Birding Smith Oaks, High Island, TX

Howdee all,

There are two great places on High Island to look for woodland migrants, Boys Scout woods and Smith Oaks.

Smith Oaks is a bit bigger and has the plus of a awesome Rookery.

There are several ponds. The Rookery is a blast..

If you have a big lens you can get some awesome shots! My Baby camera did ok..

The most Roseate spoonbills in one area that I have seen! There are hundreds of them.

It was fun watching the Spoonbills nest building…the male gathered the sticks and gave them to the female..who then placed them. Great Egret on nest.  See the blue egg… Sit back down very carefully See the fuzzy hatchlings in the nest?    There are trails to follow ..

Flower lined this time of year..

The birding was a bit slow this day in Smith Woods..

But there are plenty of other things to look at..

Like this Rough Green snake

and this dragonfly

  China Berry  Mariposa Lily with fly  Some kind of Thistle..              Nature has so much to offer!

Another Great Day of birding High Island.

Birding,Boy scout woods, High Island, TX

  Howdee all,

Boy Scout woods was one of our favorite places to bird on the Island.

For pure migration excitement, if the timing is right, and great convenience as the RV park we camped in was across the street.

A few days I had Jeff go over before me to check out the action. If it was hopping with birds I would head over right away.

Houston Audubon has it presence here

..Houston Audubon has four wildlife sanctuaries on the Island.

Boy Scout Woods Smith Oaks The Rookery at Smith Oaks
Eubanks Woods S.E. Gast Red Bay

The  Kiosk below is where they sell daily passes for entrance into the sanctuaries. 

They also sell a few books, tee shirts, bug spray, water and a few other items.

There are free guided walks with expert birders…it can get a little crowded on the boardwalk.

I really enjoyed walking the trails here this time of year..

The smell of privet and honeysuckle fill the air.

If you see a gathering of birders..best go check it out.. If you are a photographer..you can rent a blind for ten dollars a day..

Great close up views of birds bathing..

This female Rose-breasted Grosbeak has no idea that we are all watching her. As she sits near the drip and then decides to take a bath..Bath time…

The birds line up…and come down one at a time to take baths..Sometimes its a bathing free for all.

Correct me if I am wrong, I believe this to be a female

Scarlet tanager    taking a bath..Then leaving…  Scarlet tanagers become the norm this time of year.I never tired of watching them 

Berry eating time.

High Island should be on every birders list of places to go for spring migration.

……………………………………………………

Jeff and I have left Texas and are migrating north with the birdies..

I called to help with the oil spill but haven't heard back from anyone..so ..we continue north, and will send a donation to help with the cleanup.

North Carolina here we come.

High Island Birding, Woweee…

Howdee all,

The first day we arrived at High Island we were treated to a Bird Mecca,

the second day slowed considerably.

Yesterday was our third day, the morning was again slow birding Boy scout woods. It was drizzly and overcast.

I did see this tiny little fly bird..a new species I think…or at least I was trying to make it one..as my camera couldn't find a bird close enough to photograph.

      The afternoon we went on a guided “shorebird” walk with Sam Woods.

There are free guided walks at different High Island spots. The daily fee for birding the different High Island sites is five dollars or 25 dollars for spring to spring pass.

Read Sam Woods Blog Post of the day..much nicer pictures and descriptions.

(Make sure you friend Sam Woods on facebook and Samwoodstb on Twitter..Sam works very hard as a professional bird guide,and doesn't have the time to work on adding twitter and facebook friends, I think many people would enjoy his sightings and blog)

I take the below quote from his blog post…about our afternoon of Shore birding.

“This was meant to be a shorebird walk, and indeed it did end up being one, eventually. However, just a short way down Frenchtown, a large flock of Dickcissels flushed out of the scrub and our thoughts quickly turned from shorebirds to what other songbirds were lurking having just crossed the Gulf? The answer was lots! We were out of the car quickly and soon after warbler names were flying this way and that: as we found this choice birds clinging to the vaguest of vegetation present in the area. The main component of this Gulf wave was Yellow Warblers, although a very brief Mourning Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Chestnut-sided Warblers, multiple Tennessees, Baltimore Orioles, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Every so often another large crowd of Dickcissels passed over indicating more "Mexmigrants" were on the way.”

Indeed that's how this walk started out…So very exciting..the migrants were coming in for a rest.

Distant lighthouse in the fog

We did finally get back to shorebirding..

The highlights for us were Wilsons Pharalope a life bird for us! Stilt Sandpipers,   White-rumped Sandpipers . Great looks of two Silly clapper rails who thought they were shorebirds, wandering around in the open and bathing.

Another highlight was meeting and birding with Fellow Blogger, Birder, Tweeter and facebook user Kyle McCreary.

Check out Kyles blog. As the Mind Wanders

One happy birder! We also had another life bird..see the tiny little black blob in the bottom left corner?

That is a Black tern…

We had a great afternoon of shore birding with the bonus of an amazing amount of Migrants coming in.

So back to Boy Scout woods with Kyle to see if the migrants made it into the woods.

It wasn't hopping with birds like the first day we arrived, but we did notice more movement than we had the previous day and this morning.

Jeff and I were still on the hunt for a Golden-winged Warbler seen many times around Boy Scout woods.

We took a walk to the area that the bird was seen…I left Kyle and Jeff to do a small loop behind the area that they were looking. I saw a bird with a golden head and golden wing spots..and shouted softly Gold wing Gold wing..

the guys came running..but alas the bird did too.. We wandered around a bit more than went to the photographers blinds.

Ten dollar a day advanced rental. If there is a blind free you are allowed to use it at no cost.

This area is awesome for photographers..two drips set up on the other side of the blinds. Birds come down to the drips for a bath and a drink  We all sat at the drip and were treated to awesome looks at this

Chestnut-sided Warbler

And this

American Redstart I look forward to seeing Kyle's photos, he has one of those big cameras and a real big lens. My baby camera was jealous.

But it still had fun shooting photos of bathing birds

When this bird came to the drip we said Black-throated green warbler,

is the photo washed out or is this a mystery warbler?This catbird came down to wash its berry stained face..    A few shakes and dips..

No more berry stain

We left the blinds and went back to the Grand stand area

There was excitement..a Golden-winged warbler was showing up at the far drip.

A Cerulean warbler was seen on the left side of the grandstand in a close tree..

We opted to sit near the drip and look for the Golden-winged..which showed up soon after and gave us awesome looks..although to far for my baby camera.

Hoping Kyle got some good photos.

Calling all Bird photographers..this is an amazing place spring migration. With a big lens you can get some awesome close up shots of birds.

   Just look what I can get with my little lens.

Cerulean warbler

Northern Parula Blackburnian warbler    I am not putting a bird list of each day..instead I am compiling a list of all the birds seen on our trip to High Island,and will post the final list later.

 

This was a three life bird day for us!!

Wilsons Pharalope

Black Tern

Golden-winged warbler

A wonderful High Island Birding Day!