May 19, 2007
Eleven Participants enjoyed an absolutely lovely afternoon and early evening of kayaking on Drum Bay with Artist Boat. It was a perfectly clear afternoon with a bit of a breeze and temperatures were in the low 80’s. We couldn’t have asked for better weather for this trip. Karla Klay was our interpreter and guide for the afternoon and she was assisted by Nicole and Katy. Sorry I have forgotten their last names. All three of them are marine biologists and Karla has a lot of experience with birds so she was the perfect guide and interpreter for this trip. The trip started off with Karla giving all of us a paddling demonstration before we launched the kayaks. Most of the participants went in tandem but since we had a uneven number of participants I wound up taking a single kayak.
After we launched the kayaks we paddled over to one of the several rookeries on Drum Bay. Once there we pulled into the cord grass in the middle of the rookery and observed all the activity. Oh, I forgot to mention that before we launched the kayaks a Reddish Egret came into the marsh near the launch area affording us great looks. It even did its little dance for us. It was the perfect way to start the trip. At the rookery we saw White Ibis, Great Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Reddish Egrets, Neotropic Cormorants, Roseate Spoonbills and Laughing Gulls. All the birds were in various stages of nesting with Great Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets already with young that had hatched. We saw Roseate Spoonbills sitting on eggs and in the process of nest construction. It was nice to see some of each species in high breeding plumage. Some of the White Ibis had extremely red faces and bills and the Great Egrets were sporting very nice bright green lores while the Snowy Egrets were sporting bright red lores. It was quite an interesting site. While we were watching all the proceedings Karla explained why there can be so many species using the rookery. The answer lies in the fact that they are utilizing different resources and there is only competition between certain species for nesting area selection. One of the most interesting facts was that the White Ibis young can not process and excrete the salt from the salt water so the adults have to fly to fresh water marshes to get food for their young and bring it back to the nest. After learning about how these rookeries function we pulled back and continued to slowly paddle by the rookery. We then proceeded to paddle over to another rookery were we saw a lot of the same birds except we got to see a Laughing Gull pair do their mating ritual and we found a young Black-crowned Night Heron. Once we were finished owing and awing at that rookery we paddled over to an exposed oyster reef and found two American Oystercatchers that probably had a nest on the reef but we could not find it. After watching the oystercatchers for a bit we paddled away from them and the rookeries and pulled into some cord grass so that while Karla was telling us about the ecology of the Galveston Bay Estuary we would not be disturbing the nesting birds.
Karla informed us that Drum Bay is part of the Galveston Bay drainage basin and that it averages a foot and a half deep. She also told us that it is a very healthy and well functioning estuary, which explains why it can support so many water bird rookeries. However, she did tell us that as the population in the Houston-Galveston area increases the need for fresh water will continue to increase and that the fresh water will come from the rivers and streams that feed into Galveston Bay. It is the fresh water that these rivers discharge into the bay that is one of the two critical ingredients for a healthy estuary. Without the zone of fresh and saltwater mixing in an estuary the food source for many of the nesting water birds will diminish thus decreasing the number of rookeries that can be sustained in the bay. She also informed us that currently the lack of fresh water coming into the estuary in Aransas and Copano Bays will be the biggest obstacle that the endangered Whooping Crane will face now and in the future. The lack of fresh water entering the estuary will decrease the Blue Crab population that the Whooping Cranes rely on for nourishment. Basically the carrying capacity for Whooping Cranes in Aransas Bay will decrease with the decline in Blue Crabs. The bottom line is that we need to protect our estuaries by finding other sources of fresh water and using less energy. After learning about estuaries and the ecology of the Galveston Bay Estuary we paddled slowly back by both rookeries for one last look before heading back in.
We spent about three and a half hours paddling around Drum Bay and saw 27 species of birds for the trip. It was the first time kayaking for a couple of the participants and I believe everybody had a great time and learned a little bit about estuaries and Galveston Bay. A big thanks goes to Karla, Nicole and Katy for being wonderful guides on this trip. Below are a couple of one of the participants favorite moments during the trip.
"I really enjoyed seeing the young Great Blue Herons with their Mohawk hairdo's. It was "magnificent" watching the Laughing Gull chase the Magnificent Frigatebird. Also, going kayaking in a new place was thrilling. " - Marie Asscherick
A list of birds seen during the trip is below.
Location: Drum Bay
Observation date: 5/19/07
Participants: Cindy Douglass, Claire Moore, Darwin Moore, Bethany Moore, Bill Tarbox, Sally Rigg, Ellen Baker, Bryan Tarbox, Debbie Lancaster, Marie Asscherick and Adam Wood
Number of species: 27
Brown Pelican (8)
Neotropic Cormorant w/ young (50)
Double-crested Cormorant (6)
Magnificent Frigatebird (1-sub adult male)
Great Blue Heron w/ young (at least 40)
Tricolored Heron w/ young (at least 150)
Little Blue Heron (1)
Black-crowned Night Heron w/ young (15)
Yellow-crowned Night Heron (1)
Great Egret w/young (at least 40)
Snowy Egret w/ young (at least 25)
Reddish Egret (10 including one white phase)
Cattle Egret (1)
White Ibis ( at least 300)
Roseate Spoonbill (50)
American Oystercatcher (4)
Black-necked Stilt (5)
Willet (10)
Sanderling (4)
Ruddy Turnstone (5)
Laughing Gull (at least 300)
Forster's Tern (10)
Clapper Rail (1-Heard)
Common Nighthawk (1-Heard)
Seaside Sparrow (3)
Red-winged Blackbird (5)
Great-tailed Grackle (5)
~ Adam Wood, OG Field Trip Coordinator, birdman_570@yahoo.com, 713-515-1692 |
