Subject: Texas Gulf Coast Feb 98 winter Birding continued
Date: Mar 16 09:30:15 1998
From: "W. William Woods" - wwwbike at halcyon.com


Tweeters,

The Texas Gulf Coast is a great place to see shorebirds during winter.
Many good-sized flocks of Avocets were everywhere with a few individuals
showing the beginnings of their apricot neck-coloring. Small flocks of
Black-necked Stilts were spotted. Black-bellied plovers paced the
shoreline by themselves, as did Willets, but the latter also occurred in
small groups. Sanderlings did their usual thing, racing the waves along
the shoreline, although they would also individually rummage through the
stones and rocks of the jetties. Single Ruddy Turnstones perused the
jetties and stony shores. We spotted two American Oystercatchers along
Oyster Lake Road near Matagorda Bay.

Hans A. Suter Wildlife Area in Corpus Christi is certainly one of the
best places to see wintering water birds. We saw big flocks of Black
Skimmers, some resting awkwardly on their bellies with their bills
stretched out. At first we thought they were in trouble, but they soon
stood up, stretched and moved around; a strange performance to say the
least. Several Marbled Godwit stayed aloof away from the crowds while the
Long-billed Dowitchers joined the flocks of other birds. About six
Long-billed Curlews were seen near Matagorda Bay.

Raptors were plentiful. We saw Osprey in many places; spotted the
White-tailed Kite along roads and on Matagorda Island, which was
absolutely swarming with Northern Harriers. Red-tailed Hawks chased and
flipped with talon-to-talon displays. Crested Caracara stood tall on
many posts and seemed to be paired off wherever we saw them. We studied a
striking female Merlin at the San Bernard NWR. We were beginning to think
that there was really no such thing as a White-tailed Hawk after visiting
several refuges and wildlife areas where they were supposed to be. We
finally saw the White-tailed Hawk as we were driving down Mustang Island.
The hawk flew right above our car and circled around as we stopped and
watched. Wow! It was a big buteo with gleaming white neck, belly,
undertail coverts and wing linings. The top of the body is all dark and
the relatively short tail is all white except for a dark terminal band
edged in white. Yes, there really is a White-tailed Hawk. We saw another
later, perched on a post and appearing just a bit hunched-over. Kestrels
were everywhere, and we got a wonderful look at a handsome male devouring
his prey. We also got a glimpse of an Aplomado Falcon on Matagorda Island
where they have recently been introduced. We saw Peregrines there also.
Vultures were everywhere, both Turkey and Black.

Ducks were plentiful. Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon
Teal, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveller, American Wigeon , Canvasback,
Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser,
Mottled Duck, Ruddy Duck, a few Redheads, one (only one!) pair of Mallards
and one Black-bellied Whistling Duck.

Snow Geese were in huge flocks with many Blue Phase among them. Bill got
a very nice picture of about 15 geese, three of which were the Blue Phase.
We also saw several smaller flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese plus a
few Canada Geese.

Laughing Gulls were in the majority, but we also saw a few Ring-billed
and Herring Gulls. Royal Terns, Forster's Terns, a few Caspian Terns and
one Sandwich Tern completed the subfamily Sterninae. We had hoped to see
the Gull-billed Tern, but they had not arrived yet.

We were also too early to see many warblers, Yellow-rumps were numerous
as were the Common Yellowthroats at several marshes.

The rest of our bird sightings follows:

Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Least Grebe
Sora
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Rock Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Downey Woodpecker
Pileated Woopecker
Eastern Phoebe
Wetern Kingbird or Couch's Kingbird (not sure which)
Horned Lark
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Northern Mockingbird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Loggerhead Shrike (abundant along roadsides)
Starling
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Savannah Sparrow
House Sparrow

We also saw these animals: Alligator, Nutria, Collared Peccary,
White-tailed Deer, Nine-banded Armadillo, and Bottle-nosed Dolphins.

Most of our driving route and places of visit were derived from the
brochure on the Central Texas Gulf Coast Birding Trail, available from the
Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR. All in all a great winter season vacation.

Bill and Erin Woods Woods Tree Farm Redmond, WA U.S.A.
<wwwbike at halcyon.com>