Weekend at FeatherFest in Galveston
April 2, 2007:
This weekend Pam and I went to Galveston FeatherFest to do a little birding. Pam is not much of a birder, but she likes to get out with me sometimes.
Unfortunately, the weekend was not very kind to us. First of all, we joined house rental with some other birders and friends of birders. They were all perfectly nice and normal, but we were just not comfortable in 3 story house with 19 people inside. There were also 4 small children, one of which kept going into our room while we were away and turning the TV on.
Friday night, after we got there, we found out there was a huge storm coming our way. So we decided to do a normal field trip to High Island, instead of trying to kayak in a thunderstorm!
The trip to High Island was pretty much a washout (literally). After arriving at High Island, the rain started coming down. We took a stroll through the rain at Boy Scout Woods, barely seeing any birds. After a once-through, the group saw a Nashville and a Black-and-Whtie Warbler, but I only saw the Nashville.
After that we went to the rookery, where hundreds of Egrets, Cormorants, and Grackles were nesting. Partway down the trail, it started pouring. We quickly walked back to the bus, completely soaked by the time we got there. At this time, Pam was not a happy camper.
After the rookery, we drove back to the ferry. We took a quick stop at Bolivar Flats and saw some Avocets (new for me in Texas), then went on down the road to the Fort (can't remember the name). Our bus stopped for the bathroom, while the other bus went to where the Burrowing Owl had been seen. But by the time we got there, the Owl disappeared into the drainage ditch and we didn't get to see it.
The last stop on Saturday was the best one. I picked up three life birds: an Eastern Kingbird, an Indigo Bunting, and a Tree Swallow.
Sunday was a much more productive day. The rain gave us a "mini-fallout," in which a lot of birds decided to stop and wait out the storm before continuing to migrate. It's hard to describe where exactly we went, because it was a "sampler" tour. We went to many different places all over Galveston Island. Overall, I personally saw or heard 103 species, a new daily record for me. Of those 103 species, 12 were lifers for me. The most spectacular, in my opinion, was the Sora, which is a multi-colored Rail species (unlike all of its drab cousins). It's usually very secrative and hard to see, but it stayed out in the open for quite a few minutes for us to all get a good look.
After this trip, I now have my 100 species for Galveston County, surpassing even Harris County, where I reside.
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