Day three: Texas

Waking up finally in Texas was a great way to start the day. We got a pretty early  start considering that once again we were all pretty tired from driving and birding. It was cloudy and cool and began to rain a fine mist on us as we headed to Bolivar. Our first target for the day was a mountain plover that had been hanging out on the beach for the last week or so. We

Made a fast stop at Rollover Pass where we were greeted by hundreds of shorebirds, brown and white Pelicans and black skimmers. Many photos taken and quite a few life birds for my buddies. We decided to make haste to Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary though since a large thunderstorm was brewing in the gulf. We arrived and in a few fast minutes of searching we located the plover standing alone at the edge of the surf. At the same moment I watched a barn owl flopping his way over the dunes and our attention was divided momentarily.  We all decided that the mountain plover deserved our attention just a bit more. The Barn owl sat on a post off in the distance and we were able to get a few photos before our attention was completely upon the plover. We were able to set up shop and watch this bird along with whimbrel, longbilled curlew, red knots, Sanderlings, black bellied plovers, Willets, marbled godwits, many pelicans, gulls and terns 

and piping plovers. We walked the beach a while to observe and identify all of the species and decided to move on since the rain was moving in. 

We then headed up to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge where we drive the roads checking for new birds. Just as we entered the refuge a Vermilion Flycatcher was working the maintenance yard. Another liger for my travel companions giving excellent looks and photo opportunities. We travelled on between raindrops to find more birds. Seaside sparrows were active and easily viewed after some searching and again more photos. The refuge held many species of ducks and geese, herons and egrets and two very "easy" American bitterns put on quite a show. At this point the rain picked up a little and we decided to head towards Houston.  

As we got closer, the rain stopped in the clouds moved out; The summer signing in the sky was blue. We headed towards Bear Creek Park to try to locate another bird that had been reported.  Apparently a Greater Pewee has been spending the winter in this part for the last couple of years. We arrived with about an hour of daylight and high hopes of finding this wayward migrant. After about an hour of searching we had added a handful of species to our year list but no pewee. We soeread out to look around and I began to hear the bird calling in the distance. 

We hightailed it over to the area and located the bird sitting in a bare tree continuously calling. Lighting was tough for photographs but we took a lot anyway as to be expected. High-fives all around and then it was into the van to begin the maker trip to Harlingen for the evening. After a 5 1/2 hour drive we arrived and checked into our hotel and currently I'm enjoying a white wing Belgian White Ale. All is right with the world at the moment. Tomorrow morning we got Estero Llano for all of the valley specialties. With some lick we will add quite a few birds to the year list.