206 Species on this Custom List
To upload the attached Custom list and Quiz yourself on birds that may be seen on this VENT Tour, right-click HERE and select "Save Target As.." (You may want to rename the file HighIsland_Migration.xml)
Apr. 18-Apr. 25, 2008
One of the finest and best-known spectacles of spring songbird migration in North America, with dozens of warblers and other songbird species, plus loads of shorebirds, marsh birds, and Southeast pine wood specialties like Red-cockaded Woodpecker.
Every spring, millions of birds migrate north from the American tropics to the forests of the eastern United States. They take off from Central America just at sunset for the long journey over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Typically they are riding a south wind, so that when they reach the Texas/Louisiana coast, most of them continue inland before putting down. But if the trans-Gulf migrants encounter north winds and rain during their flight, they are forced down into the isolated groves and bushes of the Texas and Louisiana coastal prairie. The result can be a staggering phenomenon, as thousands of migrants invade the trees. The greatest of these fallouts occur only once or twice a spring when conditions are just right, but some birds put down along the coast every day, and a great variety can always be seen over the course of the week.
This tour is designed to focus on spring migration along the upper Texas coast. All nights will be spent near High Island, where isolated groves of huge live oaks may attract large numbers of migrants in a fallout, and where some migrants occur regularly even without the severe conditions of a fallout. Each day's activities will depend on the weather, and our schedule will be flexible. If a fallout occurs, we will bird High Island and other migrant traps. If the weather is good, with a south wind, we will concentrate on the rice fields for shorebirds, the extensive marshes for wading birds, and the great Bolivar Flats. We will visit Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge which is famous among birders as a good place to observe such notoriously secretive marsh-dwellers as Least and American bitterns, King Rail, Sora, Purple Gallinule, and Marsh Wren. Fulvous Whistling-Duck, White-faced Ibis, and occasionally Glossy Ibis are also seen at Anahuac. The refuge is surrounded by rice fields, and when they are flooded in April the birds swarm into them. Sometimes thousands of shorebirds in glorious spring plumage are present, including such scarce species as Hudsonian Godwit, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, White-rumped and Baird's sandpipers, Wilson's Phalarope, and Stilt Sandpiper.
We will make a special trip into the pine forests further from the coast to look for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Brown-headed Nuthatches, and other specialty nesters. Regardless of the weather, every day on the Texas coast in late April will be an eventful one.
Good accommodations; all but one night at one location; easy walking on boardwalks and beaches; midday breaks some days; warm, sometimes humid conditions.
To Get (upload) a Custom List from this Forum and add it to your computer:
1. Open the Posting of the Custom List you want to upload to your computer.
2. Right-click on the word "Attachment" at the bottom of the post -- it will be a hyperlink and underlined.
3. Select "Save Target As..." and save to your desktop. (You may want to rename the file - but do not change the .xml file extension)
4. Open your Thayer Birding Software birding program version 3.5 or 3.9.
5. Click the Custom List icon
6. In the upper left corner of the Custom List screen, click on the word File.
7. Click Import. Select the file you just uploaded to your desktop. Click Open.
8. The Custom List will now appear on your computer with your other Custom Lists. (You may rename the Custom List if you like.)
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