Here is a summary of the ABA Convention held at Beaumont, TX April 18-24.

We had a great week birding in the Beaumont, TX area. There were 8-10 from WA
out of a total of about 600 attendees. I was in group that went to Piney
Woods on Thurs. At Angelina Forest we got the target birds, Red-cockaded
Woodpecker, Pine Warbler, Brown-headed Creeper and Bachman's Sparrow. The
BASP was the only lifer for me. Then to Sam Rayburn Reservoir area where I
got three lifers--Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Acadian Flycatcher, and Summer
Tanager. Our next stop was Martin Dies, Jr. SP where I finally got to see a
Prothonotary Warbler.

On Sat., we went to High Island and did Smith Oaks and Boy Scout Woods where
I got three more lifers--Kentucky Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Painted
Bunting. We stopped at Rollover Pass on the way back and saw a number of
shorebirds and gulls. Our group had a total of 113 birds, I only saw 89. The
total for all six trips that day was over 200.

On Sunday we had workshops to attend, but also got time to visit the
Beaumont sewage ponds and Tyrell Park. A Little Gull had been seen earlier at
the sewage ponds with a number of Bonaparte's Gulls, but it wasn't seen the
past two day when it was quite windy. We did see two Wilson's Phalaropes
(only ones during trip), as well as many Blue-winged Teal. Lesser Yellowlegs,
White-faced Ibis and others. At the cattail marsh at Tyrell Park we saw
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (again only one during trip), Sora seen with
scope, Mottled Duck and many others.

On Monday, we went to Cameron Parish in Louisiana. I had a total of 90 birds,
the bus had about 120. We visited Sabine NWR, Cameron and Peveto Woods. I got
three more life birds--Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Least Tern and Seaside Sparrow.

Monday night a cold front moved through with thunderstorms, rain and a north
wind. So we were looking forward to a "fallout" in Sabine Woods which was our
destination. We weren't disappointed. The group saw 20 different warbler
species, I saw 14. There were so many birds it was difficult for everyone to
see all of them. But I did get two more lifers--Worm-eating Warbler and
Philadelphia Vireo. Since this was our last day we only had three hours to
bird. Too bad the convention wasn't just starting.

All told it was a good trip, I saw a total of 143 species and got 13 life
birds. The evening programs and workshops on Fri. and Sun. were excellent
also. Since we could only get 4 of the 6 available trips in, I did not get to
go to Anuhuac NWR or Bolivar Flats. If anyone is interested I can send them a
complete list of the birds I recorded.

An overall summary of the convention including total birds seen should be
available on the ABA web page in a few days --
www.americanbirding.org


Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at aol.com