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April 22, 2007
Twenty two Participants couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to be out enjoying the great outdoors and birding in Sabine Pass, Texas. We all meet at 7:30 at the entrance to Sabine Woods under partly cloudy skies with a light breeze out of the east. While waiting for the group to gather the early arrivals were treated to a chorus of Soras, a King Rail, a Virginia Rail, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Marsh Wrens singing from the salt marsh across SH 87 from Sabine Woods. Once every one was assembled we headed into the woods and right upon entering the sanctuary we were treated to good looks at a young male Blue Grosbeak. The woods were pretty quite and we had to work for our birds. All the birds were seen in onsies and twosies as would be expected with the nice weather. Highlights for the two hours we spent in the woods were Yellow-breasted Chat, Hooded Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, a female American Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Kentucky Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Summer Tanager, Orchard Orioles, Swainson's Thrush, Wood Thrush, a singing Great-crested Flycatcher, a female Eastern Towhee that was very cooperative and gave us all good looks at it and a Common Nighthawk a sleep in a tree. After we made a loop around the board walk and walked out to the pond in back of the sanctuary we decided to split the group up and have half the group go to the Willows at Sea Rim and the other half bird the Mulberries along SH 87 near the entrance to McFaddin NWR and then switch off.
I led the first group in to the Willows at Sea Rim, which like Sabine Woods were fairly quite but we did manage to locate a few Warblers and some other good birds. While looking for the few warblers that were there we were serenaded by Common Yellowthroats and a Orchard Oriole. We did get some great looks at two of the singing Common Yellowthroats. While we were there were treated to some great looks at a Yellow Warbler, a Northern Parula, a American Redstart and another Black-and-white Warbler all gorgeous males. Other highlights from the Willows were a Green Heron, and two Soras seen relatively well by most from as close as ten feet and Indigo Buntings seen in the marsh across SH 87 from the Willows. Before leaving the Willows to head to the Mulberries we heard from the other part of our group that had just returned from there that they had Tennesee Warbler, and a male and female Painted Bunting as well as more Scarlet Tanagers, Blue Grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings. When we got to the Mulberries a few of us were able to briefly spot the male Painted Bunting but it proved to be not as cooperative for us. I am not sure if everybody was able to see it. We were unable to locate the Tennesse Warbler that was seen by the first group. Like the other spots the Mulberries were not nearly as active as I have seen them before. Once the other half of the group that was birding the Willows caught back up to us we drove into McFaddin NWR and had lunch on the benches at the big bridge that people like to fish from.
On the way in we were hoping to spot Bobolinks but had no such luck. McFaddin NWR is one of the best spots to find migrating Bobolinks on the Upper Texas Coast. On the way in we did see more Orchard Orioles and Indigo Bunitings and a Clapper Rail walking next to the road near the bridge where we stopped for lunch. The Rail was on territory and most of the participants were able to get good looks at this rail as well again from as close as ten feet it was quite a treat. While eating our lunch Steve Mayes spotted a Least Bittern flying low over the marsh that a few of the participants were able to catch a brief glimpse of. Other then the bittern we were treated to watching seven male Boat-tailed Grackles displaying for themselves because there were no females around that we could see. After finishing our lunch we drove back out slowly looking for Bobolinks again to no avail. We did get some nice looks at a male Summer Tanager and another sleeping Common Nighthawk near the entrance to McFaddin NWR. After leaving McFaddin NWR we decided to stop in at Sabine Woods to see if the activity had picked up there in the afternoon.
When we got to Sabine Woods we checked the sightings board and noticed that the activity hadn't increased much since the morning but the quality had because a Black-throated Blue Warbler and a Bay-breasted Warbler had been reported. Shortly after getting on the board walk a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew up from the low shrubs and perched in the open giving us some good looks. While we were watching the cuckoo Steve talked to Don Q and found that the Black-throated Blue Warbler had just recently been seen in the Lantanas a little bit further up the board walk from where we were watching the cuckoo. Shortly after getting to the spot where the male Black-throated Blue Warbler was being seen it was seen again. It took a little bit of time to get everybody a look at it but I believe all participants were able to get a look at this absolutely splendid warbler. I believe the Black-throated Blue Warbler was a life bird for most of the participants on the trip. It is always nice when most of the participants get a life bird on the trip. In fact it was the first male Black-throated Blue that I have seen so it was quite an exciting moment. However, I still think the male Cerulean Warbler is a more stunning bird. While we were watching the Black-throated Blue, Geoff Butcher one of the participants alerted us to the fact that the male Bay-breasted Warbler that had been seen much earlier was re-located at the end of the left fork of the board walk. So those of us who had had are fill of the Black-throated Blue went to see the Bay-breasted Warbler. Unlike the Black-throated Blue the Bay-breasted Warbler was in the top of an oak tree and we were getting warbler neck watching it. It was being very cooperative giving us great looks all be it with us having to look straight up. After watching those two exquisite birds we decided to spend a little time looking for the Philadelphia Vireo that had been seen earlier to no avail. At this point the participants were starting to leave. So those of us that stayed decided to go drive down South First Avenue, what has become know by birders as Pilot Station Road, to see if we could pick up a few more migrant passerines and add some sandpipers to the list.
Pilot Station Road was pretty dead but Steve was able to see one Whimbrel, and the rest of us were able to see three Dickcissels, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Least Terns, and Spotted Sandpiper. The other highlight was a Common Tern seen feeding out in the marsh along the road by a few of us. I had participated in the Houston Audubon Societies Birdathon competition the day before and one of the spots we stopped at was Pilot Station Road and it was hoping while we were there. It is amazing the difference a day can make. We finished the day up at close to 5:00 pm. For the trip we were able to locate 101 species of birds, that included 15 species of warblers, highlighted by the male Black-throated Blue Warbler, and the big eight. Everybody should give themselves a pat on the back because this is a very good total for a day like we had where there was no inclement weather to ground large numbers of the smaller passerines and we had to work for our birds seing them in onsies and twoseis. I think everybody would agree that the male Black-throated Blue Warbler was the bird of the trip. A big thanks goes out to Steve Mayes for leading this wonderful field trip. A list of birds seen during the trip is below.
Locations: Sabine Woods (SW), Willows at Sea Rim (W), Mulberries on SH 87 (M), McFaddin NWR (MNWR) and Pilot Station Road (PSR)
Observation date: 4/22/07
Participants: David Poteet, Iris Poteet, Geoff Butcher, John Schneider, Charles Ottenweller, Carolyn Lewis, Harlan Evans, Bill Tarbox, Bryan Tarbox, Elen Baker, Kay Piper, Nancy Hannan, Cindy Douglass, Steve Mayes (leader), Adam Wood (co-leader), Jerry Stinslav, Brian Addis, and Sheri Addis (joining us from Kansas)
Number of species: 101
American White Pelican PSR (15)
Brown Pelican
Neotropic Cormorant
Least Bittern MNWR (1-flyby), SW (1-flyby)
Great Blue Heron PSR (1)
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Black-bellied Whistling Duck SW (flyby)
Blue-winged Teal
White-tailed Kite SW (1)
Red-tailed Hawk
Clapper Rail MNWR (2)
King Rail SW (Heard)
Sora SW (Heard), W (2)
Virginia Rail SW (Heard)
Black-bellied Plover PSR (1), SH 87 (2-flyby)
Semipalmated Plover PSR (2)
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt SW (2-flyby)
Lesser Yellowlegs PSR (8-flyby)
Willet
Spotted Sandpiper MNWR (2-flyby), PSR (1)
Whimbrel PSR (1)
Ruddy Turnstone PSR (5)
Sanderling PSR (1)
Peep sp. PSR (12)
Laughing Gull
Common Tern PSR (1)
Forster's Tern PSR (1)
Least Tern PSR (4)
Rock Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo SW (1)
Common Nighthawk SW (1), MNWR (1)
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher PSR (1)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker SW (1)
Downy Woodpecker SW (2)
Great-crested Flycatcher SW (2)
Eastern Kingbird (Many at all locations)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher SH 87 (2)
Warbling Vireo W (1), M (1)
Red-eyed Vireo SW (5), W (1)
Loggerhead Shrike W (1)
Blue Jay
Fish Crow SH 87 (3)
American Crow
Purple Martin MNWR (many)
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Marsh Wren MNWR (1), SW (Heard)
Sedge Wren SW (Heard)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet SW (1)
Swainson's Thrush SW (1), M (1)
Hermit Thrush SW (1)
Wood Thrush SW (1), M (1)
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Tennessee Warbler M (1), SW (1)
Northern Parula W (1-male)
Yellow Warbler W (2-males), PSR (1-male), SW (4)
Black-throated Blue Warbler SW (1-male) Bird of the Trip
Yellow-rumped Warbler W (1)
Bay-breasted Warbler SW (1-male)
Black-and-white Warbler SW (1-male), W (1-male)
American Redstart SW (1-female), W (1-male)
Ovenbird SW (1)
Northern Waterthrush SW (1)
Kentucky Warbler SW (2)
Common Yellowthroat SW (2), W (5)
Yellow-breasted Chat SW (1)
Hooded Warbler SW (1)
Summer Tanager SW, MNWR (1-male)
Scarlet Tanager SW, M
Eastern Towhee SW (1-female)
Spotted Towhee SW (1)
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow SW (1)
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak SW (1-male)
Blue Grosbeak SW (2), M (3)
Indigo Bunting SW (several), W (several), MNWR (5-males)
Painted Bunting M (2-male and female)
Dickcissel PSR (3-males), MNWR (1)
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle
Ochard Oriole SW (several), W (3), M (2), MNWR (4)
Baltimore Oriole M (2 male and female)
*Birds in bold were target birds for the trip or migrants and birds in bold and italicized were rare birds for the area or where migrants arriving earlier then their expected arrival date.
~ Adam Wood, OG Field Trip Coordinator, birdman_570@yahoo.com, 713-515-1692 |
