Birds of Bolivar

October 18, 2015

I rushed to get to the ferry, after sleeping in Sunday morning. I wanted to see check out what birds were hanging out on Bolivar Peninsula. There are many great birding sites there, more than I  would have time to visit. 

I missed the ferry by one car and then had to wait about 20 minutes for the next one. The usual suspects were hanging around: great-tailed grackles, brown pelicans, laughing gulls, and double-crested cormorants. Very few birds were flying because cool north winds were blowing at about fifteen miles per hour. When I went to the top of the ferry, I saw most people in jackets and hats.  I was in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.  I could only handle about fifteen minutes outside at that chill point.

The ferry ride is always interesting, with lots to see.  Foreign ships are always going by, shrimpers are shrimping (in season), a lot of birds are loafing or fishing, and there are pleasure boats speeding about or fishing.  Sometimes one of the cruise boats is coming in or going out. Bottlenose dolphins ride on the bow wave of the ferries or are  just cruising around in the bay.

Galveston Bay Shoreline

A popular park for fishing and birding

I got to look down at a juvenile brown pelican

Birds follow the shrimpers waiting for bycatch

The concrete ship, the S. S. Selma which has been here since 1922

A very colorful boat - not sure of its function, but it was working in place

It was 8:30 when I got to Bolivar so I immediately started birding, with the plan of going as far east as I could before noon. Frenchtown Road was nearly empty of birds. I stopped at Fort Travis Park and found the most amazing birds of the day - over 100 marbled godwits, feeding in the lawn grass. I continued on to Yacht Club Basin and Roll-Over Pass before I ran out of time. I never made it to one of the best birding places, Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary.

One of about 125 marbled godwits I found at Fort Travis Park

They were feeding in huge groups - I counted 111 in only three groups 

One of a group of seven cattle egrets - they are leaving cattle fields
and gathering on the coast to migrate

Naptime for Forster's terns and laughing gulls

A few royal terns were with the gulls and Forster's terns

This juvenile was the only American white pelican I saw - with a few marbled godwits

I saw a dozen avocets in their winter prison garb

Another juvenile brown pelican  - this time from below

My impression was that there were fewer species of birds than normal, as well as fewer of each species. But the winds were high and there were lots of people around, so perhaps the birds were hiding. The tide was also high which always causes birds to disappear. Hopefully, for both the birds and me, there will be more to see next time. 

For re blogs about birds from around the world, click on the picture below to see the posts on Wild Bird Wednesday.

I'm still in South Louisiana visiting my friend Hulin.  We have gone on a short paddle and Tuesday,  did an 8.5 mile bike ride. He is just getting back to full activity after getting a hip replacement in May. Hope I can be that active at almost ninety-one.

Wild Bird Wednesday - Sunset at the North Jetty, Bolivar

I spent most of a long day getting myself, and my sinker cypress board (to use to build new thwarts and gunnels for my canoe) home from Hammond, Louisiana.  This is usually only a  five hour trip, but it took about 2 hours more to detour to pick up the board, then get it to ride on the car.  I had forgotten to put my racks on so was working with foam carriers.

At Old Wood Reclaimed, where I finally located a board long enough for new canoe gunnels

Then my car was irresistibly pulled into turning down the road that leads to the Creole Nature Trail that runs through Sabine National Wildlife Refuge.  Then, since, the highway no longer exists along the coast from Port Arthur to High Island, I chose to drive to Port Arthur, back up to I-10 at Winnie, and then back down to the coast  on Bolivar Peninsula to drive to the Galveston Ferry.  I anticipated lots of birds but very few were around.

By the time I was on the Bolivar Peninsula,  the light was getting really beautiful. I would be a little early to see the sunset but the perfect way to kill another hour popped into my head in time for me to hunt down the North Jetty. This is on the west side of Audubon's Bolivar Flats, 1.7 miles from the ferry, and is the place to find birds in good light in the afternoon.  The Jetty is nearly a mile long, so there are lots of great views.  And there is a little oyster reef just at the end of my camera's range,  that attracts loafing and roosting birds.

Willett and greater yellowlegs. 

Avocet

Marbled godwit with food

Laughing gulls are molting into breeding plumage

Marbled godwit pair

Red knots

Snowy egret and willet

A few of an estimated 500 skimmers - they were coming in to roost and their numbers kept growing

White pelicans flying to feeding area on west side of the dike 

Feeding time - there were at least 25 pelicans in this group

Willet trio

Black-bellied plover

Unsuccessful fisherman coming back

Sunset over Fort Travis 

I ended up staying there until almost dark.  It was a wonderful time. And I managed to have one more small adventure when I couldn't start my car to drive off the ferry and had to be pushed by some of the ferry crew to get started. Thankfully, I still drive a stick shift.  I spent two more days getting the battery replaced - you don't want to know - before  finding that I had a bad fuse causing the problem. Two days later, I had to be jumped again and this time my jumper cables caught on fire. I slightly burned my fingers grabbing the cables off both cars.  I think the main problem was a loose connection to my positive post. I went to an Auto Zone  and bought a little gizmo that fits over the post and reestablishes connectivity.  So far, I'm good and my fingers can feel again.

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