By Brandt Mannchen
In Texas, especially on the Upper Coast, spring migration brings millions of birds across and around the Gulf of Mexico so they can continue to their breeding grounds farther north.
From mid-March to mid-May, besides the many resident birds that are found on Galveston and Follett’s Islands and their coastlines, we find scores of different migrant birds that fly 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) or fly around the perimeter of the GOM (raptors).
When birds fly across the GOM and make their landfall they are often exhausted and want to stop, rest, eat, sleep, and prepare themselves for their long journey north so that they can nest in the U.S. or Canada.
Flying across a huge body of water lie the GOM without stopping isn’t easy and can result in death for birds who haven’t eaten enough to build-up their fat reserves. Birds on their first migration, or those tired, old, or sickly, are probably most at risk. Many birds make it across the GOM and when they do they want shelter, food, and rest just like us when we take a long vacation drive.
Michael, Brandon, and I decided we’d visit and drive from Galveston to Quintana Texas (near Surfside) to view migratory and resident birds. We started out at the East Jetties, at Big Reef and Appfel Park, on Galveston Island.
This area is often an important place to find birds, next to the GOM and the entrance to Galveston Bay, via the Houston Ship Channel and the Boliver Jetties on one side, and East Jetties on the other side.
We hit a “Mother lode” of birds here that delighted us. At a small parking area after you turn-off from Seawall Blvd. to Boddeker Road and several other parking areas, we were astonished to see Reddish Egret, Ruddy Turnstone, Laughing Gull, Royal Tern, Tri-colored Heron, Willet, Brown Pelican, White Ibis, Least Tern, Neotropic Cormorant, Mourning Dove, Black-bellied Plover, Boat-tailed Grackle, Black-necked Stilt, Sandwich Tern, Semi-Palmated Plover, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, Red-winged Blackbird, Purple Gallinule, and Whimbrel.
To wave us good-bye, as we left the area, we saw an Osprey sitting on a power pole eating a fish, a Brown-headed Cowbird, and a Red-shouldered Hawk. Nothing like seeing birds in their natural habitat doing what they do. Besides, it made me hungry!
We traveled down Stewart Road from Seawall Blvd. and visited 8-Mile Road, Sportsman’s Road, and Settegast Road, where Artist Boat has protected 100’s of acres of wetlands, mudflats, coastal prairie, and shrub forest. In these areas there are many types of wetlands including freshwater, brackish water, and saltwater marshes, mudflats, and dune swale wetlands.
We saw prairie and wetland birds like Eastern Meadowlark, Scissortail Flycatcher, Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Duck, Great Blue Heron, Common Night Hawk, Barn Swallow, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, and an unidentified rail, that sneaked across the road in front of us.
The bird that I was most happy to see was an American Oystercatcher. These birds are not doing well. They are being studied by the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory (GCBO) to try to find out how we can help them do better. I rarely see American Oystercatchers when I’m on the coast, so I was euphoric to see this one.
We then traveled to Lafitte’s Cove, on Eckert Dr., to visit a 32-acre mitigation area that has freshwater wetlands and a Live Oak Motte. We enjoyed seeing Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Long-billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Yellow Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Turkey Vulture, and White-faced Ibis here.
Mother Blue-winged Teal swam in the wetlands followed by cute baby ducklings that were learning how to survive in the freshwater marshes which are their home. One mother teal had gathered her brood next to her. Their brown coloring was so effective as camouflage that it was difficult to see her until after I stared for a long time.
The protection of this 32 acres of Lafitte’s Cove was part of a battle between George Mitchell, who wanted to develop Pirate’s Cove on Eckert’s Bayou, and local ranchers, the Sierra Club, and others who wanted this clean and pristine natural estuary protected.
After many years, Mitchell finally convinced the Corps of Engineers to allow his development on 192 acres while wetlands mitigation was set at 32 acres. There also was an extremely important archeological site found at Pirate’s Cove whose artifacts were partially recovered during development of the subdivision. Sad that Mitchell, vaunted for his environmental credentials, and who didn’t need to develop this pristine area, did so anyway.
We stopped at Galveston Island State Park and had lunch. There’s nothing like a sea breeze with a covered picnic shelter on a sunny spring day in Galveston to bring the happy to our faces. It was a good lunch, for sure!
We eventually passed over the bridge at San Luis Pass, one of the last relatively untouched natural GOM passes on the Texas Coast and drove down the Bluewater Highway on Follet’s Island (a barrier island). This barrier island is about half the elevation of Galveston Island and is in danger of being submerged due to climate change sea level rise caused by us. That’s one to mull over!
We drove to Quintana, Surfside. This small community likes to have people visit for birding. There’s a Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary that the GCBO owns and operates and Xeriscape Park nearby which are particularly important for migratory birds that cross the GOM.
These small expanses of trees, shrubs, and grass attract many birds after they finish their journey across the GOM. It was great to see Indigo Bunting, Verry, Black-headed Vireo, Catbird, Redstart, and Baltimore Oriole during our short stay here. I couldn’t resist and bought a t-shirt that extolled the benefits of migratory birds and GCBO’s sanctuary.
It was getting late so we had to head back to Houston. A very rewarding trip with an introduction to many of our migratory friends which gave us something to think about. We can save ourselves and our feathered friends. But we have to commit or we and they won’t make it. The Upper Texas Coast gives me something to protect and fight for. That’s as worthy a cause as exists in life.