High Island is one of those amazing birding locations where you always have that thrill of what will pop up next? Spring migration is the time to be here, when anything can, and does, turn up.  Things are a little different this year for both birds and birders.  September last year Hurricane Humberto swept through this very special part of Texas and changed the landscape.  Familiar large trees were blown over, removing some of the unique habitat that brought migrants here as they rested after their epic flight either over or round the Gulf of Mexico.  Many trees and smaller bushes are still standing, but all around are the fallen trunks of the largest trees that formed familiar birding hot spots such as The Cathedral at Boy Scout Woods.  Doesn’t seem to have put off the migrants though, who are still passing through the area in good numbers.  The other difference is that there is now a Birding Information Centre right opposite the entrance gate to Boy Scout Woods, operated by Tropical Birding and the Houston Audubon Society.   The Centre provides up-to-the-minute bird information on the local area, a reference library, a series of guided walks, an observation tower, and even free coffee!  Our day began scouring farm fields east of Winnie looking for waders.  Our prime target was Buff-breasted Sandpiper.  We found some cracking looking fields which were alive with birds, some 800+ Pectoral Sandpipers, about 70 American Golden Plover, 26 Whimbrel and smaller numbers of both Yellowlegs, Baird’s Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Semi-palmated Plover, Killdeer, but sadly no Buff-breasteds.  At one point the whole flock lifted in a state of panic as a Cooper’s Hawk swept low over the fields before landing on a convenient fencepost.  Luckily the waders soon settled down again and we began another painstaking sift through the moving flock.  Eventually, though, we had to admit defeat:  we just couldn’t find the Buff-breasted.  Heading south from Winnie, we again hit the woods at High Island to search for migrants.  As usual, some fantastic birds were encountered on our trails through Boy Scout Woods.  From a UK perspective, such sought-after species as Black and White Warbler, Parula Warbler, Summer Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo and Grey Catbird, all great birds but none of them new for our year list.  We continued to search and were eventually rewarded with White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos, Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush and Brown Thrasher, all new additions to the list.  We met many birders as we worked the trails and it was so nice that everybody we met was willing to share information and encouragement, a really great atmosphere.  Early afternoon we were joined by Tamie Bulow of the American Birding Association who had been working hard all morning at the information centre.  Tamie seemed to bring us good luck as shortly after she joined us we caught up with the Scarlet Tanager which had proved surprisingly elusive prior to this.  It seemed everyone we met in the morning had just seen this bird only a few minutes before we spoke to them!Late afternoon, we decided for one last attempt for Buff-breasted Sandpiper, so back to the fields east of Winnie.  There were still plenty of birds here and what’s more, the light was now much better.  We again scanned the huge fields and this time we were lucky.  A single Buff-breasted Sandpiper complete with stunning yellow legs was pottering about on the damp soil.  We enjoyed reasonable if distant views of this exciting wader.  Extremely happy with the results of our persistence, we headed off for a celebratory meal at Al-T’s in Winnie.  This turned into something of a social event, as many other birders that we’d met during the day had had the same idea.  It was great to swap stories about our respective birding days.  This proved particularly productive as we again met up with a group of four charming Texas birders who kindly offered us inside information on such sought after species as Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo, so we quickly hatched a plan to meet up again with the girls after our quick sortie to Panama, to add these Texas specialities to our year list!Bird species list: 1950
Posted 9pm, 15th April, Winnie, Texas