Spring Arrivals

Thought I'd post a brief note on recent sightings from our little half acre in the swamp. First, the firsts:

Our first returning Broad-winged Hawks were seen on 3/29. First Northern Parula was heard buzzing in the treetops on the morning of 3/30. First Yellow-throated Warbler (my favorite parulid!) graced the pines along our fence on 4/6, and this afternoon (4/7) our first Summer Tanager of the season was repeating it's "chee-eer-up" call from somewhere in the canopy, then flew down to a low perch beside our carport, as if to say "hey I'm back, remember me?"

This afternoon I also saw a flock of Anhingas soaring off to the east, and a little kettle of Broad-winged Hawks, among which there was a smaller raptor which appeared to be a kite, probably a Swallow-tailed. It was only a tiny speck in the distance, so any attempt at identification is mere speckulation. A couple of Purple Martins were circling up high, but never came anywhere near our so-called martin house, which is hopelessly infested with filthy eurotrash (European Starlings and House Sparrows - also known as K-Martins and Burger Kinglets). I'm considering a more vigorous campaign against the sparrows, maybe even resorting to violence.

Lots of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are coming to our feeders. Seed feeders don't see as much action now that the weather is warming up, but we still get passing cold fronts (lows in the 30s this morning!). We haven't had any rain since the South Texas State Fair ended. Until this year the fair had always been in the fall, but it was decided to move it to spring to avoid the peak of hurricane season (which had caused cancellations in 2005 and 2008). So for the first time the fair was in spring, and the opening night was cancelled due to intense thunderstorms. Now that's ironic.

Birding Goes to Crap on the Upper Texas Coast

This very green Selasphorus-type hummingbird decided to spend the winter at our feeders, which is where I took this photograph on March 12th. A gorgeous adult male Rufous Hummingbird also wintered here (most often lurking in the azaleas along our driveway), and was last seen during the first week of March. Our first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the season arrived on March 1, beating our earliest previous spring sighting by 5 days.

Let's see, what else has happened since my last blog entry...Ever since we got back from our trip to Louisiana for Mardi Gras the kids and I have been sick off and on. Seems like the kids are constantly coughing, wheezing, throwing up, or en route to and from the pediatrician.

Last Sunday I toured the disaster area from High Island to Rollover Pass and Anahauc Natonal Wildlife Refuge. It wasn't pretty. The Bolivar Peninsula looks like an open landfill. Everywhere there are heaps of litter and debris from the beach homes and businesses that washed away in the hurricane. These photographs were taken at Rollover Pass, and are sadly typical:Bad as the trash situation was, the birds didn't seem to mind. As usual there were large flocks of gulls, terns, and pelicans on the flats at Rollover Pass. While I was there I met a couple of birders who were down from Missouri, and we commiserated over the condition of the habitat. They told me they had just been to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, and described it as almost devoid of bird life. I went to see for myself.

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge was indeed a grim lifeless place. The visitor center is gutted, saltwater immersion has killed most of the vegetation, and birds were few. I saw a snake on one of the refuge roads, but the storm surge must have killed most of the small fauna in the area. Not surprisingly I didn't see a single shrike on this trip (they are usually common), and only saw two raptors (a Red-tailed Hawk and a Northern Harrier). Recent drought conditions have compounded the problem - when I visited the refuge it was bone dry, and I didn't see any good shorebird habitat. Hopefully the rain we've received in the last few days will help flush out the wetlands and start the process of revegetation.

I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to take a break from coastal birding this spring. Maybe spend some time exploring the Big Thicket, do some hiking in the piney woods, or just stay close to home. The lack of coastal stopover habitat could make inland locations (such as our humble yard) more enticing to migrants. That's what I'm hoping for anyway.

2008 Wrap-Up, Western Tanager, Hummingbirds, Etc.

Ah, glorious winter. A time of snow and funny hats. We've had both at our home. Yes, we've actually had some snow - four inches fell on December 11th. Made the yard look sort of like this for a day.So much for life in the tropics. Lingering snow is unusual in Southeast Texas, but then the weather has been wildly inconsistent. Lately it's been alternating between cold/damp and warm/muggy. Presently we are in a cold phase, but it changes constantly. Incidentally, when I say it's cold I mean by local rather than Minnesota standards. Around here temps in the 40s are considered cruel and unusual. That's still T-shirt weather for me.

About 2008, it sucked ass. My minimalist big year became more and more minimalist before fizzling out completely. How many species did I end with? Don't ask. Worst year of nonbirding EVER. After Hurricane Ike the binoculars stayed in the closet, and this winter I didn't even participate in any Christmas counts. The demands of babies and maintaining a household took precedence, as did what I call the crisis du jour, an almost daily parade of new disasters that became de rigueur (I'm trying to put more French into my blog) as the year slid toward its miserable conclusion.

There are some exciting birds being seen in Texas these days (Pine Flycatcher!), but Texas is a big place and as luck would have it (or not) none of them are anywhere near here. All the popular birding sites on the Upper Texas Coast were trashed by Ike, and Cattail Marsh is still closed to the public, so it's not a bad time to stay close to home. On Sunday afternoon (1/4/09) that's were I was, and that's where I was surprised to find a Western Tanager (#130 for our yard list). Looked like a first winter male. Same day I also had a flock of 5 White-winged Doves (#131) flying south, followed by a second flock of about 70, also southbound. The unprecedented appearance of so many, all headed in the same direction, makes me think these may not be isolated incidents.

Other birds of note have been few and far between. A flock of Snow Geese (#129) passed over our yard on December 21. Of course we have the "usual" unpredictable goodies - a female Black-chinned Hummingbird has been at our feeders all winter, and on Sunday we saw it briefly sparring with an unidentified Selasphorus type. That's all for now. C'est la vie. C'est la guerre.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird!

Since October 30th we've had this Buff-bellied Hummingbird in our yard. He's fond of the thicket along our driveway, which is where this photo was taken on the 31st. Birds like this remind me that we really do live in Texas, even if this part of the state sometimes feels like it's slipping into Louisiana.

Other recent additions to our yard list include a Swamp Sparrow at the pond on October 19th and a Lincoln's Sparrow at the pond on November 2nd. I've never had to work so hard for a Lincoln's Sparrow. Usually they don't give me any trouble, but this one was a complete bastard. Spent much of its time hiding in the minimal (yet frustratingly sufficient) vegetation bordering the pond, and when it was in view it had an uncanny ability to keep obstructing limbs between us at all times. Eventually I did manage to get a few decent looks at the bird, securing its place as yard bird #128.

Other winter birds are returning. In recent days I've seen Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Yellow-rumped Warbler around the yard.

Hurricane Ike didn't take down any of our trees, but we did lose a lot of foliage and some massive limbs. Michelle and I spent a weekend cutting and moving the fallen branches, some of which were the size of trees. The smaller pieces I burned, and I've got a big stack of logs behind the garage saved for future bonfires. Once again our garage suffered some minor damage from falling limbs, but otherwise our property came through the storm relatively unscathed. By comparison, after Huricane Rita we had several trees down, our house needed a new roof, our carport was demolished, our fences were heavily damaged, and the debris cleanup took weeks. I'd say we were lucky this time.

Life After Hurricane Ike: For Birders the News Isn't Good

Looks like Ike tore things up pretty good. I've been reading online reports from local news sources because for those of us who live in the so-called "Golden Triangle" the national news channels are worthless. The only places on the Gulf Coast that receive decent coverage from them are New Orleans, Houston, and Galveston. Even when a storm doesn't directly impact those cities they still get the lion's share of the coverage. We saw this during Hurricane Rita, when the big news channels focused their attention on the evacuation of Houston and additional damage to the New Orleans levees. The areas that were totally devastated by the storm - Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas - were barely mentioned.

Hurricane Rita was more destructive to Southeast Texas and neighboring Louisiana, but its path was narrower. Hurricane Ike, on the other hand, was the bowling ball that took down all the pins. Galveston took a direct hit, and from the reports that I've seen it looks like the city is a mess. The entire region is largely without power, and services are only slowly being restored, mostly to the less impacted areas. Financial losses from this storm will be staggering - Houston is the fourth largest city in the U.S., and it has practically been shut down.

In a disaster like this birding may be the furthest thing from most people's minds, but it's worth noting that birders will be dealing with the ramifications of this storm for a long time to come.

The Bolivar Peninsula took an awful beating. In Crystal Beach whole subdivisions are gone. Gilchrist is gone. An officer said that he didn't even recognize Rollover Pass. One woman described Highway 87 as "a sandbar with a stripe down the middle." High Island, a favorite birding destination, is located at the start of the peninsula. Poor High Island! First Rita, then Humberto, and now Ike. More storms like this and there won't be any woods left at the Boy Scout Woods. Smith Oaks will have to have it's name shortened to just "Smith." Recent reports have Sabine Pass still under flood waters, so it's safe to assume that the TOS Sabine Woods Sanctuary was also flooded. Because of its exposed location it's also sure to have suffered heavy wind damage.

The sanctuaries could all use donations, and, more importantly, volunteers to help with the cleanup. Soon as I get the debris cleared from our own yard that's what I'll be doing.

Hurricanes are Boring

Hurricanes are boring because they lead to evacuations, and being an evacuee is extremely tedious, particularly if you don't have a good book with you. Take my word for it. I've had to evacuate twice in less than a month, so I should know.

The news: the babies and I are at Michelle's brother's home in Bossier City, LA, safe except for the looming threat of tornadoes as the remnants of Hurricane Ike bear down on us. Other than that everything is just ducky. Michelle stayed in Silsbee to help take care of her patients at the nursing home (which did not evacuate this time, apparently because transportation was unavailable). Michelle is safe and the nursing home has generator power.

Our property: Michelle reports that she was able to enter our neighborhood and check on our home today. There are trees down, but not as bad as after Hurricane Rita (which stands to reason, since in the aftermath of Rita we have fewer trees to lose). Our yard is full of debris, but our home was again spared. No windows broken and the roof is still on the top of the house. We only lost one large tree, and it just clipped a corner of the garage. Whew! Could have been much worse.

Friends and neighbors: from the brief report I received it appears that our neighbors were also fortunate to escape major property damage, with one notable exception which is only notable for being an exception (and if that sounds strangely ambivalent, it's because I am). My friend Troy describes a similar situation at his home in Spring, located just north of Houston. His home also survived without serious damage, which is quite lucky, considering that his place has large pines all around it. Pines do about as well as mobile homes in a hurricane, which is to say they don't do very well at all. They tend to snap in half - after Hurricane Rita there were toppled pines everywhere. In fact it was not unusual to see whole rows of them snapped like matchsticks.

The bigger picture: at this point it looks like nobody in Southeast Texas has electricity except where provided by personal generators. The consensus of the local news reports that I've read is that the wind damage was less severe than that caused by Hurricane Rita, but the flooding has been much worse. Sabine Pass flooded...again. There is flooding in Orange and Bridge City. In Beaumont the Elegante Hotel, Red Roof Inn, Rio Rita's, and the Fire Museum all suffered wind damage. The Jefferson County Courthouse lost part of its roof. Powerlines were down along 11th Street and Lucas, and presumeably in other places.

Don't know when the babies and I will be going home. For now we are comfy and enjoying the benefits of electricity - AC, TV, internet, etc.

Birding Hiatus

No birding here. Work work work. Over the weekend there was a Jabiru in another part of Texas - some other birders tracked it down for looksies. Got pictures and everything. If I wasn't so tired I'd be envious. Hereabouts I've only noticed an increase in Broad-winged Hawks, which means there must be great hordes of them around, because I'm really not very observant.

So far it's been a very wet August. Hot and buggy too. That pretty much sums things up.