High Island (1 Viewer)

will be at High Island the weekend of April 9 & 10. I am driving a motor home from Pennsylvania on a bird photography trip to Texas and Arizona.

On a High Island web site there was statement that the birding was better in the afternoon at High Island and the site recommended going to Bolivar Flats instead for the morning. Not what I would have expected. Any comments on this?

Bob Sheldon

I have birded there in the morning and afternoon - had great birds either way. Check out the Houston Audubon site - they tell you the times for bird walks. Boy Scout Woods is at High Island. I can guarantee that people will be there as early & late as they can. Check out the lunch provided by one of the churches in Winnie. Info about it is also on the Houston Audubon site. I was there before Hurricane Ike hit and I know it won't be the same, but lots work has been done to clear the debris - unfortunately they were still working on clearing debris from a couple of other hurricanes before Ike even hit. Bolivar flats is good and the North Jetty is also good - got my 1st Magnificent Frigate Bird there. I don't know how operational the ferry is since Ike - however,people are obviously making there was there. Check out "Texas Birding on the net" - people from the coast are posting daily about the birds starting to show up. This will give you an idea of what is being seen. You can also check out Corps Woods & Dos Vacas Muertas in Galveston

I plan to be there that same weekend, so we will see how birdy it is!

Well we will be there too April 10th & 11th.

My first time to go anywhere like this. My wife lived in Houston for many years and birded all over the coast, but she's been away from it for many years, so she'e never seen post hurricane High Island.

My wife said it depends on the tide. She wants to be at Bolivar at a High tide, so the birds are close. Also the Day's Migrants start "crashing in" about 3:30 - 4:00 PM, so High Island is good in the Afternoon, and the Rookery is good in the last hour before dark, she says.....

She said, no matter what it's good birding.......... and wall to wall people.....

I get very nervous around lots of people.............:-O

I just did a Google search on "Bolivar Flats, tides". The general gist I got from what I read was that at high tide the birds may be easier to be seen but there are a lot fewer birds and they may be sleeping. At low tide there are many more birds and they are actively feeding.

Someone who has actual experience there may want to comment. I am torn as I am there strictly for photography and birds that are at a long distance are not of interest. However, I am not interested in sleeping birds.

hey Bob, I replied to my Blog when you first asked me. I talked to a couple of others before responding here. We thought that it would be best to bird the early mornings at High Island and then go to Bolivar during the quiet time of the day and come back to look at the songbirds again in the evening. I will be there on Friday and Saturday next week. Hopefully things will be jumping a lot more than they did this week. We had a southerly wind and everything bypassed us. That didn't happen lastyear.

Dave Dolan
http://www.surfbirds.com/blog/DDolan1075/

Thanks Dave,

That is sort of the idea I originally had. If you see a white haired guy out there wearing a black western hat and carrying a big Canon lens, that will be me. I have reservations at the RV park in High Island for Friday and Saturday nights. If I follow my plan, I will be leaving for Padre Island about noon on Sunday.