Subject: High Island 2003
Date: Apr 29 18:07:07 2003
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Paul and Barbara,

What a nice trip report and you share this with our tweeters.To let you know
also that I read all you article what you publish in the March EARTHCARE,
"Birds in the Balance"LONG-BILLED CURLEWS." And the other in April" for the
Tacoma Towhee " FEATHERED BANDIT " I see that you are such good observer of
Nature and especial love for birds.You long time birding with such passion I
can read in you articles.So thank you for sharing you adventures with us.
I find it especial disturbing that all the birders who been going to the
coast this last weekend watching the great Shorebird Migration and there was
no messages or trip reports from the coast by all the birders we are running
in to.Tweeters was all about "THE CROWS" What was birders experience going
to the Grays Harbor Festival ? Maybe we can read something on OBOL from our
great coastal birding here in Grays Harbor.


Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma


----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Webster" <paul.webster at attbi.com>
To: "tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 9:59 AM
Subject: High Island 2003


> Barbara and I went to northeast Texas from April 17 to 26. The
destination
> was the coast around High Island, famous for its migrating warblers. Our
> VENT trip was led by Bob Sundstrom, well-known to Washington birders, who
> has been leading trips to this area for many years. High Island was the
> centerpoint for the trip, but we ranged from Jones State Forest near
> Houston, to the piney woods area near the Louisiana border, Bolivar Flats,
> Anahuac NWR, and Sabine Woods near Port Arthur. Our weather was
surprisingly
> temperate, somebody said it seemed strange to bird at Anahuac when it
wasn't
> steaming hot. A lot of wind and an afternoon of rain on Easter Sunday
> precipitated a mini-fallout on Monday, April 21, that made for some of the
> most spectacular birding of my life -- there were vireos, buntings,
orioles,
> tanagers, and warblers in every tree, it seemed, we found 22 warbler
species
> on this day alone.
>
> There are several reasons to bird this area: 1) the herons and egrets --
we
> had 12 species plus the Roseate Spoonbill, 2) the shorebirds -- we found
32
> species, including Solitary, Stilt, Upland, and White-rumped Sandpipers
(the
> latter two being lifers for me), 3) the terns -- we had all eight species
> normally seen there, and 4) the warblers -- we found 29 species, including
> hard-to get ones like Kentucky and Swainson's. Most raptors had gone
> through before we arrived, but we had a clean sweep with the kites:
> White-tailed, Mississippi, and Fork-tailed -- the last a stunningly
> beautiful bird and perhaps the most graceful flier of all. Woodpeckers
were
> surprisingly good, too -- we had 8 species, including a group of
> Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. We also had success with hard-to-get birds like
> Bachmann's, Nelson's Sharp-tailed, and Seaside Sparrows, and an unusual
> Black-billed Cuckoo. Finally, just to top off the trip we had a distant
> view of a Magnificent Frigatebird.
>
> The real virtue of a tour like this, where the group stays in the same
> general area for a week, is that we saw the same birds repeatedly and got
to
> know some of them pretty well. When the tour ended on the 24th, Barbara
and
> I headed down the freeway to Galveston Island, where we spent two days
> practicing what we had learned on the High Island trip with Bob and his
> co-leader Brennan Mulrooney. We were even able to add a half-dozen birds
to
> the tour list of 205 species: a surprising Crested Caracara winging over a
> grassy field at sunset, several uncommon migrant Western Kingbirds, and a
> Blue-headed Vireo at Galveston Island State Park. We also want to return
to
> the Lafitte Cove Natural Area about 10 minutes south of Galveston that
> offers a splendid array of warblers and other passerines.
>
> Our totals for the trip: 213 species, 23 lifers for me, and an
unforgettable
> day of birding on April 21st (127 species), when it seemed as if we might
> see every bird in Texas around High Island. Spring migration in Texas
makes
> for exciting birding -- we're ready to go back again!
>
> Paul Webster
> Seattle
> paul.webster at attbi.com
>
>