Swainson’s Warbler Near Houston, Texas, July 2017

My work travels take me to Houston most every month, and over the last couple years I’ve been trying to add a statebird or two on many of these trips.  One of the targets that has kept popping up on my eBird TX Needs Alerts has been Swainson’s Warbler.  But Swainson’s aren’t normally breeders too close to Houston, and only irregular migrants in the area, so I hadn’t made much of an effort to try to add this species to my TX list.  However, back in early April I had a side trip to far eastern TX which put me close to their breeding range.  The problem was it was a bit early in the breeding season and there had been no reports in the area yet this year.  Ever the optimist, I tried for them at a couple places where they bred last year, though with no success.

Then this summer my Needs Alerts included reports of a singing bird at Lake Houston Wilderness Park just 30 minutes north of Houston.  It was unusual to have a summering bird that close to the city, so I sure wanted to give it a try.  That is if I could break free.  Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to look for it on my June trip to Houston.  But when my July trip rolled around, it was beginning to look like I would have a small window of time in the early morning one day.  Now the question was whether the bird would still be around this late in the summer.  So I set up another Needs Alert and sure enough the Swainson’s was still being reported, albeit infrequently.  Then again in eBird, when there are no reports of a target bird, you never know if birders have looked for but missed the target, or whether no one has even tried for it.  But like I said I’m an optimist, so even though it hadn’t been reported for 8 days, I was hopeful it would still be around.  And given that these are real skulkers, I was especially hopeful that it would still be singing.

Luckily the past reports included good details about the location of the bird – near the junction of the Peach Creek South Loop and Ameri-Trails next to the Ameri-Trail Primitive Camping sign.  With a bit of on-line research I found a trail map of Lake Houston Wilderness Park, and located the intersection of the 2 trails just a half-mile walk south of one of the parking lots.  My plan was to get to the park a bit before sunrise and be at the Swainson’s Warbler’s location at dawn hoping to hear my target bird singing from the underbrush. 

I arrived at the park entrance at 6:15 – right on schedule 15 minutes before sunrise.  Unfortunately the park gate was closed and there was a sign that it wouldn’t open until 7 – as they say - “Houston – we have a problem.”  So much for an early start.  Plus now I was worried about how much time I would have to try for the bird before having to head off to work.  But much to my surprise someone showed up at 6:30 to open the gate, so I didn’t have to wait too long.  And after a quick drive to the parking lot I was ready to start my search.

As I headed down the Peach Creek South Loop trail I kept my ears open to listen for the song of the Swainson’s Warbler.  After all the song is quite loud and I was within a half mile of where it had been heard.  I quietly played the tape of both the Swainson’s song and a high-pitched chip note that my app called a “flight call” to remind me of what I was listening for.  But as I made my way down the trail there was very little song at all – mostly just White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos.  It took me just 10 minutes to reach the intersection with the Ameri-Trail, and quickly found the Primitive Camping sign.  But the woods were quiet.  Finally a couple minutes later a Hooded Warbler started to sing, which made me optimistic that the Swainson’s would start singing too.  But there were no Swainson’s songs.  I spent at least an hour in the area adding another Hooded, but little else. 

Then I walked a couple hundred yards to the south to track down a distant song which just turned out to be another Hooded.  I was pretty well convinced that the Swainson’s was gone, or at least was no longer singing.  Then as I threw in the towel I tried to console myself - at least I was familiar with this spot so that I could give the bird a try earlier in the summer next year.  That is if it returned.  But just then I heard a bird nearby giving sharp chip notes sounding much like a Waterthrush.  I eventually got good looks at the bird and it was the Swainson’s Warbler.  Surprisingly these calls were very different than the high-pitched flight calls on the app.  It finally sang a few times and I was able to get this recording of one song.  A most satisfying experience!

Swainson’s Warbler was #439 for my TX statelist which is only my 8th state for this secretive species (see my statebird map below).  I don’t spend too much time birding in the southeast these days so I’m not likely to fill in too many more states anytime soon.