World United States Texas Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge

Anahuac Activities

Sunny skies - birding all day Mar 6, 2015

Date: March 6, 2015

Weather: beautiful sunshine

Temperature: start 30º

High 53º

Wildlife count: Alligator, Bobcat, River Otter

Year List: 173; Life List: 489

Birds: Eastern Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Shoveler, American Coot, Ring-necked Duck, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Turkey Vulture, Neo-tropic Cormorant, Pied-billed Grebe, Blue-winged Teal, Black-necked Stilt, Gadwall, Common Gallinule, Snowy Egret, White Ibis, Brown Pelican, White Pelican, Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Black-bellied Plover, Lesser & Greater Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Merlin, Northern Pintail, Mottled Duck, Dunlin, Bonaparte’s Gull, Royal Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Lesser Scaup, Northern Mockingbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Swamp Sparrow, American Pipit, Forster’s Tern, White-faced Ibis, Seaside Sparrow, American Kestrel, Boat-tailed Grackle, House Sparrow, Common Grackle, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwing, Rock Pigeon, Northern Shrike, Roseate Spoonbill (20), Anhinga, White-tailed Kite, Tri-colored Heron, Wilson’s Snipe, White-crowned Sparrow

With beautiful sunshine, we spent the entire day birding. As Denise had found a very rare Ruff sandpiper at Shoveler’s Pond, we headed there first to join Denise and Colin, but they didn’t see it all morning. The temperature was 36° with a stiff wind, so we didn’t stay long. At the boat launch, we saw a group of Dunlin and at Frozen Point, caught a Gull-billed Tern and Seaside Sparrow, both life birds. It was lots of fun, though we mostly stayed in the truck due to the wind. At Jackson’s Woods, the wind had died, so we walked the trail, seeing a few small birds. We also saw the BIG THREE – alligator, bobcat and river otters.

Lunch was at the DQ in Anahuac, followed by a stop at HQ to get our mail. We also walked the boardwalk down to the Cypress swamp and Lake Anahuac to prepare for our “Walk on the Swamp” guided walk that we are planning. After a short ride to the Trinity River boat launch, we again drove Shoveler’s Pond loop and got home around 5.

Dinner was a new recipe – oven fried chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. As the oven was hot, I made a peach crisp for dessert.