Summer Birding on the Texas Coast
It was the second week of June 2024. The spring bird migration season was over in south Texas, but we thought it might be fun to visit the Texas coast and study the seabirds that live in the area year-round.
We planned to head down to the Rockport area from our home in central Texas on a Monday and return the following Friday. Monday and Friday were travel days, which left Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday open for all-day birding at Goose Island State Park in Rockport, the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Austwell.
When we arrived at Goose Island State Park around noon, the high temperature and humidity "feels like" combination produced a sweltering 100+ degrees. We backed our travel trailer into site 152 and plugged into the park's power to get the A/C cranked up even before we disconnected from our tow vehicle or performed any setup chores. It was just too hot.
The day before we left Central Texas, we bought a steak to grill for Monday's dinner, but it mysteriously didn't make it home from the grocery store (or the trip). It was too hot to grill anyway. So, once settled in our campsite, we drove to Rockport and ate a shrimp-boil-for-two at The Boiling Pot restaurant.
Tuesday morning, we left Goose Island and drove south on HWY 35, about 20 miles, to the Port Aransas ship channel, where we took the ferry across to the Mustang Island side of Port Aransas. I rode the ferry for the first time in 1973 and many times since. It hasn't changed in over 50 years.
From the ferry landing, it was only a short drive to the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. The salt marsh habitat was behind a water treatment plant on the Intracoastal side of Mustang Island. We parked in one of the last available spaces in the small parking lot, generously sprayed ourselves with mosquito repellant, grabbed our cameras and binoculars, and headed for the birding center's boardwalk that stretched two directions over the salt marsh. Each wing of the boardwalk included a covered observation tower and mounted telescope.
On the first 50 feet of the boardwalk, we had already spotted several species of birds - the Little Egret (left), White Ibis (top, center), Neotropic Cormorant (top, right), and the Least Bittern (bottom, right).
There were plenty of Roseate Spoonbills at Leonabelle Turnbull, and we took more than 20 pictures of this bird as she posed for us like one of nature's supermodels.
What kind of bird is this? The colors were not unlike an American Golden Plover, but his bill was too long to be a plover. He also looked a little like a Greater Yellowlegs, but his legs were not yellow, and his bill was much thicker. We finally identified him as an Eastern Willet because of his long, stout bill, grey legs, and unique wing markings.
This pair of Little Egrets appear to be standing on a submerged, likely waterlogged, wooden plank - or perhaps it is a portal to a parallel universe you can only see on days when the sea is glass.
Birders geared up at the end of one of the boardwalks to take great photos of the American Flamingos standing in the waters nearby. We tried to remember when we had last seen them in the wild.
After a long morning of birding at Leonabelle Turnbull and Roberts Point Park on the ship channel, we enjoyed fried shrimp platters and iced teas at Virginia's on the Bay while watching boats come in and out of the Port Aransas Municipal Boat Harbor.
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
On Wednesday, we headed north from Goose Island State Park on HWY 35 toward the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, about 45 minutes away. We chose a route that took us through a maze of perpendicular farm roads that passed through endless fields of cotton, sorghum, and corn. All the healthy crops appeared to be getting plenty of water and quality care they could only get from proud farmers.
We were the first visitors to arrive at the park's headquarters that day. The knowledgeable volunteer at the front desk recommended we check out the Rail Trail Bridge, if not venture further, on the Rail and Heron Flats Trails, if we didn't mind the mosquitos. "There's always something interesting to see while you cross the bridge," she said. The park volunteer was right.
When we arrived, a handful of American bullfrogs were guarding the Rail Trail Bridge from the pond below. The colorful creatures kept us entertained while we talked ourselves out of hiking the trails. The two paths looked too overgrown for us, and the mosquitos were relentless, so we continued driving on the park road toward the Big Tree Trails and Observation Towers.
On the way, we stopped at Jones Lake (freshwater) to watch for birds. We walked down a short boardwalk that led to a sprawling marsh surrounding a small rain-starved lake. We saw Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flying in and out of the grassy marshland everywhere around the lake. We also spotted a few herons and gulls in the distance, but the Black-bellies owned the show. A rain cloud appeared to be moving in our direction, so we had to leave Jones Lake earlier than we wanted.
It began to rain as we approached our vehicle, and we quickly climbed in to take shelter. We watched a dark cumulonimbus cloud move overhead and noticed a small waterspout extending from its leading edge. A weather forecast warned of a tropical disturbance in the Bay of Campeche in the southern gulf that might spawn these "tropical funnels," weather terminology I had never heard before.
After the rain subsided and the funnel retreated, we continued down the park road to the Observation Towers. We climbed the tallest of the two and were amazed by the magnificent view of San Antonio Bay and Mustang Lake.
While watching a Bell's Vireo hop between the high branches of a giant oak, we spotted a lone Blue Heron "fishing" the shallow end of Mustang Lake. Everywhere we looked, the water was boiling with sea life. If this Heron lives here year-round, I doubt he ever goes hungry.
After watching birds and taking in the scenery from the towers, we walked to the end of the boardwalk that extended to the water. Birders use the boardwalk to study birds and other wildlife, while fishermen use it for wade-fishing access to San Antonio Bay.
We couldn't tell, from the distance, what they were catching, but we heard lots of "Woohoos!" and "Whoas!" Wait a minute, is someone fishing with a cell phone?
To put a cap on our trip to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, we drove down a 9-mile one-way road called the Auto Tour Loop. We spent over an hour creeping slowly down the short drive so we wouldn't miss anything the nature preserve had to offer. We saw a few painted buntings and what may have been a Bald Eagle's nest, but we didn't see any occupants.
Mistakenly, we thought we might see Whooping Cranes during our visit to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, but we quickly realized it was the wrong time of year for them. We couldn't have come at a worse time. The cranes were fully migrated to Canada the week we were in Rockport. "If you want to see Whooping Cranes, you need to come back in January," the park volunteer said with a smile. "We'll be back!" we said as we left the building.
We left the wildlife refuge and drove through the tiny town of Austwell on the way back to Rockport. People outside their homes looked surprised to see a vehicle they didn't recognize traveling through their community. We didn't see any retail businesses, not even a lemonade stand. So, if you don't live in Austwell, Texas, or know any of the 137 residents, there's not much to do in the sleepy town.
On the return trip to Goose Island State Park, we refueled our bodies with enchiladas and margaritas at La Tequila Jalisco Mexican Food restaurant.
Thursday morning, I loaded up my saltwater spinning rod and tackle box and headed to the Goose Island State Park pier for a taste of saltwater fishing. After a few hours of excitement in the sea air, a rainstorm prematurely ended my morning of fishing, so I returned to our campsite to cook potato and egg tacos for breakfast, then spent our last day of birding along the Texas coast in Goose Island State Park.
Seabirds can be found anywhere along the coast, from Brownsville to Port Arthur. Since we began birding, we haven't come close to exploring all the many bays, salt flats, marshes, rivers, lakes, and shores of the Gulf of Mexico where seabirds reside, but we have visited lots of them. If you haven't experienced birding in Texas, the World Birding Center in South Texas is the best place to start. Many Texas State Parks are also ideal for watching the spring and fall bird migrations. We have our top-10 favorites, but we never have time to visit all of them every year. Unfortunately, the migration windows are too small to spend quality time in every park. You pick a few birding locations to visit each year and hope for the best. Maybe you will find the perfect combo. See you on the trails!
A Gust of Wind
We left Goose Island Friday around mid-morning and were headed home, north again, on HWY 35 through a million miles of cotton fields toward Tivoli. The winds were calm and humid; cumulus clouds filled the partly cloudy sky. Suddenly, a blast of wind broadsided our travel trailer and caused a momentary loss of control. There was no time to think. The driving instincts I developed from years of pulling trailers took control. After a few seconds of blinding turbulence, our rig landed on its feet again as I struggled to stabilize our trajectory. "What the hell was that!" I hollered, grappling to regain my internal bearings while I checked the rearview mirrors for trailer damage. I looked into the sky through the driver's side window and saw that a line of dark cumulonimbus clouds had developed overhead. I wondered if a small funnel hadn't dropped from that line of clouds to shake us up and let us know who the boss was. We would never know the real cause of that terrifying gust of wind, but that day, we gained a new respect for the forces of nature.
~ Matt Bray
What Next?
Leave Summer Birding on the Texas Coast and return to our home page.
