World Class Birding
Bolivar peninsula is home to some of the greatest birding hot spots in the world. Many bird species can even be seen from your own deck overlooking the marshes to the east and west of Canal City. Owners of a Fortenberry Home have a prime location with homes adjacent to a 350-acre nature preserve on one side, a several hundred acre ranch to the other and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to the north.
Not only can you see birds from your own porch year-round, but during the spring and fall migrations, locales on Bolivar peninsula and especially High Island, just a few miles to the east of Canal City, are famous the world over among birders, ecologists and ornithologists (bird scientists) for their diversity of bird species present during the migration to and from south of the equator. For a truly unique and thrilling experience, sit quiet and still on a bench in late April in an oak mott of High Island and look around. Or, take a stroll along the North Jetty near the ferry on the west end of the peninsula. The 3 most popular sites on Bolivar are the Boy Scout Woods and Smith Oaks sanctuaries in High Island and the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary just 3.7 miles east of the ferry landing.
Lifesaving Chenier Oasis of High Island
The coastal ecology of Bolivar peninsula, especially that just east of Canal City in High Island, is dominated by cheniers, ancient gulf beach ridges stranded inland by the cyclical process of historic erosion and the deltaic sedimentation process of the shifting Mississippi River. The chenier habitat extends from the coastal plains of southwestern Louisiana over to East Bay at the northwest side of Bolivar peninsula in Texas. As the Mississippi shifted westward and eastward again repeatedly over the last several thousand years, it deposited sediment across its floodplain creating large, shallow flats that were intermittently eroded and built up again by wave action. The wave action on the delta created ridges as sediment was stacked atop itself into successive beach rims parallel to shore. This repeating process created several parallel ridges with marshes, wetlands, larger bayous and lakes in the troughs between them.
Growing on these cheniers are large stands of oak trees (or oak motts as they are known locally) so closely packed together that their roots and branches touch creating vital habitat for migrating neotropical birds. During the migrating season's peak in late April and early May, these oak motts together with the surrounding vegetation will provide resting and feeding grounds for literally millions of neotropical birds arriving from 600 miles away in the Yucatan Peninsula and beyond. These flights usually occur in just one night and some birds will literally fall out of the sky on the first land available. Without the oak cheniers and the surrounding vegetation, the birds' chances at survival are not good. In the protected areas of Bolivar peninsula, you will witness birds using their havens to rinse off the salt, rest in the trees, eat and drink. After a rest here, they are off to continue their migrations to the northern United States and Canada.
One such refuge is located in High Island, TX, the little town just a few miles to the east of Canal City sits on a salt dome, making it the highest point on the Gulf Coast from Mississippi to Mexico and the first land birds see as they fly in from the south across the Gulf of Mexico. High Island also offers large chenier habitat for the birds. Combined, these factors make High Island an oasis for thirsty, hungry, salty and exhausted birds and a mecca for bird-lovers. Two sanctuaries, Boy Scout Woods and Smith Oaks, are managed by the Houston Audubon Society (along with 2 other sanctuaries and a rookery there) to guarantee the preservation of the vital chenier and oak mott habitat.
Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary
The Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary is a sanctuary system of 1,669 acres of beach, mud flats, and salt marsh along the Gulf of Mexico. It is home to vast wintering and migrating shorebird concentrations numbering well into the tens of thousands that make it home to one of the largest shorebird gatherings in North America. It is the "crown jewel of shorebird habitats along the upper Texas coast" boasting over ten thousand American Avocets and thousands of Western Sandpipers in winter. The birds are abundant year round as you get those passing in the spring and fall migrations as well. During summer, you will only see a few hundred but some of the species during that slow time, such as Roseatte Spoonbills and Least Terns and their chicks, make it rewarding nevertheless.
Natural coastal processes include sediment transport from the mouth of the Mississippi and other rivers parallel along the shore, building up beaches in its wake. Due to the construction of the Galveston jetties in 1856, sediment cannot flow to Galveston beaches and instead builds up along the 5-mile-long, north jetty flanking the Houston Ship Channel. While Galveston businesses may not be pleased, the situation is terrific for shorebirds as the increasing sedimentation accumulates and vegetation growing on its fresh borders, stabilizing the flats. The combination of sediments and vegetation in a dynamic flux has resulted in a complex estuary with a rich diversity of flora and fauna. Although its existence is a small victory for wildlife when compared to the widespread loss of similar habitat further down the coast and inland, Bolivar Flats is a must-see for any bird-lover. With only a small fraction of the original coastal wetlands remaining, this treasure will only be appreciated more and more.
Good News for Whooping Cranes
The following was reported by Texas Parks and Wildlife on March 26, 2007
Whooping Cranes Begin Spring Migration: -- An ancient Texas spring tradition has begun. According to federal wildlife officials, endangered whooping cranes have begun their annual 2,400-mile trek from Texas back to their breeding grounds in northwest Canada. Biologists at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the mid-Texas coast reported seeing a family of three whoopers headed north March 8, and, by mid-March, observers along the Platte River in Nebraska, a famed stopover site for migrating cranes, had spied whooping cranes at three different locations.
Officials expect migration activity to increase with the predominance of spring southerly winds. The traditional peak of spring whooping crane migration occurs in the first two weeks of April. Whoopers may reach their northern destination, Wood Buffalo National Park, Northwest Territories, Canada, in as little as 10 days after leaving the Texas coast.
Whooping Cranes are the rarest cranes in the world. The flock of whooping cranes that winters in Texas, which represents the only remaining naturally-occurring population of the species, reached record numbers this year, when a peak wintering population of 237 was estimated. However, overall recovery efforts for the species suffered a setback when an experimental population was decimated by winter tornadoes in Florida. That flock had been reintroduced to a migratory path from Wisconsin to Florida using ultralight aircraft.
Texans can help by reporting sightings of whooping cranes during their spring and fall migrations. To report a whooping crane sighting, contact Lee Ann Linam with TPWD by email at lalinam@wimberley-tx.com or phone Mark Klym with TPWD at (800) 792-1112, ext. 4644. Whooping crane spotters are also asked to note whether the cranes have colored bands on their legs. Whoopers, the tallest bird in North America, are entirely white except for a small patch of black feathers and red skin on the face and black wing tips that are seen only in flight. During migration they often pause overnight to use wetlands for roosting and agricultural fields for feeding, but seldom remain more than one night. They usually migrate in small family groups of two to three birds, but they may be seen roosting and feeding with large flocks of the smaller sandhill crane.
Serious Birding
For more variety, visit Atkinson Island Wildlife Management Area (WMA) where you can see a large array of bird species, including migrating raptors, Neotropical passerines, large numbers of Humming Birds, Clapper Rails, Horned Larks, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows, White-tailed Kite and Grey Catbirds.
Also, Candy Cain Abshier Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is home to the daily hawk watches that are conducted from early August to November, as well as the tens of thousands of Mississippi Kites, Broad-winged Hawks, Red-tails, Coopers, Sharp-shinned, Kestrels, Merlins, Swainson's Hawks, Peregrine Falcons, accipiters, Swallow-tailed Kites, migrant land birds, Henslow's Sparrows, hundreds of hummingbirds, white-winged doves and thousands of swallows, and flocks of anhinga and wood storks.
The sites discussed already are only a few of the opportunities available for bird-lovers. There are also many other hot spots along the sandy beaches, in estuaries, marshes and prairies of Bolivar. If you are interested in finding all the good birding spots on Bolivar Peninsula, you will definitely want to visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife website to learn about birding on Bolivar's Upper Texas Coast Birding Trail.
Visit the Houston Audubon Society for great information on its many local sanctuaries, birding hot spots, educational information and more.
A fantastic site offering site-specific bird lists with a list of their respective off-the-beaten-path hot spots and driving directions is Birding Locations of the Upper Texas Coast.