Birding on Armand Bayou

March 29, 2017


My friend, Pat, and I decided to go paddling on Buffalo Bayou.  It is great that he has been retired for a couple of years and is available for weekday paddles. Other than a group of Texas A&M students that were on a little paddle to learn about the bayou, we were pretty much alone. We decided to go downstream and then paddle Horsepen Bayou because sometimes this has lots of birds.

However this morning, we saw very few birds except for a few osprey, a few herons, migrating cattle egrets, and lingering double crested cormorants.

Pat setting off

One of several ospreys 

Part of a small flock of cattle egrets

My first photobomb - Pat was waiting for me to get in position for him to take a picture of me and decided to take one of himself - ah the joy of long arms 

Pat's picture

A great egret grooming

A tricolor heron in breeding plumbage

A juvenile great blue heron

Such peace

Natalie had told me about an bald eagle nest.  Pat and I couldn't find it.  But on the way out we met another canoeist. As we greeted each other, we realized we were all friends. Dave knew where the eagle's nest was and took us to see it.  It wasn't active as we saw no eagles the entire time we were out and the eagles feed the babies about every hour. I took pictures of the tree, but could find no nest, even when I blew up the pictures. And Dave mentioned another paddle for the weekend.

A young anhinga - the only one we saw

A little blue heron at the end of its first year

The only three double crested cormorants we saw - they should be leaving soon

We stopped at  the Pho Hoang Restaurant - a really great Vietnamese place - for lunch.

Pat's platter plus we had spring rolls

Pat also managed to eat two-thirds of this wonderful soup -
I also had a fish pot that was outstanding

Goodbye to a Bayou

One the the things that defines southeast Texas is the number of places to paddle.  The Houston Area has several watersheds, many lakes and, of course coastal waters. But the premiere paddling place has to be Armand Bayou, which has been designated as one of only four Texas Coastal Preserves.  It's easily accessible, and is next to Armand Bayou Nature Center so, even though it is in the middle of a large population, it has been mostly preserved and you can paddle for miles without seeing many signs of civilization.  You can paddle upstream and then choose to go east or west, and do the same for downstream, where you can choose to go into Mud Lake and Clear Lake. Or you can turn into the smaller winding, Horsepen Bayou and travel to University of Houston, Clear Lake and stop at a picnic area on campus. This is now one of the official Texas Paddling Trails and you can read all about it here.

I have been paddling on this Bayou since the 80's, even before I moved to Houston.  I traveled from Shreveport, Louisiana to Houston to see my first osprey, when theses birds began to make a comeback on this bayou.

My friend Pat Cox, with whom I'd also been camping at South Llano River State Park, and I decided to do an early Saturday morning paddle.  We put in a little after 8:00 A.M. and were the first people to travel upstream.  We took advantage of the beautiful light and paddled slowly with lots of stops to enjoy the scenery, the few birds present, and the many alligators.

At the put-in

The bayou is more open near the bridge 

I was caught by how this islet was glowing in the morning light

Beautiful and terrible invasive water hyacinth

The prettiest alligator we saw 

The bayou is slowly degrading due to many invasive species making their new homes there, at the expense of native plants and animals.  The water was high so we expected to see few wading birds, but we expected to see several osprey and saw and heard none.  I wonder if the water hyacinth, that completely covered the north reaches of the bayou impacted the fish the ospreys eat. Also many of the wintering birds have now migrated back north.

A little blue heron hunting in a huge patch of water hyacinth

Some beautiful old trees and reflections,  but with an invasive tallow tree in front

Another couple caught up with us in their hand-made kayaks 

Can't stop taking pictures of all this

Invasive elephant ears with invasive apple snail egg mass attached

Juvenile little blue heron

We saw many kayakers and canoers on the way back but only this one paddleboarder

 Pat and I finished just after noon, and had worked up an appetite, so we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for great, delicious bowls of soup.

It was a very good day to say goodbye to a place that holds many happy memories of paddling trips, both solo and with friends.

As this comes out I'll be unpacking and starting my work at Red Rock Lakes NWR.  The bluebird survey will be the priority.  I'll be repairing boxes and getting my first batch of data.

Paddling Wild Armand Bayou

Armand Bayou is a ten mile long, bayou that travels though a 1600 acre nature preserve. So, while it is in the middle of a highly developed area of industry and communities, it gives the closest  to Houston wild experience that you can get.  I'm so thankful for the visionary  people who worked to save this little wild piece of Harris County. It is a place we all have to continue to work to save from invasives, contaminated water, and other threats that come from a modern society. It is next to Bay Area Park which has the boat ramp for put-ins. This is also a great place to eat lunch after the paddle.

Black Vultures are icons of Armand Bayou - there is a large roost here

It was the first place I ever paddled in the Houston area.  I came from Shreveport to this place to see ospreys for the first time way back in 1989.  Since then I've paddled the various waterways scores of times. From the put-in on mud lake, you can go up the bayou or down through Mud Lake  to another lovely bayou, Horsepen, or continue through Mud Lake to Clear Lake and then on to East Bay.  And there is another cut off Armand Bayou that takes you past a lot of industry but also lots of birds and deer.

Getting organized to put in

Gail putting the skin boat she made in.

 So Armand Bayou was one of the first places we suggested for Gail and Winnie to paddle.  They only have bays and a few wide rivers to paddle around near their Corpus Christi homes, so we wanted them to experience our bayous.   Armand Bayou was our Sunday destination for paddling. They wanted to go home  by 2:00P after the paddle so they packed their car up before heading to the put-in. We managed to get in by a little after 9:00A.M. The day was clear and already warm enough that we only needed our shirts. The bayou was high enough that there were no roseate spoonbills present but gulls, terns, several species of herons and the ospreys were all present and active. The woods were alive with bird calls, including a white-eyed vireo song,  a large cardinal chorus, and calls of chickadees and titmice. Pileated and redbreasted woodpeckers were calling, tapping, and showing themselves as they flew across the bayou. A red shouldered hawk and a couple of belted kingfishers added their voices  to the cacophony.   But the white ibises only fed quietly. And the anhingas quietly soared, fished,  or sat in trees, drying their wings. A few cormorants also quietly fished and dove out of sight when we came past. And there were a few pie-billed grebes fishing as well.

One of the many ospreys present

First turn into the narrow part of the bayou

One of several anhingas we saw

The day was so warm, a couple of the smaller alligators came out to sun themselves.

They are all looking at ......

this

Beautful day in the neighborhood

Anhinga all spiffed up to find his mate

Little blue heron fishing

Gail and great egret

 After we got our boats cleaned out and everything back in/on the cars, we had a quick lunch of mostly cheese and crackers with a little gorp and some of Natalie's satsumas. Natalie gave Zoot a chance to run in the six-acre dog park, both before and after lunch. Then it was time to say goodbye to Gail and Winnie and wish them God-speed back to Corpus Christi.  They had to drive about five or more hours to get back to their homes.  But they helped us have a wonderful weekend of paddling and good conversation. 

Lunch in the park

Nooo Zootie, not the mud puddle!