Whooper Country Adventure (Texas) Part 4

Whooper Country Adventure (Texas) Part 4 - Exploring Rockport

By Mary Beth Stowe

A large body of water surrounded by grass and trees

Moore's Pond

The next day was kind of a fun day, as it consisted of exploring hotspots where we might pick up rare and/or year birds. Unfortunately it was socked in when I left, but I still wanted to check out the spots in order. First on the list was Rattlesnake Point for the reported Mallards, and when I pulled up at the end the road, there they were! Unfortunately I assumed they’d stay put as I got The Monster out; I should have gotten an initial shoot out the window with the Powershot, as they booked the minute the Monster was ready to shoot! A pair of Mottled Ducks was there as well, and some Purple Martins gurgling in the fog was new for the trip!

I gave it 15 minutes, then headed for the next stop, Port Bay Road, to try for the reported Nelson’s Sparrow. That was socked in as well, but at least the Long-billed Curlew and Ruddy Turnstone stayed put for hazy video! A Marsh Wren sang enticingly, but neither he nor the sparrow would pop up; at least got a couple of Savannah Sparrows out of it!

A bird with a long beak is standing next to another bird.

Ruddy Turnstone and Long-billed Curlew - Amazing what a little “photo-shopping” can do to remove the fog from the Long-billed Curlew photo!

Moore’s Pond was the next stop, but as I made the left off of Port Bay Road, there in the wetlands next to FM 1069 were spoonbills, egrets, and any number of waders! So I found a place to pull over and took my life in my hands filming stuff next to the road (they don’t slow down for nuthin’): in addition to the spoonbills and egrets had a trio of White-faced Ibis and a dancing Tricolored Heron, making for some artsy footage with their reflections! I flushed a Snipe when I got out, and dowitchers were across the street.

A swamp with a lot of grass and water in it

Wetlands along FM 1069

A group of birds are standing in a body of water

An assortment of waders across the street

By the time I got to Moore’s Pond the sun was out, and it was in perfect light! While the target year bird wasn’t anything I wouldn’t get eventually, it was nice to actually bag the reported Rough-winged Swallow! But in addition had beautiful Green-winged Teal in wonderful light, along with other expected ducks, plus a small flock of American Pipits. Across the way also had a female Belted Kingfisher and a Robin on the fence.

A group of ducks are standing in a grassy field.

Green-winged (left) and Blue-winged Teal

I apparently missed several goodies at Goose Island yesterday, as Common Goldeneye, Marbled Godwit, and Brown Thrasher were all reported (I suspected I glimpsed the thrasher, but wasn’t sure). So back we went, targeting the bay and the feeders, and it was so much more pleasant today! The viewing area at the end of Redfish Road had an egret, ibis, and Great Blue Heron, but nothing was in the bay. From there I went to the pier and walked all the way out (now that the weather was tolerable), and got excited when I saw four ducks bobbing in the surf, but they were Red-breasted Mergansers… Did get a single Oystercatcher way out there on a reef, and White Pelicans were even further out, along with some gulls and terns I had to blow up to identify! On the way back four turnstones posed for some video. While I was out there the couple who happened to be in the campsite right next to the viewing platform recognized me, and mentioned they had tried to shoo a rail my way (from their description probably was a Clapper…)! But they had camp-hosted in Estero years ago, and remembered me when I had first moved out there! That’s pretty incredible!

The Pier

A couple of seagulls standing next to each other on the beach

Laughing Gulls (left) & Ruddy Turnstone (right)

After eating lunch I pulled into the marina to check out the little wetland, as there were shorebirds in there and figured that’s where the godwit woulda been, if it was around at all! Nope – just dowitchers and Willets so far as I could tell…

From there we decided to do the Warbler Way feeders first, as that’s where I had glimpsed the thrasher yesterday; I was gonna just stay for 15 minutes, but the place was so active I stayed for the full hour after all, and having a White-throated Sparrow show up the minute I sat down was helpful as well! The sparrow was too skittish for pictures, but the Clay-colored showed up again, and this time he sat with a Chipping Sparrow for great comparisons! Other than the Whitethroat I don’t think anything new came in for the longest time, although the Carolina Wren landed at my feet a couple of times! A bunny was a new mammal, and got some video of the female Redwings tearing up the ground in search of food, but I didn’t take a lot of new video as the light was pretty harsh (and now I see what the photographers are talking about: you really can’t tell with the naked eye, but looking through the viewfinder is almost painful if the light isn’t optimal)! But finally the thrasher came in, and I was thankfully able to get some footage, but I wasn’t absolutely sure – half of him was in the light and the crucial part (his face) was in the shadow, and even though he was bright rufous, that bill looked awfully long to me! Something spooked him and he was gone, so just before I left I reviewed the video on the camera frame by frame, and despite the longish bill, I was satisfied with the stronger facial pattern and lack of streaking on the undertail coverts – bingo!

Two birds are perched on a bird feeder looking at each other.

Here’s the Clay-colored (left) and Chippie together; notice that the eyeline on the Chippie goes clear to the bill, whereas on the Clay-colored it doesn’t.

Two pictures of a bird standing in the grass.

Friendly Carolina Wren (left) & Brown Thrasher (right). Both Brown and Long-billed Thrashers show up here, so identification can be tricky, especially when hybrids are involved! This rusty bird points to Brown.

From there I found Kevin’s slot in the daytime (so I could find it in the pitch on Friday), stopped for ice and some non-perishable snacks to take on Cap’n Tommy’s boat, then headed to Fulton Harbor for this alleged Common Merganser. The pigeons were in full form (and great light) so I couldn’t help but film them (along with a female Great-tailed Grackle), but I didn’t have high hopes of finding anything off the pier as the bay looked pretty empty! Filmed a lineup of Laughing Gulls and just for kicks and grins decided to try the Aperture Priority setting to try and get them all in focus – interestingly it did it automatically!

Two pigeons are standing next to each other on the ground

This speckled morph pigeon whispers sweet nothings to a dark morph bird, while the normal morph in the foreground tries to get into the act!

But boy, was I wrong about the bay being empty – right near the end a very cooperative Common Loon eventually got so close for video that I had to pull back the camera because he was bouncing around too much on the water to get a head-only shot! What a show! Got some Brown Pelicans in flight while I was out there, but they were anticlimactic!

Two pictures of a bird swimming in the water.

Common Loon portraits

Still had some time before I had to call it quits, so I decided to revisit the two morning spots now that the sun was up! No Mallards at Rattlesnake Point, but some Waxwings on the wires didn’t stick around for video… A couple of male Redheads was new for the day, but that was it. Port Bay Road was pretty empty, too, except for a group of Sandhill Cranes in the field on the way in (although it was nice to see both places without the fog); no Nelson’s, but picked up a Pied-billed Grebe and Reddish Egret for the day.

Headed home with the highest daily species count yet for the trip with 76 species!

To be continued…

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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.

A small bird is standing next to a large rock.

Day 4 - South Llano River SP Blinds

By Keith Hackland • September 2, 2024

Packed up after the morning routine (funny how I’ve consistently woken up before the alarm goes off) and made it to Junction without clobbering any deer! 😊 (The wind was horrendous, though; I was concerned about all those big rigs zipping along at 70 MPH!) Siri sent me the back way, which I think was new, and was shocked to discover major road work going on in the park – I couldn’t even pull over on my favorite perch at the top of the hill! ☹ (Come to find out they were building a new Visitor’s Center…) So I pulled over as soon as I felt it was safe, and like the first morning at Kerr, I think the wind kept me from hearing much of anything (although, as normal, the Cardinals were the first ones to wake up). I did pick up a Black-capped Vireo at the first hard left, and heard a Golden-cheeked Warbler near Lora’s Blind (but I think that might have been after sunrise – it all blends together…). Crawled around the campground picking up several Bell’s Vireos and spooked three Axis Deer, and by the time I arrived at the big parking lot outside the campground my Sunrise Alarm went off, so decided to head back to Lora’s Blind first before the construction crew got going! That was a good plan, and my concerns about the blinds being packed with people were unfounded, as, out of all four blinds, only two other couples showed up the whole time (and I spent an hour in each one)! One couple remembered me from San Diego (and that’s always embarrassing when you don’t remember them ☹) and were now RVing all over the country, and the other couple were new birders from San Benito (another Lower Rio Grande Valley town)! (I put in a plug for Arroyo Colorado Audubon… 😊) Anyway, even before the food was put out, Lora’s Blind was hopping with activity: the main players were White-crowned Sparrows of all ages and in various degrees of molt (it was funny to see beat up birds next to immaculately fresh ones), and both species of towhees came in as well (although the Spotted was consistently shy). Titmice were very cooperative, and I was thrilled to see a Hermit Thrush come in to the water feature! Cardinals were all over the place, Lincoln’s Sparrows were plentiful, and one Lark Sparrow came in.

A dirt road going through a field with trees on both sides

Day 3 - Kerr WMA, Bobcat Trail

By Mary Beth Stowe • August 24, 2024

Didn’t wake up quite as early as the day before, but still got to Bobcat Meadows well before dawn. This time it was a lovely morning, with no wind, and at the second or third stop, sure enough, a Poorwill was singing in the distance! (Turkeys were gobbling as well…) Barbara texted me in the middle of all this with a question about the Harris’ Hawk (turns out I had forgotten to add the Swainson’s Hawk to the eBird list, and forgot to add that and the Harris’ to the trip list), so I got to tell her that I had just gotten the Poorwill! J The normal dawn chorus characters started tuning up as it got lighter, but nothing new for the trip. At sunrise I swung over to the main road just to make sure they really were having a turkey hunt, and therefore the place was closed (they were), so I headed back to Bobcat Meadows and carried out the following strategy: stop every tenth of a mile, drag The Monster out, and wait five minutes to see what shows! Worked fine until the second or third stop when two Black-capped Vireos were really going at it in this bush in front of me; you’d think they’d be visible, but no way! But I hung in there with them, and they eventually shot down to a leafless bush down the incline where they were clearly visible chasing each other around the bush, and it became apparent that there was a third bird (which turned out to be the female, which was the main bird I was able to shoot; her hubby was too busy chasing his rival J)! It wasn’t the greatest, mainly because of the distance and trying to keep the silly things in focus as they dashed in and out between the branches, but at least we got something!

A man walking down a road with trees in the background

Day 2: Kerr WMA with Barbara Pankratz

By Mary Beth Stowe • August 10, 2024

I felt like a kid on Christmas morning the next day, so I did the morning routine unhurriedly because I got up uber early, and got over to Bobcat Meadows well before dawn; the wind concerned me, but there were no night birds at all, and as the sky lightened we had the usual suspects, including the song-battling Black-capped Vireos. I rushed out of there in time to meet Barbara at the main gate, which was closed when I first checked, but open now! We had a great reunion, and she had quite the list while she was waiting for me (she, too, felt like a kid on Christmas morning and got there around seven, when the gate was open)! I had heard a chickadee coming in, and Inca Doves at the station, but for some reason she didn’t hear the Canyon Wren I heard (but she got it later). We piled into Heppy and started crawling, and it was good to catch up during the course of the day! It all blended together since we covered both roads; Barbara spotted Lark Sparrows right away on the main road, a Vermilion Flycatcher “butterflied” overhead, and a Swainson’s Hawk circled in the distance. We heard both the Goldencheeks and the Blackcaps right away, but the former was the only one to cooperate by sitting on the tippy top of a tree! (Barbara circled around a tree a Blackcap was singing in to try and “herd” him my way…) We found another Goldencheek pair chasing each other, and Barbara got terrific shots with her new Sony, but I really had a hard time getting mine on the bird and then in focus, so that made me decide to get a Powershot video first, and then drag out The Monster if the bird was still being cooperative! At that same spot we had a thooking Hermit Thrush, and we actually did have a lot of Blackcaps, but they would only allow fleeting glimpses as they shot from tree to tree.