My next destination was to High Island which is located between Houston and Galveston. High Island sits 32 feet above the surrounding marshes so birds crossing over the Gulf of Mexico from Central and South America usually land here. By the time they finally land, they are exhausted and hungry. They often find a puddle of water to take a little “bird bath” to freshen up. They start gleaning through the trees looking for insects and other food sources to refuel from their long journey. They are tired and somewhat quiet because it is not the time or place to breed. They will start singing and calling for a mate when they reach their breeding sites up north.

We went to several locations including Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Boy Scout Woods, Smith Oaks Sanctuary and Rookery, Boliver Flats Shorebird Sanctuary, Fort Travis Seashore Park and the North Jetty on the Bolivar Peninsula. We scheduled this trip to coincide with peak migration in this area which resulted in a very productive birding experience. We, as in Ms. Bird and I, had accumulated 99 species for the entire trip including the American Oystercatcher that Ms. Bird found next to the North Jetties. She also found the Marbled Godwit at the Fort Travis Seashore Park and we got close up photos of him.

My favorite part of spring migration is the passing through of warblers. I mentioned these birds in a previous blog that warblers are considered the crown jewels of the avian world. They are small, energetic, and sing beautiful, melodic songs. They come in all sorts of colors including yellow, orange, red, green, blue, black, white, gray and many variations of each. Many of them are found in the tops of tall trees and a person is known to get “warbler neck” from looking up at them.

My target bird for this trip was the Cerulean Warbler that I saw at Smith Oaks Sanctuary. I heard someone call out “Cerulean” and I made a mad dash to where all the people with cameras were staked out. Sure enough, there he was in all his blue and white glory. He was high up in the tree gleaning for insects. I took numerous photos of him and luckily at least two were decent enough to post. Yay, life bird! Other warblers that we saw were the Hooded, Blue-winged, Prothonotary, Yellow, Common Yellowthroat, American Restart (female), Tennessee, Northern Waterthrush, and the Oven Bird.

One other exciting time we had was going to Boliver Flats Shorebird Sanctuary where we saw many types of shorebirds including the sandpipers and plovers. There were five types of plovers and one was sitting on her nest. This was the Snowy Plover and the other plovers that we encountered were the Piping Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Wilson’s and the Black-bellied Plover. It was a great opportunity to study the birds while they were all in the same area.

We also learned how to differentiate between four of the thrushes by comparing their eye ring, body color and breast pattern. These birds are found mostly low to the ground skulking around scratching through the leaf litter like chickens looking for bugs.

High Island is a very diverse and wonderful place to explore. If you feel adventurous and want a place to see wildlife and nature, this is a good place to go. I can give you more details on it if you are interested. The nearest place to stay overnight is 20 miles outside of High Island in a little town called Winnie. There are a few restaurants and fast food places to choose from. We ate at a restaurant called Tia Juanita Fish Camp several times. The food is good and the service is even better.

The highlight for Ms. Bird was learning more about these birds from the two bird guides that we had during the week. Her favorite bird sighting was the Fulvous Whistling Duck found at the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. This is a great place to find water fowl and alligators. The gators were all over the place. My highlight was finally getting to see the Cerulean Warbler. I loved all the birds that I saw and wish them all a safe trip north to their breeding grounds and I look forward to seeing them again on their journey south in the fall. Bye Bye birdies!

Cerulean Warbler at Smith Oaks Sanctuary – April 24, 2024

Marbled Godwit at Fort Travis Seashore Park

Yellow Warbler at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge

Red-winged Blackbird (male) at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge

American Alligator at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge