paused and sorted them out into Laughing Gulls, Ringed-billed Gulls, and Herring Gulls. Right now,those are the three species here so it is fun to sharpen ID skills by just going over groups – and when they line up on a pier it’s even more interesting.

Just up the road we saw these Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. Can you see what they were looking at?

Yes, it was an Anhinga, a relatively rare bird here. We watched it as it fished with snake-like movements and then strolled back up to the larger group of ducks, spreading its wings to dry out, and hanging out with the kids with bubble-gum legs.

In the next field we saw an odd couple – a young Crested Caracara and an adult Turkey Vultures. I know that they are both carrion eaters and sometime soar (kettle) together, this seemed almost like a foster mom situation.

A second juvenile joined the group as we watched entranced by what appeared to be flying lessons.

There were three juveniles, one of whom could barely fly, several Turkey Vultures, and everyone seemed at ease with the scene. No adult Caracara seemed present. We loved what we had seen but were a bit bewildered about what was going on. Anyone have any suggestions? Leave a comment if you do.

Goose Island Birds – A Sampling

Goose Island State Park is one of my favorite birding spots. Our first few outings have been very rewarding. Here is a Black-capped Titmouse who showed himself just a few hundred yards from our campsite as we started out.

Walking down to the bay, we saw these two Northern Pintail’s and a Little Blue Heron.

We paused for a few photos of an interesting live oak in the campground.

A short drive away is the field where Whooping Cranes often congregate. There are three regulars including a youngster. Here’s one of the parents.

A number of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were also there and it was interesting to watch the cranes shoo them away from choice feeding spots. The ducks are quite the characters, making you smile with their actions and their voices.

We will be here about a week and while having to deal with scattered thunderstorms, are enjoying the birds and mild tropical conditions.

Leaving Goose Island

I saw my first fireflies of the year early Monday morning before dawn. Like the predawn birdsong and seventy-degree temperatures, it will all will soon be put aside for the realities of April in New England. We have launched on our 2200 mile journey home.

One of the challenges each year is Houston; this year I decided to do a wide circumnavigation to the west and north. But first, we needed a bit of Airstream drama. First, after I hooked up I got an alert that there was a wiring issue with the trailer. I ignored that since everything seemed to be working but then noticed some loose trim hanging off the trailer’s side. That loosened more as we got up to speed and soon I stopped and removed it until later.

We were counting Scissor-tailed Flycatchers perched or feeding along our route – the last time we’ll see those beauties for a while. After a few hours, we stopped at our favorite gas stop, [Buc-ees in Wharton](http://www.vtbirder.com/beef-jerky-one-of-the-five-basic-food-groups/), Texas.

Soon, we were truckin’ through coton fields, then cattle country, whipping along at 70 much of the way. Each small town has a 75-55-45-30 speed zone that comes at you quickly, with nearly hidden school zone lights that drop it to 25. With the polished trailer and Vermont plates, we sort of stand out so I keep it legal.

The high humidity and temps call for air-conditioning but we can’t do that when hauling the trailer so it’s windows down and cruising. Much of Texas, even secondary highways, have 75 mph limits. In one stretch, with trees lining both sides and dips and climbs, I said to Mary, ‘This is like the Elmore road with a 75 speed limit.” I tend to keep it more at 68 or so, still a little dicey to a Vermonter.

It was a long first day but we got to our campground, Martin Dies State Park, in plenty of time for walks and relaxation. There were hardly any campers (after having a thousand there for Easter) and the birds were busy. Unlike the Gulf Coast where they were silent, here many were calling. I heard and then saw a gorgeous male Scarlet Tanager. Other highlights were a Little Blue Heron, my first American Crow in three months, also my first Blue Jay. The downside was that the bugs were really tough, seeming to laugh at Off and Cutter’s. Here’s a shot of the Cypress adorned slough beside our site.

We leave Texas Tuesday after a long visit during which time I saw 235 different species and left ranked 55th in the state. It was all-in-all a good stay. Bays con food, amigos

Finally, Some Warblers

Ten days of south wind resulted in few migrants but that changed Friday with a weak cold front and wind shift to the north. Saturday was better as I noted in my last post but Sunday mid-day to evening was great. On my walk with Penny and a subsequent outing without her, I saw about ten new year birds including two life birds. Here’s the list:

Goose Island SP (CTC 048), Aransas County, Texas, US ( Map )
Date and Effort
Edit Date and Effort
Sun Apr 05, 2015 2:30 PM

Protocol:Traveling
Party Size:4
Duration:1 hour(s), 36 minute(s)
Distance:1.5 mile(s)
Observers:Dick Mansfield
Comments:
Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.8
Species
Edit Species List
31 species total

2 Turkey Vulture
1 Red-tailed Hawk
4 Laughing Gull
2 Forster’s Tern
2 Inca Dove
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -Female
1 Great Crested Flycatcher
1 Brown-crested Flycatcher
6 White-eyed Vireo
2 Yellow-throated Vireo
1 Blue-headed Vireo
2 Red-eyed Vireo
6 Black-crested Titmouse
1 House Wren
2 Gray Catbird
X Northern Mockingbird
**2 Worm-eating Warbler**
**2 Blue-winged Warbler**
8 Black-and-white Warbler
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
4 Hooded Warbler
2 American Redstart
*Seen in two locations clearly. Confirmed by Bob and Dawn Scranton. Part of minor warbler fallout from wind shift. Males actively feeding, fanning tail.*
2 Northern Parula
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
2 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Scarlet Tanager
X Northern Cardinal
2 Indigo Bunting
X Red-winged Blackbird
2 Great-tailed Grackle

It was a great way to end our stay at Goose Island. Two other couples who had also planned to leave Monday extended their stay because of the fallout. We were tempted but we’ll hope to see them enroute and then when they arrive in Vermont. They look great in their breeding plumage but O was too busy sorting then out high in the trees to do much photo work. First night taking Motrin for “warbler neck” in a long time. No complaints here.

Thanks, Larry, for the life bird

On Saturday morning, I joined a dozen other birders for a "woods" bird walk led by Judy and Larry Geiger from Wyoming. I have known these folks for years – Larry is a "pokey" who birds very slowly and really prefers to sit and let birds come to him. Every morning as I walk Penny past their campsite (which is adorned with feeders, water sprays, brush piles..) I’ll see Larry sitting in camo clothing in his chair, binoculars and camera at the ready, armed with his coffee and a hand-rolled cigarette, waiting. He sees a lot of stuff before most of us are up and about.

Judy, on the other hand, is a walker, and birds at a pretty good pace, usually instructing as she does. They are a great team who let birders identify sightings by field marks rather than shouting out, "There’s an Indigo Bunting."

Saturday’s walk was rather routine until we visited the park feeding station. Nothing was moving in except the usual suspects and some of us were getting antsy to move on but the leaders dawdled, waiting. Then someone spotted something with yellow, always a good omen, and we were on to a Black-throated Green warbler – and then someone said, there are two birds – and sure enough, a gorgeous Yellow-throated Warbler was also flitting about. Most of us got good looks and then, as warbler do, they were gone. After a wait, we moved on psyched to have such a neat start.

We had ambled only a hundred yards, still chatting about the warblers, when Larry said, "I’ve got a great bird here. Hopefuly, he’ll sing, he’s way back in the understory." As we scrambled, he was talKing about "rain crow" and some other stuff and I had no idea what we were looking for. Suddenly, others spotted it, telling which way it was moving …I still couldn’t see anything. Then the Yellow-billed Cuckoo moved a little more into the clear and then we spent the next fifteen minutes watching it actively feed on caterpillars in the dense foliage. Photos were tough to get – this was the best I could get.

We asked Larry how he ever spotted the bird which was so well hidden and he said that he had spotted the tail, knew that only cuckoos had tails like that, etc. I could have walked down that park road hundreds of times and unless the bird was calling, would have missed it. It was nice to find out later that it was life bird #422 for me. Thanks, Larry.

A Morning Jaunt to Aransas NWR

One of the "must-do" trips when we are a Goose Island State Park is to get to the [Aransas National Wildlife Refuge](http://www.vtbirder.com/aransas-national-wildlife-area/) so we loaded up some lunch, our birding gear, and the dog and headed out yesterday morning. It’s only a short trip, much of it at 70 mph, and it is always a bit unreal to take the narrow roads through cotton country. The fields are continuous black soil, flat as can be, cut only by irrigation ditches. Way off, like mirages on a desert, trucks float along just on the horizon. It’s about as far removed from Vermont as possible.

The refuge is large and being remote, not that busy, even on a weekend. Mary and I get in free with our Senior Pass (one benefit of getting old) and there is a pretty driving loop along the coastline with several overlooks.

The first stop after the impressive visitors’ center is the alligator viewing pond. They’ve constructed a new viewing platform and right below it was this young alligator, taking the sun. It’s Mary’s type of alligator viewing – there’s no way, unless he sprouts wings, that he’s going to bother her.

The birding was so-so with the exception of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, who have just begun to show up. Some will stay here, others will continue their migration northward. There were over a dozen and all were having trouble perching in the stiff breeze. This one balanced on a sign.

As did this one.

Later, after seeing a couple of Whooping Cranes from the elevated platform, I thought I saw a bunch of white birds way up high. I tried to get my binoculars on them with no luck, finally giving up. I told Mary that I must have mistaken a swarm of insects for a flight of birds.

We moved on, driving the long scenic loop, when I thought I saw a similar group of white objects. I stopped the truck and realized right away that they were birds that showed up when the sun was on them but disappeared when they turned away. They were making large circles, thermalling and drifting with the wind. I got Mary on them and through the binoculars, could see that they were White Ibis. My camera didn’t focus well but you can get a sense of the neat swirling birds we were seeing.

The temperature showed 80 as we stopped in a grove overlooking the water. The wind, while making casual dining a workout, kept the bugs (which were there) away. It was a nice Saturday morning in southern Texas.

Goodbye Goose Island State Park

After a chilly (by Texas standards) start, we had a good end to our week at Goose Island. The birding was good and I got a couple of life birds: Clay-colored Sparrow and Harris’s Sparrow. One of my birding goals for 2015 is to get at least 100 birds in five U.S. counties. I did it in 2014, just squeezing through with my home county. So I was hoping to reach 100 birds during our week at Goose Island. It’s not easy since while the waterfowl are around (although I missed Green-winged Teal), only Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers are present.

One of the common sites at Goose Island is the Brown Pelicans waiting for anglers to return and clean their fish.

One of the common sites at Goose Island is the Brown Pelicans waiting for anglers to return and clean their fish.

By Saturday night, I was at 99 species; we were leaving Sunday morning. I got up early, took the dog for a long walk, and visited some feeders which had been unproductive all week. As things would have it, the 100th bird who hopped out of the bushes was Vermont’s State Bird, a pretty Hermit Thrush. Then, four White-Throated Sparrows arrived and I called it quits at 101 and went back to hook up the trailer and get ready to depart.

Large rafts of Redheads are everywhere, as are duck hunters traveling by noisy airboats.

Large rafts of Redheads are everywhere, as are duck hunters traveling by noisy airboats.

We are rather limited with Wifi and busting our data plans for the phones and iPads so posting photos is a challenge. After a long wait one night, I told a fellow who was standing their in the dark with his cell phone that “It’s like watching grass grow.” He didn’t get it — turns out he was a visitor from the Netherlands. He certainly agreed that the reception was awful. We are now in the Rio Grande Valley with thousands of other Winter Texans, many from Canada. Each year, as more folks get multiple devices, the signals get worse. You can get a 4G signal with three or four bars but there’s so much demand that you might as well forget it. I get up early and it works like a charm.

A face only a Turkey Vulture mother could love.

A face only a Turkey Vulture mother could love.

We are not sure we’ll make it back on the way home but in any case, it remains one of our favorite state parks in the Southwest.

Checking Out The Whoopers

Today was a day to catch up a bit since the weather is cool and rainy, so we drove into Rockport for some groceries and way too much bird feeding gear and supplies. We also picked up some comfort food (apple turnover, cinnamon roll etc) to get us through the morning.

Returning, we invited our neighbor, Gail from Nova Scotia, over for coffee and goodies. I am often surprised about the backgrounds of fellow campers: it turns out Gail is a recently-retired psychologist who specialized in dealing with special needs kids and who now is traveling the U.S. in an old VW camper, teaching herself to paint watercolors, while her husband tends the fort at home including caregiving for an aging parent. Good conversation, calories, and caffeine made for a nice late morning in spite of the weather.

One of the things you do at Goose Island is to check out the Whooping Cranes who return to some ranchers’ fields (where they are fed) just north of the park. Mary and I (and of course, Penny) motored up there this afternoon and sure enough, there were five Whoopers and about 32 Sandhill Cranes.  Here are a few shots that I took with freezing fingers in a minor gale.

The Whooping Crane flock journeys 2,500 miles south from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to Texas.

The Whooping Crane flock journeys 2,500 miles south from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to Texas.

About thirty Sandhill Cranes are also enjoying the local hospitality.

About thirty Sandhill Cranes are also enjoying the local hospitality.

Not to be outdone by exotic visitors, a couple of elegant Great Blue Herons also grace the field.

Not to be outdone by exotic visitors, a couple of elegant Great Blue Herons also graced the field.

Whoopers and Sandhills often feed together here, providing a nice comparison of size and marking differences.

Whoopers and Sandhills often feed together here, providing a nice comparison of size and marking differences.

It’s great to see the cranes each year after their long return from up north.  They are a wonderful success story.  Like the Peregrine Falcon, the Bald Eagle, the Osprey, and several other species, they remind us that we can succeed with conserving threatened species, but it takes lots of effort and more vision and leadership than we often see these days in the halls of our public servants. These elegant survivors give us hope.

A Great Day in Texas

Mary and I loaded up Penny and left early for some back road birding north of Rockport. We started tallying gulls and “telephone line” birds and soon were on a Farm-to-Market road heading toward the hamlet of Bayside. These “farm roads” in Texas are usually narrow with a speed limit of 70 and lots of white pickup trucks in a hurry. Not too conducive to birding although usually there is a wide shoulder (or ditch.)

We pulled off on a little narrow road alongside Copano Bay called Egery Flat aka Mosquito Alley and were immediately confronted with a small mudflat/pond with hundreds of shorebirds. As we tried to sort through Dowitchers, Dunlins, Willets some Black-legged Stilts, and lots of sandpipers, I was wishing that I had an expert along. Just ahead, we saw and photographed a Reddish Egret – a white morph in breeding plumage – which turned out to be a new bird for each of us. It is neat to watch them fish, stirring up the water with their feet and then grabbing stuff they’ve scared.

The American Golden Plovers were in his pasture

As the road turned to dirt, we saw several birds flush out of the grass and settle. I knew right away that they were one of the species we were after – and it turned out that they were American Golden Plovers, passing through on their way north. I got out my scope and we got some good looks, an so-so photos. As I watched, a steer (seen above) watched us and started plodding our way. Time to move on.

American Golden Plover

It was a pretty spring day with no one around on this straight back road so we let the dog go and walked for a while. The temperature was about 80 with a light breeze and blue skies with sparrows and meadowlarks rising from the fields. Of course, the mosquitoes found Mary.

We passed another flock of plovers and then, just as we were nearly done with the loop, Mary spotted more birds. We pulled over, looked at them through the binos, and took some photos. About then, a deputy sherriff pulled alongside asking “Everything ok?” I guess the red Vermont truck with kayak on top looked pretty unthreatening and he was off. (I learned later that the birds were migrating Upland Sandpipers, another new one for us.

Upland Sandpiper

One of the purposes of the outing was to check out a local eating place which friends had raved about. Crofutt’s Sandwich Shop & Bakery calls itself “An Oasis in a Junk Food Desert” and it is. Plain looking and frequented by local oil and ranch workers, it has been running for 33 years. We had the Shrimp Po-Boy and they were great. I had to eat mine next to the truck since Penny had an anxiety meltdown and started pulling the rubber stripping from the door .. again. Washed down with iced tea, with a couple of decadent cookies for later, it was quite a feast.

We returned in time for a short nap and then Penny and I drove to the vet for a last checkup. Her leg is nearly there and after a quick check, the doc said goodbye giving her a few treats for the road.

While our more ardent birder acquaintances go out for all day, we found that a few hours, some fresh air, some good food, and a nap is our preference.

We have managed to see 201 different species this trip so far with about 25 new ones for me. Now to follow some them as they migrate northward.