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April 29, 2006
The Houston Ornithology Group had its April trip to Galveston Island on the 29th of April led by Dwight Peake and we were treated to one of the best fallouts in some time. Eight participants enjoyed one of the best spring days of birding on Galveston Island in recent years after a strong line of thunderstorms past over the island around noon. The front hit at the right time and all the other conditions were also in place to produce one of the best "fall-outs" in years along the Upper Texas Coast. It also hit at an opportune time for us to stop for lunch at Michael Burgers on the Seawall to wait out the storm system. Highlights included 20 species of warblers, 5 species of vireos, a Glossy Ibis, Solitary Sandpipers and a Pectoral Sandpiper at Lafitte's Cove. Gadwalls, an American Wigeon, and a White-rumped Sandpiper in the ponds along Stewart Road, Stilt Sandpiper in the pond along Harbor Side Drive, Red Knot, Common and Black Terns at Apefell Park on East Beach. For the whole trip we totaled 112 species but that is conservative because with all the activity it was hard to keep a list of what was been seeing and trying to see everything there at the same time. It was a nice predicament to be in. A big thanks goes out to Dwight Peake for leading this trip and the weather gods for providing us with all the right conditions for a truly wonderful fallout. A list of species seen on the trip is below.
Pied-billed Grebe HD
Brown Pelican EB
Neotropic Cormorant EB
Cattle Egret SR
Great Egret HD
Reddish Egret SW
Snowy Egret HD
Great Blue Heron SR
Little Blue Heron SR
Tricolored Heron SR
Yellow-crowned Night Heron SR
Green Heron (Heard)
Glossy Ibis HD (1), LC (1)
White-faced Ibis HD
Roseate Spoonbill DP
Blue-winged Teal
Gadwall SR
American Wigeon SR
Mottled Duck SR
American Coot HD
Semipalmated Plover EB
Black-bellied Plover EB
Wilson’s Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher EB
Sanderling EB
Ruddy Turnstone EB
Dunlin EB
Long-billed Dowitchers EB
Short-billed Dowitchers SR
Black-necked Stilt LC
Lesser Yellowlegs LC (2)
Greater Yellowlegs
Red Knot EB (4)
Spotted Sandpiper SR (2)
Stilt Sandpiper HD (2)
Solitary Sandpiper LC (2)
Pectoral Sandpiper LC (1)
Least Sandpiper LC
White-rumped Sandpiper SR (1)
Semipalmated Sandpiper SR (1)
Willet
Ring-billed Gull EB (1)
Laughing Gull EB (30)
Herring Gull EB (1)
Common Tern EB (300)
Forster’s Tern EB (5)
Black Tern EB (10)
Royal Tern EB (25)
Sandwich Tern EB (8)
Caspian Tern EB (3)
Black Skimmer EB (15)
Mourning Dove KP
White-winged Dove KP
Rock Dove
Eurasian Collared Dove KP
Yellow-billed Cuckoo LC (Heard)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Eastern Wood Pewee LC
Eastern Kingbird DP
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher LC
Loggerhead Shrike
Warbling Vireo LC (3)
White-eyed Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo LC (40)
Red-eyed Vireo LC (6)
Yellow-throated Vireo DP (1)
Barn Swallow
Purple Martin
Swainson’s Thrush LC
Veery LC
Gray Catbird LC
Northern Mockingbird
Tennessee Warbler LC (100), KP (5)
Yellow Warbler LC (8), KP (2)
Cerulean Warbler LC (4)
Kentucky Warbler LC (5)
Bay-breasted Warbler DP (2)
Northern Waterthrush LC (5)
Common Yellowthroat LC (15)
Ovenbird LC (15)
Blackburnian Warbler LC (2), KP (1)
Black and White Warbler LC (50)
Blackpoll Warbler DP (2)
Golden-winged Warbler LC (5)
Blue-winged Warbler DP (3)
Magnolia Warbler LC (100)
Black-throated Green Warbler LC
Chestnut-sided Warbler LC (50)
American Redstart LC (100), KP (5)
Yellow-throated Warbler
Northern Parula LC (5)
Worm-eating Warbler DP (5), LC (4)
Hooded Warbler LC (3)
Scarlet Tanager DP
Summer Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting LC
Painted Bunting DP
Orchard Oriole DP, LC
Baltimore Oriole LC
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle KP
Great-tailed Grackle KP
Eastern Meadowlark
House Sparrow
Locations: Kempner Park (KP), East Beach (EB), Seawall (SW), Stewart Road (SR), Harborside Drive (HD), Dwight Peake’s Property (DP), and Laffite’s Cove (LC).
~Adam Wood, Field Trip Coordinator, birdman_570@yahoo.com, 713-515-1692
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