Three Statebirds on Galveston Island, TX – March 2018

On my regular March business trip to Houston I ended up with an early morning free, so of course I researched potential statebird possibilities nearby the eBird Needs Alerts.  There weren’t any targets in the greater Houston area, but there were several in and around Galveston Island.  That’s only an hour ride from Houston, so with a pre-dawn departure from my hotel, I could spend a few hours on the coast for some strategic chases.  Recent reports included sightings of a Glaucous Gull, Gannets, an Iceland Gull, and a Black Scoter, though I’d be happy with just 1 or 2. 

The first target was a first year Glaucous Gull with 2 reports of likely the same bird - once from 7 ½ Mile Beach and once from nearby 8 Mile Beach.  I arrived at the area just after dawn, and decided to try 7 ½ Mile Beach first.  As I drove off the pavement and onto the hard packed sand, I could see a group of just 4 gulls on the beach up ahead.  Certainly not enough critical mass for my target bird, right?  But before I had even put the car into park, I realized that one of the gulls was large and very pale.  And with a quick binoc view I realized it was my first year Glaucous Gull.  That was easy!  I got this passable phonescoped photo of the bird as it fed on a fish carcass.

TX is my 21st state for this species (see my statebird map below) – and this is by far the farthest south of all of my sightings.

I looked up and down 7 ½ Mile Beach and didn’t see much activity in the immediate area.  But off to the southwest in the general vicinity of 8 Mile Beach I could see a good sized flock of roosting gulls, so I decided to head in that direction to see if I could find another rare gull.  After a short drive I was there to check out the gulls – just the normal Laughers, Ring-bills, and a couple Herrings.  So with nothing of interest on the beach, I starting scanning out over ocean, hoping I might find a Gannet.  There was one recent report of a nice number of Gannets from “Galveston Island” (no specific location was given), so this location was as good as any to give it a try.  A quick initial scan just yielded the regular species.  But then I spotted a pair of birds flying far out to sea that could be Sulids – but at that distance I couldn’t be sure.  I kept watching them and they were now flying toward me.  Finally, after a minute or so they were close enough to ID as Gannets.  Within the next few minutes I spotted 3 others not too far out, plus 2 others much farther in the distance plunge diving.  That was much easier than I expected – after all I’ve looked for Gannet off the TX gulf coast many times in the past.  Now that I can shade in TX on my statebird map, LA and MS are the last 2 states on the Atlantic or Gulf in which I still need this species.

I was just about to leave 8 Mile Beach when I noticed a large pale gull fly by – it was the first year Glaucous Gull.  Amazing to see it at both locations!  (or at least I assume it was the same bird) 

Since I had such rapid success on my first two targets, I had a bit of extra time on my hands.  So I decided to head into nearby Galveston Island State Park for a bit of light birding, and I chose the Clapper Rail loop for a quick stroll around the marshes.  After a short walk I stopped at the observation tower to listen to what might be calling.  Within a couple minutes I started to hear some clicking noises coming from the marsh.  I listened intently as the bird continued to call – it was a Yellow Rail.  And then while I was celebrating my find, a Black Rail called from the same general area.  I had Black Rail in this same area in April 2017, but Yellow Rail was new for my statelist.  TX was only my 4th state for this elusive species - in MN as a breeder, LA and AR in fall migration, and now TX as a late winterer.

It was a bit interesting that I had Yellow and Black Rail but no Clapper Rail on my walk around Clapper Rail loop. 

Next I was off to the Bolivar Peninsula to chase after a couple statebird possibilities - an Iceland Gull near the Bolivar Flats, and a Black Scoter offshore with Scaup flocks.  I headed right to the beach and soon spotted several flocks of Scaup offshore.  But the rough seas, and distance to the flocks, made viewing difficult, and I once again couldn’t pick out a Scoter (I had tried looking for Scoters in these Scaup flocks last April).  As I continued driving down the beach I checked out the gulls along the way but there were no Icelands.  I was striking out on my targets…  I soon reached the Bolivar Flats and decided to head out on the mudflats to see what I might find.  The Flats were full of shorebirds, and I counted 16 species in total.  There were no rarities, though it was nice to find 6 species of Plovers – Black-bellied, Piping, Snowy, Wilson’s, Semipalmated, and Killdeer.  That included one Piping that was banded, and after some research I found out that the bird was banded on the Missouri River in North Dakota.  Nice!  And then there was this Reddish Egret that had some white feathers in the wingtips – could it be an intergrade between the dark and white forms?

That made for a nice ending to an early morning of birding, finding 2 of my 4 possible stakeout statebirds, plus finding a 3rd statebird on my own.  That gives me 445 on my TX statelist, which is by far my largest single state list.  Though as a percentage of the total birds ever recorded in the state, it is only my 8th best.  My TX list is 71% of the total recorded in the state, whereas my 364 in NH is 91% of the total state list.  If I had 91% of the total TX list my statelist would be a whopping 576.

Yellow Rail But No Other Targets, Southwestern, LA – November 2017

As my upcoming November business trip to Houston began to take shape it was looking like I might have a free day.  So I decided to take a day of vacation and do some local birding in the area – which would be cheaper than incurring change fees to fly home a day earlier.  However, with some eBird research I wasn’t finding any possible TX statebirds nearby to chase after.  So I set my sights on southwestern LA, and found recent reports of several possible statebirds, many of which were associated with rice harvesting in the Thornwell area.  Specifically quite a number of Yellow Rails were being seen, along with a few American Bitterns (alas I still need this common bird for my LA list).  My first ever Yellow Rails were 2 I saw in AR in October 2000 when I was lucky enough to find a combine harvesting rice.  That was a tremendous day, when I spent almost the entire time walking alongside the combine, also finding 2 extremely rare Black Rails, and hundreds each of Soras and Virginias.  With those fond memories I was really looking forward to another opportunity to watch rice being harvested.

Now I had to do my detailed research.  I noticed that several of the eBird reports were from Donna Dittmann and Steve Cardiff.  In February 2017 I birded in their Baton Rouge yard to add Calliope Hummingbird and Purple Finch to my LA list.  So I reached out to them again, this time to get advice on their Rails.  Unfortunately it turns out that they had coordinated in advance with a rice farmer to be at his fields when he was harvesting, so instead I would have to drive around the fields in the area and be lucky enough to find a field that was being harvested when I was there.  That approach worked for me in AR – hopefully it would work for me in LA as well.

Rice harvesting doesn’t happen until later in the day to allow for the morning dew to evaporate, so I could make at least one other stop before heading to the Thornwell rice fields.  I decided to start at dawn at Peveto Woods - a remnant patch of woods along the coast which can be a great migrant trap.  There had been several recent reports of late fall warblers there that I still need for LA.  There were also a number of recent records of Franklin’s Gulls at various spots along the coast.  And then there was a spot not too far away in Calcasieu Parish where a pair of White-tailed Hawks had been seen for nearly a month.  So along with watching the rice harvest, that would make for a full day of birding (and driving).  My plans were set.

I arrived at Peveto Woods right at sunrise and began to bird the woodlands.  There were good numbers of birds present, but all were wintering birds.  I found several Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers, but couldn’t find any late migrants.  A quick stop at the nearby beach yielded a nice Piping Plover, and a couple Western Willets, but nothing else.  So with visions of flushing Rails dancing in my head (it wasn’t yet the season for sugarplum visions), I headed out of Peveto to make my way to Thornwell.  Along the way I stopped at each flock of Gulls and Terns I spotted roosting along the coast to look for Franklin’s, but with no luck.  Things had to pick up when I got to Thornwell, right?

As I neared Thornwell I started to see numerous rice fields, though almost all had already been harvested.  As I got closer I spotted a large flock of white Geese flushing from a field in the distance - I guessed there could be 1,500 birds in the flock, which included a number of White-fronts.  But rather than stopping to check out the Geese, I needed to focus on finding a rice field being harvested.  As I started to crisscross the back roads I began to find quite a number of fields that hadn’t yet been harvested.  But I couldn’t find any activity in any of the fields.  I spent at least an hour driving around the area, checking out fields along maybe 15 miles of roadways, but with no luck.  At 11:30 I had to stop to take a work call, so I pulled over at what seemed to be a nice location and began the call.  Just then I noticed a small Flycatcher fly from a nearby tree – it was an immature Vermillion Flycatcher.  Not a new LA statebird (it was my 3rd for LA), but a nice bird nonetheless.  I got this record phonescoped shot of the bird, which had a yellow belly rather than a more typical pink or red.

My call ended a few minutes later, and I decided to call it quits on looking for a rice field being harvested.  Just then a large tractor appeared over a small rise in the distance.  It was apparently cutting the tall grass growing in this field.  I put my binocs on it and noticed its tires were wet.  Maybe this field would be wet enough to harbor a few Rails too.  So I trained my binocs on the tractor as it cut the field.  Soon a large flock of Cattle Egrets appeared out of nowhere to feed in the newly cut grass.  Then three Caracaras dropped in to eat.  Then I spotted a small dark Rail fly out of the grass which I think was a Sora – a quick 2-second view and the distance made for a difficult ID.  A minute later a couple more likely Soras flew out.  And just then a Rail flew out which luckily fluttered low over the grass for maybe 10 to 15 seconds.  At one point as it banked a bit I caught flashes of white wing patches – it was a Yellow Rail.  Not the best of views, but good enough to check it off.  I’m glad it wasn’t a life bird – I’ve also heard it as a nester in MN and of course saw the migrants in the rice fields in AR.

The tractor disappeared over the small ridge and headed to the north.  I tried to re-find it but could never get close enough to it to watch for more Rails.  The consolation was while looking for the tractor I found another large flock of Geese and a flock of dark Ibis that included both Glossy and White-faced.  I decided to call it quits, with a nice list of 45 species for the area, including a wild guess of 3,000 Snow Geese, along with at least 5 Ross’ and 500 White-fronts, and an estimated 300 dark Ibis.

Next I was off to try for the White-tailed Hawks.  Recent sightings had mentioned both an adult and an immature, and eBird reports seemed to suggest they were pretty regular in the area.  So I was optimistic.  When I arrived I quickly found a pair of large raptors perched in the distance in low trees along the back side of a cattle pasture.  Very typical habitat for White-tails, and typical roosts as well.  The one bird was facing me, and with scope views I could see it was all white below.  I was about to tick it off as a White-tailed, but decided to get better views first.  A few minutes later it took off and one of the first things I spotted was white at the base of the tail – but then I saw red nearer the tip.  It was a Krider’s Red-tailed Hawk – reasonably similar to an adult White-tailed, but no cigar.  Later the other perched raptor flew from its perch and it too was a Red-tailed.  I then went to another part of the prairie and spotted an all dark Buteo with its back to me.  I instantly thought it was the immature White-tailed, but with a scope view I saw white feathering on the shoulders.  Soon it turned a bit and I could see it was a rare Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk.  I spent at least another hour in the area, spotting other Red-tails, several Harriers and Turkey Vultures, but no White-tailed Hawks.  Although I wouldn’t question anyone’s IDs, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few birders spotted the Krider’s thinking it was the adult White-tail, and the Harlan’s might be the immature White-tail, especially if they were distant.

It was a long day which yielded just one new LA statebird, giving me 276 for my state list.  And although I hoped for more, I ended up with a nice tally of 90 species for the day.  Plus finding the Vermillion Flycatcher and the Harlan’s and Krider’s Red-tails was fun.  If only I had found a rice field being harvested…