Corpus Christi nature center extends hours

On Jan. 1, 2010, birders -- as well as photographers and other nature enthusiasts -- can enjoy more of South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center in Corpus Christi. The grounds will open at 7:30 a.m. and remain accessible until 5:30 p.m. The new hours allow 90 more minutes for birding, photography and appreciation.

"Birders long have been telling us early mornings bring out the best in birds and birders,” said Executive Director Dr. Michael Womack. “And of course, we want to attract more birders to 'America’s Birdiest City’,” he added. Many professional as well as excellent amateur photographers also requested the earlier and later hours, both for best lighting and lighter winds.

The 180-acre center includes 11 major floral exhibits as well as trails, birding overlooks and boardwalk through protected natural wetland and native habitat. It also is a Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail site.

South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center

Need another reason to visit south Texas? Consider the grand opening of South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center in late September.

Scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, the grand opening -- delayed by Hurricane Dolly's arrival last July -- will include nature interpreters along the boardwalks and inside the center. The Nature Store also will be open.

At the link above, you can sign up for the center's e-newsletter, see a copy of its bird list and learn more about the facility, which includes a five-story observation tower, an auditorium and an eBird Trail Tracker.

The South Padre Island center's opening celebrates the completion of the nine World Birding Centers. Their locations range from Roma to Hidalgo to Brownsville.

Is birding a team sport?

Are birdwatchers truly different than other hobbyists, always sharing details of birds' locations? Do all birders help strangers while participating in this avian scavenger hunt? How often have you encountered reticent birders?

In Morning Sentinel, George Smith writes:

Birders themselves are a very special breed. We would sidle up to a couple of obvious birding experience (judging by clothes and equipment), and ask a simple question: "What do you see?"

A quick answer, tossed our way in a excited whisper, often led to an invitation to see the bird through their much-better binoculars and the opening of a bird book for a lengthy discussion about the bird's attributes, its plumage, where it wintered, the amazing journey it was now on and how to distinguish it from similar birds. Many of these birds are migrating north now and the Texas coast is their first rest stop after a long flight over the Gulf of Mexico.

I thought about how different birders are from anglers. An angler wouldn't share a hot fishing tip or spot with his or her mother. Birders will tell you everything, eagerly. Birding, apparently, is a team sport.

Altamira Oriole courtesy of John and Karen Hollingsworth/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Birders asked to report migrating Whooping Cranes

This winter proved harsh for the big endangered birds that spend the colder months at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Rockport, Texas. Tom Stehn, whooping crane coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the last wild flock of whooping cranes lost 21 birds - six adults and 15 chicks.

Wildlife officials ask that birders share sightings of the birds by calling toll-free 800-792-1112, extension 4644, or emailing leeann.linam@tpwd.state.tx.us.

Photo courtesy of Earl Nottingham/Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

From the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department news release:

When added to 34 birds that left Texas in spring 2008 and failed to return in 2009, Stehn said 20 percent of the flock was lost during the last 12 months. The upshot is that only 249 birds will make the trip north this year. After an encouraging multi-year comeback in which flock numbers have grown each year, this marks the first year bird numbers have declined since 2001.

Stehn attributes the winter losses to poor habitat conditions in wintering grounds on the middle Texas coast. Low rainfall in 2008 resulted in saltier bays and fewer blue crabs, the primary food source for wintering whoopers. In addition, according to Stehn, whoopers are further stressed when cranes must leave the bays to fly inland seeking fresh water. Several emaciated whooping crane carcasses were found, and refuge staff even took the unusual step of providing supplemental feeding over the winter in addition to burning upland areas to make acorns more available.

Occasional set-backs aren’t new to the whooping crane recovery story, a species that numbered only 49 as recently as 1975, according to Lee Ann Linam, biologist in the Wildlife Diversity Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

"Although whooping crane numbers have experienced an amazing upward climb since conservation efforts began in the 1930s, over the course of their recovery we have occasionally seen short-term dips in the population," Linam said. "The losses this winter do emphasize the important role Texas has in maintaining the health of its bays and estuaries, especially in safeguarding stream-flow during low rainfall periods."

Texas birding hotspot appears in Los Angeles Times

Sunday's print edition of The Los Angeles Times and the website highlighted Texas' High Island as a travel destination.


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In the Times' article, Hugo Martin writes:

This mound of trees and shrubs, only a mile in diameter, has a reputation as one of the country's top birding sites. As an occasional bird watcher, I was drawn here by this reputation. But I was rooting for a storm because, according to bird aficionados, the best bird watching on High Island takes place during, or just after, a storm front with strong northerly winds. Migrating birds -- warblers, orioles, thrushes and others -- struggle against the gusts as they fly north from the Yucatán Peninsula, 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico.

When the exhausted birds reach the shore and spy the hospitable habitat, they sometimes fall from the sky. High Island is geographically suited for this phenomenon -- known as a fallout. From the air, High Island looks like a protrusion of trees, surrounded by flat, salty marshlands, an ideal resting spot for migrant birds.

After a storm, the wind-battered birds are so exhausted by the trans-gulf flight that they become almost oblivious to bird watchers. Enthusiasts who have seen a fallout told me that you can almost pick up and pet the exhausted birds. I felt guilty for wishing such conditions on these innocent creatures. But it's a centuries-old natural event, so why not take advantage of an opportunity to see some rare neotropical birds up close?

My visit to High Island in early March, however, taught me that Texas' unpredictable weather makes it difficult to plan to see a fallout.

The online version also offers a photo gallery and an If You Go sidebar.

Have you visited High Island? What is your favorite memory from your visit(s)?

Texas treasures 7

One last reminisce about the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival: The second day that I ventured out with Sharon, we drove west to Estero Llano Grande State Park. Sharon was on a mission for a rarity, with me as navigator.

The birds appears on Sharon's post, while I was transfixed with the dragonfly that she rescued from the pond. We're walking along a wooden boardwalk, with the nature center across the way...


when Sharon uses her scope tripod to move an overturned dragonfly from the water. Lookit the beautiful details and colors of this creature. (As always, click on an image to see a larger version.) Amazing!

Texas treasures 6

During the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival earlier this month, I got to bird with Sharon on two days. The first day, Friday, I joined her and Clay on an excursion to South Padre Island's convention center. Previous experience told me that Clay would insist on Whataburger taquitos for breakfast, and he didn't change his habit. Yum.


With Sharon behind the minivan's wheel, we crossed the causeway and took a right toward the jetty. The water practically teemed with dolphins -- an incredible spectacle. But nothing with wings went unnoticed, including the bee that landed on Sharon's spotting scope.


At the convention center, with a wall covered by Wyland mural...


we encountered Orange-crowned Warblers and a couple Black-throated Green Warblers. Lovely! Then they decided to bathe in the little puddle.



If you visit the convention center, give yourself time to really "set a while" near that watery spot. I doubt you'll regret it.

Texas treasures 5

While traveling to and from south Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, I spent a fair amount of time in airports and on planes -- which doesn't bother me. Those scenarios let me catch up on reading, such as Luke Dempsey's book "A Supremely Bad Idea."

Dempsey's tales about "three mad birders and their quest to see it all" made me laugh and nod my head in recognition. It's a good read.

As a book editor, Dempsey knows how to string words together well. This bit caught my attention:

I knew very little about Florida. To me it was merely a gun-shaped slice of Africa that some time before I was born floated across the Atlantic and snuggled below Georgia like a cat under a bed.

Love it.

I was intrigued to read more of the story behind a photo that won an award (first place in the digiscoping category) in WildBird's 2007 photo contest, and the image appears in the book.

Out at sea, an osprey circled and suddenly plunged, plucking from the surf a good-sized fish, and we watched as it heavily flew back to land. Just when we thought the bird would disappear, it suddenly curved back and landed on one of the metal grills not a hundred feet from us. The fish still squirmed in the grip of the bird's talons, until the fish slowed its thrashing enough to start being eaten. By this point, we had our scoped trained on the spectacle and marveled at the amazing scenes the lens offered up. Donna took lots of photographs as the fish's mass decreased and the bird's increased. One of these would subsequently win first prize in a photo competition in WildBird magazine -- not to be confused with the less reputable British publication of the same name.

Texas treasures 4

During the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, birders can bid on items in a silent auction. The tempting selection can include optics, stays at bed & breakfasts, guided outings and various books.

This year's silent auction, held Nov. 5-8, offered a collection of books -- autographed by the authors -- from Houghton Mifflin. Part of the collection's appeal stemmed from the predominant author, Kenn Kaufman, a prolific author who also contributes to WildBird's Advisory Board.

After making the winning bid, I came home with a heavy suitcase full of titles that'll go to the local Audubon chapter. I'm pleased to provide the various field guides, including the new fifth edition of the Peterson guide.

Texas treasures 2

Thursday's Birds & Beers at the Lone Star gave me the chance to meet more bird bloggers. BirdChick and Born Again Bird Watcher are well known to me, but The Flying Mullet, Round Robin, The Birder's Library and Birdspot stood out as fresh faces. You'll find some of their festival posts at these links; more might appear later.

BirdChick: Thursday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
Birdspot: Friday, Saturday
Born Again Bird Watcher: Thursday, Thursday, Saturday
Round Robin: Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday
The Flying Mullet: Tuesday, Wednesday

Friday afternoon provided another chance to put faces to names and to gab about blogging. In addition to Thursday's group, we enjoyed the company of 10,000 Birds, Birdwatch Radio, Blue Lizard Birding, Eagle Optics and Jeffrey A. Gordon. Some of their festival posts appear at these links.

10,000 Birds: Tuesday, Wednesday
Eagle Optics: Thursday
Jeffrey A. Gordon: Friday

Texas birding center on list of must-see green landmarks

On the website of "Travel & Leisure" magazine, a list of 10 must-see green American landmarks includes a hotel, a parking garage, a baseball stadium -- and the World Birding Center at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park in Mission, Texas.

The introduction to the slideshow says

For this story, we’ve identified places around the country—from Pocantico Hills, New York, and Mission, Texas, to Marin County, California—that are emblematic of a new generation of savvy, environmentally tuned design destinations that, in small ways and large, are changing the traveler’s landscape. ... Strategies that were considered a little oddball only a few years ago—like photovoltaic panels, green roofs, and wind turbines—are finding their way into the language of everyday architecture, everyday life, and everyday travel.

About the WBC, "Travel & Leisure" said:

Avid birders know that the Rio Grande Valley is the place to be if you want to glimpse a Swainson’s hawk or a green jay or any one of hundreds of species that favor this unique ecosystem of thornscrub and subtropical woodland. The World Birding Center maintains nine protected habitats along the Mexican border, from the Roma Bluffs to South Padre Island. Roughly in the middle, its headquarters sits on 750 acres in Mission, Texas, and was designed by the San Antonio architectural firm Lake/Flato to be equally hospitable to humans and birds. The buildings, situated in what had once been onion fields, are a graceful variation on the Quonset hut, a style chosen for its ties to the area’s agricultural heritage and because, as architect Bob Harris puts it, “the purity and simplicity of its form fits in a stark landscape.” The distinctive curved roof also handily channels rainwater into a collection system that supplies “guzzlers” for the birds and maintains the mud puddles that keep the dragonflies happy.

fate of South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center?

Many birders visit South Padre Island when they venture to south Texas -- and for good reason. The Gulf Coast island draws an incredible variety of species, especially during migration.


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The island's convention center and boardwalk lure innumerable birders, and the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center meant to serve them with three boardwalks; a building containing an information desk, a gift shop, restrooms and a small auditorium; and an observation tower.

Hurricane Dolly, however, arrived on July 23 during the center's construction, and the water soaked metal supports that have rusted now. Now, the center's progress is in question. The question: repair or rebuild?

Railing on the boardwalk was also damaged, but that has been repaired.

In the meantime, some work is continuing, including scaffolding on the observation tower.

For now, [Cate] Ball is a staff of one working out of her home. She will eventually hire a staff.

The building was supposed to open last month, she said, but now, "I have no clue on a date."

Whatever decision is made, Ball said the center will open in 2009.

Report from the Texas coast

Round Robin, a blog from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, posted a great report about the effects of Hurricane Ike on birding spots along the upper Texas coast. Click here for an excellent map, many details as well as links for updates from other sources.

High Island open to birds and birders

From the Houston Chronicle:

This bump on the flat Texas coast where thousands of people from around the world are lured each year to one of the nation's premier birdwatching meccas took a direct hit from the tiny but intense Hurricane Humberto.

But it doesn't seem to have bothered the migratory birds that use it as a rest stop.

"Mother Nature's been doing this for eons," says Winnie Burkett, manager of the Houston Audubon Society's four bird sanctuaries at High Island, trying to shrug off the frustration of extensive damage wrought by the hurricane.

"I don't think the birds care the way we care. It changes the habitat that's available, but as long as there's habitat available, that's what matters," she said.

Fall migrations

In addition to this month's Autumn Weekend in Cape May N.J., I get to attend the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen, Texas, next month. Have you been to south Texas? I really enjoy visits to the region... well, except for the chigger bites. Those I could do without. Thank goodness for Chiggerex.


You can read about previous visits via these links:
2005: Nov. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
2006: April 8, 9, 10, 11, 27, 28, 29, 30; Nov. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

I digiscoped that Aplomado Falcon during the early-April Birder of the Year trip with Leigh Johnson.

How will border fence affect Texas birding?

Last year, Congress approved a 700-mile fence along the border between the United States and Mexico. Folks in Texas are concerned about its implementation.

Birders and naturalists are concerned about the effects on birds and other wildlife, and I share that concern -- not just for the animals but for the economies of the south Texas towns and cities that benefit from ecotourism.

I don't know, though, how to balance the need to protect wildlife habitat with the need to enforce the border/stop illegal activity along it. How do we reconcile very different yet equally valid priorities? Share your ideas with your representatives in the House and the Senate.

Texas search for Ivory-billed Woodpecker

In east Texas, searchers delve into Big Thicket National Preserve, a Globally Important Bird Area.

Campbell, 23, and a pair of companions in similar kayaks are on a tedious winter-long canvass of Texas' famed Big Thicket, an often impenetrable jungle of swamps choked with thorny vines and prodigious pine and cedar trees, in pursuit of the ivory-billed woodpecker.

The bird, at 20 inches with a nearly 3-foot wingspan, is the third-largest woodpecker in the world and the biggest woodpecker north of Mexico. It was thought to be extinct until a kayaker reported seeing an ivory-billed along the Cache River in east-central Arkansas.

"There's a lot of doubters out there that this bird does exist," said Campbell, from Emmaus, Pa. "I believe it exists."

More here.