N America - US - Texas - Whooper Country Adventure 2

N America - US - Texas - Whooper Country Adventure 2 - Aransas Revisited

By Mary Beth Stowe

A blurred image of a field of tall grass with trees in the background.

Another blessing was the fact that it wasn’t raining the next morning! ☺ They had a fog advisory out, but it wasn’t thick as soup, and we headed back up to Aransas just fine. (Also was able to download an eBird checklist before I got there as I discovered to my chagrin the day before that there was no service there…) It promised to be a good day when four Sandhill Cranes flew by at the entrance! Got The Monster set up, and got a Phoebe on video while other stuff called unseen, including Kiskadee and Robin. At the Alligator Overlook (which was packed with people yesterday) was pleased as punch to hear two Least Bitterns singing! Filmed a grebe, a gallinule, and a couple of Coots at the Rail Trail Bridge (the Swamp Sparrow didn’t wanna play ball), and was treated to hundreds of White Pelicans out in San Antonio Bay, visible from the Heron Flats overlook!

A bird is sitting on a branch and a duck is standing in the water.

Eastern Phoebe left; Pied-billed Grebes center and right

It started to spit after that, so the Powershot was pulled into service as I continued stopping along the road: checked the big picnic area where the only living things appeared to be White-tailed Deer, and since I seemed to be the only one in the refuge I figured I was safe parking “sideways” at the fishing pier in order to shoot out the window, but just as I was filming some pelicans sailing in I heard a big ol’ truck come up behind me, but he continued on – sure hope he didn’t wanna stop! Lots of little stuff was out in the water, but too far away to ID with the bins, so I tried shooting pictures and then zooming in; one of those instances hit pay dirt when what I initially thought were mergansers turned out to be Horned Grebes! Somewhere in there I was able to film a spectacular male Red-breasted Merganser (but the video grab was too blurry)!

Three pelicans are flying over a body of water.

American White Pelicans

It had quit spitting by the time I got to Dagger Point, so I took the old Tenderfoot Trail, but it turns out a big chunk of it was apparently wiped out by Hurricane Harvey, as they had part of it closed! It was a nice walk through the dune forest, however… Jones Lake was next, so I took The Monster out there; same ducks as yesterday, so just got more “steady” video this time! Decided to take the entirety of the Big Tree Trail, swinging out by the boardwalk overlook; I didn’t plan on sitting out there with the arctic wind blowing, but I saw some suspicious stuff on the bay that turned out to be Buffleheads and Redheads! A flock of dowitchers flew by that I assumed to be Short-billed on the shore, but after getting some Long-billed on the auto tour (that were talking), I decided to take them off as I really wasn’t sure… (Later Lori Sims would tell me that a local expert admitted that, in reality, Short-billed doesn’t occur in this area, despite what the range maps say…) In the wooded part of the trail had a cooperative Fox Squirrel and some pretty Coral Bean pods. Just before the Observation Tower (I think it was) a Red-shouldered Hawk came blasting out of a tree and pounced on something on the side of the road, but just as I got the Powershot zoomed in on him, he took off! ☹

A group of ducks are swimming in the water.

L-R: Female Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, male Gadwall, American Wigeon

Hit the auto tour after that, where I pulled over every half mile (where there was a pullout, anyway) and just sat for five instead of two, and that actually turned out to be productive (sometimes)! It was very relaxing (even though it was cold and windy) just to sit and enjoy creation! Black and Turkey Vultures were up, along with the odd Caracara, but about the only songbirds to brave the wind were the occasional Cardinal and several swallows winging through (could only ID Barn and Tree). At one of the wide open pullouts a ranger stopped and asked me if I had seen their eagles (!!!) and then proceeded to tell me where to look for the nest! I thanked him profusely and continued on, adding a distant White-tailed Hawk, a not-so-distant Harrier, and another more cooperative Red-shouldered Hawk perched by the road (the other one woulda been a better action shot ☺).

Cold Cardinal...

Dumped out of the tour road without any sign of an eagle nest (he said it was marked on the pavement at around the 7.5 mile mark), so decided to give it another go and reset the odometer so I would know where 7.5 miles was! Ironically, I did come to a spot where you could see where multiple cars had made their own “pulloff” (another landmark, according to the ranger), and when I looked, bingo! There was the nest! But there were no eagles even after five minutes of waiting. Just as I was ready to leave another car pulled in behind me, so I got out to tell them about the nest, only it turned out to be a couple of volunteers driving a little car with the FWS logo! After getting her leg slammed by the door (the wind was wicked) the lady told me where they had actually seen one of the adults sitting at eye level, along the main road! So, marveling at how these things work out ☺ I headed back to the main road, where lo and behold, there he was! Thankfully was able to get some video, but he got nervous and eventually flew off, not because of me, I don’t think, but because (even after pulling off the road best I could) I had created an “eagle jam” behind me! ☺ After turning around and coming back, I spotted him flying overhead with one of those many dead fish on the shore (I figured they’d have a feast out there, along with the vultures), but I wasn’t fast enough with the camera…

Bald Eagle

On the way out I wanted to check out the last two trails I didn’t have time to check before, so peeked into the Oak Sanctuary, which was a tree even bigger than “The Big Tree” in my estimation! Nothing but whitecaps was out on the bay, but on the way out a huge kettle of vultures was overhead! Back in the car one of them looked odd, and sure enough, he turned out to be an Osprey!

A large tree with lots of branches and leaves

Monster Live Oak

It had started spitting again so I skipped the Songbird Loop and decided to call it a day, with a total of 55 species; not bad for an otherwise awful day weather-wise (although it coulda been worse – coulda been pouring rain the whole time)!

To be continued…

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Day 6 - Mustang Island 2

By Mary Beth Stowe • June 16, 2025

Started out pre-dawn the next morning, adding a beent ing Common Nighthawk to the trip list right in the parking lot! There wasn’t a hint of any utility work, so I found The Willows fine, only it was as I suspected: a fancy residential area with a few trees that looked good as a migrant trap. No migrants around today (it was already in the 80s) so I found the hotspot designated as the area between Port Aransas and the state park, and just covered that stretch by stopping every half mile and scanning for falcons. There were still no occupants at the nesting platforms, but one stop did have a White-tailed Hawk perched on a gas well! That’s when I discovered (presumably) that I had left the foot for the cameras at the hotel, so I went blasting back (but not before stopping for a pair of Mottled Ducks and Black-necked Stilts), got back inside, and couldn’t find a trace. The nice front desk gal said she’d let me know if housekeeping found anything, but I figured it had to be buried somewhere ! And while checking the towel that I use to wrap The Monster, there it was, on the body of the camera instead of on the lens, where I usually put it! I felt so dumb – I told the gal I had found it, so we were both relieved, but I felt like I had wasted a half hour by coming back. But I had to remind myself that God’s timing is perfect, and everything is for a reason, even if it isn’t obvious at first!

Day 5: Mustang Island 1

By Mary Beth Stowe • June 9, 2025

When I realized I wanted to hit The Willows first (some good migrants had been seen there the day before), I was curious to see what direction Siri would take me, as it obviously would be different than my written directions that would take me directly to the state park. But as always, she wanted to take me into the heart of Houston rush hour traffic, but an alternate route appeared to zigzag towards Galveston, so I took that, only she kept trying to get me to take a totally different route!! Needless to say I got terribly turned around and ended up going a back way back to the tollway (and actually went through pretty nice suburban area – I got to thinking that I wouldn’t mind living there so long as I didn’t have to get on the freeway), and from there she took us the same way we came up until it was time to veer off towards Corpus, where we went through some hair-raising construction but finally made it safely to Padre Island! I wanted to head straight to the Willows (she was initially gonna bring us in from the north, but I guess she abandoned that idea), but stopped first at the state park to use the potties and make a sandwich. On the way up I saw the two Aplomado nesting platforms, and thought for sure I saw some birds in there, but headed on to the Willows with the idea of checking them more closely on the way back, only ran into some “Be Prepared to Stop” traffic (and they really meant it this time, too), so rather than fight that we decided to turn around and check out the beach access we had just driven by.

Day 4: Sheldon Lake State Park

By Mary Beth Stowe • May 27, 2025

It was indeed raining the next morning (and really blowing the night before), so I actually got to have the "real" breakfast before settling down to work on file processing! The initial forecast was heavy rain up till 11:00, but after an hour that drastically changed, and by 8:00 it had cleared up enough (with no heavy rain thereafter) to head on up to Garrett Road! Again, the beltway was a breeze, and after getting off on Garrett I quick-like got some ice (it melts in a hurry) and then headed down to the "boat ramp". It really wasn't a "boat ramp", but rather a huge parking area abutting a cypress swamp that rivaled anything in Florida — no wonder the Limpkins like it! I parked at the far end and set up shop (already several fishermen were at the other end, close to the road), and was wondering what all these red splotches on the cypress trunks were when it dawned on me (upon closer inspection) that they were the Apple Snail eggs! Again, no wonder the Limpkins like this place! And I didn't have to wait long, either: shortly one came sailing in, yelling as he did so, and landed right on the edge of the parking area! Another one came in shortly thereafter and chased the first one, and he was practically at my feet! Kay had confirmed where the babies had been, but when I went over to check, I couldn't find any — I suspect they're fledged by now. Besides the Limpkins (which really performed well, both on top of trees and close by) I was able to film a female Red-winged Blackbirds on the nest (and later poking around the ground with a missing foot), plus a pair of Great-tailed Grackles strutting around the joint. The first Neotropic Cormorant of the trip flew overhead, and somewhere what I suspected was a Great Blue Heron nest was hidden, as I could hear babies squawking. [Update: They may have actually been Cattle Egrets, as while in the process of creating video grabs, I caught a couple sailing by in the background of one of the Limpkin videos...] A Green and calico Little Blue Heron also came wheeling in, but closer to the road, and I didn't want to get too far away from the car. A ranger made the rounds with a bucket, picking up trash, and we got to talking about the Limpkins, which were "all over the place" now, according to him, and reported that birders all the way from Austin came in to see them (and a lot further than that, I'm sure, when they were first reported)! Purple Gallinules called but wouldn't come out, of course, and after about an hour a guy pulled up and got on his phone, so I figured it was time to move on. After I packed up I jokingly said to him, "Your turn!" which got a chuckle, and it did indeed look like he was preparing to fish right where I was!

Day 3: More Brazos Bend

By Mary Beth Stowe • May 20, 2025

The Lord was merciful the next morning and it wasn’t raining! Got packed up, swiped a couple of sausages from the breakfast, and headed out to the park. Got in earlier than yesterday, and right away a Painted Bunting was singing right next to the car! Unfortunately it was still too dark to take video, but you could just barely make out his colors! The first missed trail I wanted to cover was the Pilant Slough Trail (kept wanting to call it Pliant Slough), but wanted to crawl along that cypress swamp just in case another Limpkin showed up! Well, if someone didn’t mind counting a heard-only bird, there were plenty of them wailing away, only way back there! In fact, I could even see a private home back there, and five’ll get you ten that that was the place the owner was letting people in to see the birds when they first started showing up! While I was making audio recordings a couple of feral pigs snorted and ran away on the other side of the road, so that got me back to the car in a hurry! Shortly came across a “murder of crows” that was giving something fits, so I pulled over to see if I could spot what they were mobbing, and it was a Bobcat up in a tree! He stayed put for video, too! I thought that was pretty neat!

Two trees are standing in the middle of a grassy field.

Day 2: Brazos Bend State Park

By Mary Beth Stowe • September 28, 2024

Got ready to go the next morning a little earlier than planned, so went ahead and headed over to the park, thankful that the gate was open just like the guy said! I went straight to 40 Acre Lake and took the Powershot down to the pier, but didn’t stay long as I realized I really needed to be using The Monster (i.e. Sony with the Big Lens) in this situation (it was still kinda dusky, even after sunrise, and it handles low-light situations much better than the Powershot). I ended up spending over an hour there as it was quite active: tons of Little Blue Herons (including many transitioning birds, called “calicos”), Common Gallinules, a young Great Blue, and even a pair of Purple Gallinules taking a bath (but on the other side of the lake)! Some Anhingas were swimming with just their head and necks above the surface (hence the name “snake-bird”), so that was fun to shoot! A Pied-billed Grebe was new for the trip (as was a Tricolored Heron that kept hiding). Got some artsy shots of Great Egrets and spoonbills across the lake, and another Anhinga had landed on the railing to dry his wings, and he was pretty dilapidated! I didn’t wanna bother him (it was obvious he was agitated when I started getting closer), but a Plegadis ibis wheeled in that had a gray face and dark eye, and I would think that this time of year any Whiteface would have a red eye! Unfortunately so long as I didn’t have Internet access I couldn’t upload a picture to eBird, so documentation would have to wait until I got to the Holiday Inn (if I could get on their Wi-Fi…). [Update: I could, so I submitted the photos – more on that story later…] White Ibis were out the yin yang, and what I thought were a mom and kid Boat-tailed Grackle came by (as the male was singing somewhere), but they turned out to be Great-tails after I reviewed the video. A Mississippi Kite circled over the trees, but the best video op was a roaring Alligator! That was great! The Four-spotted Pennants (a type of dragonfly) on the way out were anti-climactic! Totally forgot to film the Barn Swallow nest on the way out, though… ☹ I did hear some chickadees on the way out, so I wheeled back in and tried to get some video out the car window!

A tree in a park with spanish moss hanging from it

Day 1: The Drive Up & Brazos Bend Scouting

By Mary Beth Stowe • September 21, 2024

As usual, woke up early so got going early after the morning routine; added Golden-fronted Woodpecker to the list while packing the car (among other things we’ll probably pick up later). Another “write-in” bird heading north on US 77 was a Harris’ Hawk! We stopped at the Sarita rest stop, picking up a Hooded Oriole for the trip, but boy, did it look nasty up ahead!! I wish I had been able to take a picture on the fly, because you talk about storm-chasing: once under it, it was black as night, with some terrific lightning displays! But then the rain started, and by Riviera it was zero visibility, so I just pulled into a Pizza Hut (or some such joint) parking lot to wait it out for a while. A Flood Warning came over the phone, and looking at the radar, we were right in the middle of a big red blob (I kept trying to capture a picture of the thing and was turning the phone off by mistake, so by the time I did get a picture the Red Blob had moved north a bit so the effect wasn’t the same)! Continued on after a few minutes, and while it let up, it didn’t really stop until the next stop at Refugio. We got a breakfast croissant at Burger King, then continued north. Filled up at El Campo (ended up going around the Very Long Block for that one), where a homeless guy opened the door for me! Headed on to Brazos Bend, where there was no hint of the threatened rain! Jumped out at the entrance to shoot the requisite sign, and had a Carolina Wren actually in view for a second while waiting to check in! I had some questions, so the ranger had me park and walk in where he gave me a map and showed me where the Limpkins usually show up; unfortunately it was as someone else had mentioned, and it was an almost three mile one-way hike along the Live Oak Trail to get to the habitat! He also suggested a couple of spots for Purple Gallinules, and said that the gate opens around 6:15, so that was perfect! Back at the car I remembered the other question I wanted to ask and went running back: do they have feeders? Nope – all natural here, she said!

A dirt road in the middle of a desert with mountains in the background

Day 6 - Kickapoo Cavern State Park

By Mary Beth Stowe • September 16, 2024

And what a final day! It was another cold but (thankfully) windless morning, and the drive to Brackettville in the dark was (again thankfully) uneventful. We made a potty stop there, picking up a singing Western Kingbird for the trip, and by that time it was getting light enough so that the last leg to Kickapoo Cavern on FM 674 was delightful – I’d love to be able to survey that road, as there was lots of good Edwards Plateau habitat and plenty of places to pull over. Did see a couple of ravens, but according to eBird both could occur, so I let them go. And am I thankful I downloaded the eBird checklist the night before, because there was no signal once I got to the park! (Although I had an initial shock when I ran the day list and only got four species – needed to change the date… 😊) After taking the obligatory entrance sign picture, we just crawled along, and were rewarded with a friendly Golden-cheeked Warbler, and later a Rufous-crowned Sparrow (he wasn’t friendly – just happened to be on my side of the road and was nice enough to stay put)! A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on a wire sallied out and caught a big bug, and although the singing Canyon Wren wasn’t new for the trip, the singing Scott’s Oriole was! The normal songsters seemed to be just Cardinals, Bell’s Vireos, and Bewick’s Wrens.

A river runs through a lush green forest with mountains in the background.

Day 5 - South Llano River SP - The Trails

By Mary Beth Stowe • September 7, 2024

Headed out in the black, deciding to park at the walk-in camping lot to see in the dawn. And what a morning! It was freezing cold (around 37 degrees; Heppy – my Subaru – even warned me that the roads could be icy), but not a speck of wind, and the night sky was glorious! (There was a sign in the campground saying this was a Dark Sky Park or something like that…) Got to see a couple of meteors, and even a satellite (or the Space Station)! 😊 Once again, the Cardinals had to voice their dominance as the first birds up (even before it was lightening in the east), but nothing in the way of night birds vocalized. I did hear this weird barking that I suspected was one of the Axis Deer, so I thought I’d have some fun and see what Merlin said! Interestingly, he thought it was an Inca Dove (no way), but he also said he picked up a Poorwill! I did briefly hear something that sounded like one poor-will phrase, but since it didn’t keep going (as they usually do), I didn’t count it. Walked around the lot trying to keep warm, and in the twilight a Great Horned Owl glided low over my head (and it was light enough to see the details of his face without the bins 😊)! Also heard Turkeys gobbling in the distance, and as it got lighter a singing Yellow-breasted Chat (that Merlin didn’t recognize, interestingly) was new for the trip, and that weird whistling that I heard yesterday that sounded like a funky Black-capped Chickadee and wrote it off as an oddball Field Sparrow or something suddenly clicked: it was the reported White-throated Sparrow! He gave great recording ops but never came out for a view, either there or in the blind.