With the last total eclipse in North America for many years and bird migration along the Gulf Coast both coming together in early April, we planned a trip to Texas. By starting the trip near Austin we could catch some great specialty birds in the Hill Country, see a presidential library and hopefully the eclipse, then move down to the coast to see the trans-gulf migrants as they arrived in North America. Planning is all well and good, but Mother Nature had different plans for us.
A complete bird trip list can be found at this link.
All of my many flower observations for the trip can be seen at this iNaturalist link.
We started by birding the hill country north of Austin with an eye out for two regional specialties - Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo. We did well with both of these rare birds and saw many abundant spring wildflowers as well.
Birding the hill country
Hill country with a mixture of grasslands and oak woodlands
Golden-cheeked Warbler
Black-capped Vireo
Engelmann's Sage (Salvia engelmannii) endemic to the limestone outcrops in the hills
Stiff Greenthread (Thelesperma filifolium)
Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis)
Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium leucanthum)
Texas Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa)
Cedar Sage (Salvia roemeriana)
The following day was the eclipse, but not until the afternoon, so we started out with the Johnson Presidential Library.
By noon or so we knew our chances of seeing the eclipse were poor. Clouds rolled in and covered the sky. Ever hopeful we headed out to a nearby birding spot for a look. In birding parlance, a "heard only" bird is one identified solely by call or song. That's now what we're calling our eclipse - heard only. We did get a few glimpses of the partial, but when show time came for the total, we were blocked. But the birding was great!
A wishful eclipse watcher...
It did get eerily dark
So close...
It was time to get serious about birding migration so we headed south toward the coast. Our first stop was Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR and then on to Brazoria and the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory.
Attwater Prairie
Prairie Nymph (Herbertia lahue)
Cutleaf Evening Primrose (Oenothera laciniata)
Plains Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria)
Wild Blue Larkspur (Delphinium carolinianum)
Spring Spiderlily (Hymenocallis liriosme)
Sprague's Pipit
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Eastern Bluebird
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks
The next week plus was spent on the coast between various birding sites from Freeport, across Galveston Island, and east just into Louisiana. Birding is best when the wind is out of the north as it forces migrants to land as soon as possible after crossing over 500 miles of open ocean. For most of our time we had southerly winds which is good for birds but bad for birders. We watched the reports of where birds were being seen and headed to spots that would give us the best chances. Overall numbers were very low but we had excellent diversity. Our favorite birding spots that gave us the most success were Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, Sabine Woods Sanctuary, and Preveto Woods Sanctuary in Louisiana.
Sunrise on the coast, Freeport TX
Quintana Sanctuary
Lafitte's Cove, Galveston Island
Cypress swamp, Anuhac NWR
Anuhac NWR
Bolivar Flats on Galveston Island. There are 10's of thousands of birds out there.
Sabine Woods Sanctuary
Black-throated Green Warbler
Least Tern
Nashville Warbler
Painted Bunting
Swamp Sparrow
Sanderling
Ruddy Turnstone
Royal Terns
Orchard Oriole
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Wilson's Plover
MacGillivray's Warbler, in Louisiana. Rare enough that we had to write it up for the records committee
Worm-eating Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Western Tanager, another bird "lost" in Louisiana
Painted Bunting
Scarlet Tanager
Kentucky Warbler
Veery
Blue-headed Vireo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Wood Thrush
Ovenbird
Cerulean Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Louisiana Waterthrush
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Summer Tanager
While planning the trip months before, opera fan Susan found out we'd be in Houston for opening night of Don Giovani at the Houston Opera. It was excellent!
We headed out to look for an uncommon flower Bob wanted to see. I am pretty certain that I have photos of this plant from years ago. Rachel also wanted to geek out on this plant, as did Mike. So, it was looking like a plant geek day plus Susan the random birder. We stopped for an interesting coreopsis, yes, there are two coreopsis and we got to see the one we had never seen before. Even I could tell it was different as the leaves are straight. While the others took loads of photos, I headed off to see a hillside of thistle sage. Now that is a plant I can appreciate.
California Coreopsis (Leptosyne californica)
Thistle Sage (Salvia carduacea)
Before I could get there I found a pair of desert tortoise. Sweet! I don't get to see them every year. Everyone came over to see them and take photos. Rachel (a professional tortoise biologist) gave us a science lesson and explained how to easily tell the sexes apart; it has to do with the shape of the shell by the face.
Female and Male Desert Tortoise
And then I found it, the plant they all wanted. Many more plant photos happened. Even I think it is cute.
Holy Dandelion (Glyptopeura setulosa)
That was all very nice, but Rachel took the prize when she found a tiny desert tortoise. She said it was the smallest she had ever seen. Probably hatched last year. Oh, my! It was so cute I watched it for a half an hour or so. And you may be wondering what it did? Well, as it turns out, not a lot. It made one small sprint, but mostly it twitched its legs a little and soaked up the sun. Good thing I am easily amused.
Now that is a small tortoise.
I noticed a small black thing on the back leg and thought it might be a tick. Rachel thought they might be the heads of ants. Blundering into an ant hill cannot be a pleasant way to start life. Being covered in ticks is nasty too.
Nasty things on its leg.
Isn't that foot bottom adorable?
Nap time.
And it just keeps sleeping.
Oh, it moved a front leg!
Bob took a short video. So here you go. For those reading by email, click this link for the YouTube video. It's too cute, so don't miss it!
Rachel, Bob and Mike geeking out on some flowers
I found a few ancient native house rings on the hill tops as well and a good assortment of the low elevation desert flowers we have been seeing for the last several weeks..
A house ring.
After a couple hours of plant looking in a very small area, I headed to the car for lunch and entertained myself with the shadows on my legs. Yep, it wasn't the birdiest of spots, my ebird list. It wasn't the most scenic either.
After lunch we headed down the road a bit and I looked at a few petroglyphs, while Bob and Mike spent time admiring a small monkeyflower. This post is for people who wonder what we do on a typical retirement day.
A chuckwalla suns itself on a rock
But wait, Bob also has control of this blog post, so you get more flower photos!
Rockjasmine Monkeyflower (Erythranthe androsacea). a tiny little thing
Daisy Desertstar (Monoptilon bellidiforme), a even smaller little thing
Another photo of the Holy Dandelion
White Mallow (Eremalche exilis), with it's two flower color variations
