Year-Round Birding in Galveston County
by Jim Stevenson
Birding Trips: anytime; anywhere
409.737.4081
Our New Year ushers in the coldest, most bitter, and zoologically stressful time for some of Galveston County's creatures. Reptiles are driven underground. Most species of birds retreat to the tropics. Fish seek the shelter of deep waters. Most species of insects disappear. And some mammals take this time to join the reptiles in hibernation.
Even so, January can be a wonderful time to seek out the hardier wildlife nature places on display. On both ends of Galveston Island, Bolivar Flats, and the Texas City Dike, congregations of water birds may number in the thousands. Three species of gulls and terns are common, with other varieties present but in less conspicuous numbers for the careful observer. Sandpipers and plovers show off their splendid diversity in these haunts, alongside an equal plethora of herons, egrets, ibis, and other exquisite wading birds such as Roseate Spoonbills.
Our inshore waters, replete with swimming birds plus a few strays escaping the bitter northern areas, include two cormorants, Common Loons, two varieties of grebes, diving ducks like scaups and mergansers, and two pelican species, as different in appearance as they are in habits.
For those wishing to visit our National Wildlife Refuges, Brazoria and Anahuac NWR are chocked full of different sets of water birds: Dabbling ducks like Gadwall, shoveler, pintail, and teal may be amazingly abundant, and are often accompanied by two species of geese, moorhen, rails, American Bittern, coots and freshwater sandpipers. Indeed, from our position at the continent's south end, we seem to gain wintering birds from everywhere across America!
By February, the weather turns milder, fog frequently dampens spirits as it does the land, and our winter resident water birds begin to slowly depart for their northern breeding grounds and the annual celebration of life. But by mid-February, our own early spring is heralded by a most cheery precursor, the faintly chirping Purple Martin.
By the time the Sandhill Cranes have vanished in March, many spring arrivals have made their way to Galveston from the tropics. Yellow-legs, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, parulas, waterthrush, and other southern-breeding warblers are among the brave travelers, risking life and limb to reach our shores although ferocious cold fronts may still rage. By the Vernal Equinox, our woodlands and marshes begin to fill up with weary spring migrants, joined by now active snakes, lizards, bugs, and frogs.
April is Mother Nature's greatest celebration of life here in Galveston County. Each day, myriads of songbirds take cover in our remaining forests, worn out and in need of shelter, food, and water. Birders from all over the country, as well as the rest of the world, flock to the Galveston area to behold the vast array of colorful songsters and hunt for that elusive"life bird".
By this time, the shallows are teeming with cold-blooded life forms. Semi-permanent lakes, fed by winter rains, become breeding ponds for Bullfrogs and a dizzying array of insects, all fair game for hungry wading birds. Inshore waters, such as the Gulf Beach, host untold millions of small fish, with predators like the Speckled Trout never far behind. Between the birders and the fishermen, Galveston's hotels fill up with eco-tourists, along with others just seeking a better tan.
In May, fishing explodes, with enough Golden Croaker to feed a small country. Bull reds patrol the murky shallows, and unwanted catfish bring their nasty spines to plague our fingers and toes. By mid-May, the songbird migration has ended, but our coastal lagoons fill up with thousands of sandpipers, fattening up for the long journey to Alaska's fragile Arctic Tundra. For a brief period each May, over five thousand Wilson's Phalaropes invade Pelican Island's east lagoon, with equal numbers of Semipalmated Sandpipers, sure to stun bird watchers.
June is a great time for salt or freshwater fishing, water sports, or just enjoying our beaches. Mornings are a pleasant time to walk in mainland forests, with many species of breeding birds issuing a proverbial wall of sound from the canopy. Many other baby animals may be seen, and the miracle of resurgent life springs once again from the cold grip of winter.
Little noticed, and even seen as early as late May many years, Purple Martins and Barn Swallows begin slipping down the coast, toward Brazosport, actually on their fall migrations toward the tropics. On the island, where there are fewer species of breeding songbirds, the breathtaking Painted Bunting sings his rough whistled notes from inconspicuous perches. By the Summer Solstice and impending July, with temperatures soaring, many nature enthusiasts plan indoor activities, unwilling to pay the hot, humid price for viewing our resident creatures.
Unbeknownst to many in the birding world, July is a fantastic month for viewing shorebirds, especially in our wildlife refuges. Drying puddles and pond remnants host hordes of sandpipers, including many rare species which are difficult to find in other months. Birders who wish for challenge may try their hand at sorting out several species of small sandpipers called"peeps", medium-sized pipers such as dowitchers, as well as the other unexpected species or two.
By August, weather begins reacting to nature's oven. First, thermal clines set up in our marine waters, separating the sun's light from nutrients lower in the water column and shutting down algae production, thereby reducing food chains. By late August, periods of rain, often lasting more than a week, set in, bringing on the reproduction of tree frogs, toads, and many insects. Mosquitoes may become more rampant, and some human residents are held hostage by the buzzing throng. August also sees the return of songbird migrants from the North, often fattening up on our Hercules Club trees as they did our Mulberries late last spring.
Some of our rarest avian visitors, such as the bewildering Empidonax flycatcher genus, race through around Labor Day, delighting birders who are willing to tolerate the heat, humidity, and bugs to catch a glimpse. The rest of September is good for fall migrants, although their colors are more subtle and their songs strangely absent. These are mostly the insectivorous songbirds, although moisture and a dietary supplement of berries for carbs are welcome necessities.
Late September sees our first cooler weather, right around the Autumnal Equinox, and with it, new arrivals such as some seed-eating birds, our first ducks, and a hawk migration on Smith Point that is simply staggering! There also is a window of chance for spotting pit vipers, like rattlesnakes, roaming in search of winter quarters, a time hikers must be especially vigilant of the ground's inhabitants.
Some of our loveliest weather blesses us in October, often with clear skies, gentle winds and refreshing temperatures. The dry eastern winds of early October reduce the mosquito population, raise the tides to remarkable levels, and encourage shorebird and songbird migrants to exit for points south. It is also a time for winter residents, such as phoebes, House Wrens, various sparrows, scattered waterfowl, and the first birds mentioned in January above, to begin making their appearances.
In many ways, November is a continuation of October, with cooler temperatures, stronger fronts, and a gradual buildup of winter resident birds. Raptors return, such as the bulky Red-tailed Hawk, the rat-eating Northern Harrier that floats along over our marshes, and tiny falcons called kestrels, that forsake their summer diet of insects in exchange for our hefty mouse population. Cold snaps not only produce birds arriving from the North, they also encourage fish movement, such as the famous annual flounder runs.
By Thanksgiving, cackling geese overhead are a common phenomenon, a dozen or more sparrow species slip unobtrusively into our fields, stately Sandhill Cranes proudly walk through our pastures, and gangs of large, northern gulls patrol our beaches for the ocean's refuse. Indeed, our world is a very different place than a scant few weeks ago.
Observant birders are aware of the strange absence of songbirds in late fall, with the less experienced wondering every year,"Where did all the birds go?"With our summer residents and fall migrants having departed, and many winter residents yet to arrive, there is indeed a hiatus in our woodlands, and often our feeders. Not to worry-they'll be back!
Indeed, December brings avian gifts to our feeders, such as goldfinches and true sparrows from the North, often wrapped in nice colors - everything but a bow! Our wildlife refuges bulge with waterfowl and hikers and birders alike are out enjoying every last chance outside, before winter conditions make it impossible.
At the Winter Solstice, much of the country is wrapped in barren trees and silent woodlands, but Galveston County remains alive with birds and mammals, breeding Leopard Frogs, Whiting biting in the surf, and flowers decorating the roadsides. Indeed, the entire year is a time for Mother Nature to touch us all with her splendid beauty, calling us from our TVs and computers to merge as one of Earth's living things.
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