Blue Day in High Island (Texas): 30 April

My day begun late with a trip down to Frenchtown Road on the Bolivar Peninsula at noon. Thick mist and bouts of rain dogged viewing as I made my way down there. This was meant to be a shorebird walk, and indeed it did end up being one, eventually. However, just a short way down Frenchtown, a large flock of Dickcissels flushed out of the scrub and our thoughts quickly turned from shorebirds to what other songbirds were lurking having just crossed the Gulf? The answer was lots! We were out of the car quickly and soon after warbler names were flying this way and that: as we found this choice birds clinging to the vaguest of vegetation present in the area. The main component of this Gulf wave was Yellow Warblers, although a very brief Mourning Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Chestnut-sided Warblers, multiple Tennessees, Baltimore Orioles, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Every so often another large crowd of Dickcissels passed over indicating more "Mexmigrants" were on the way.

With a brief respite from the activity, we switched back to what we had come for: shorebirds. A quick sweep of the fast diminishing pool at Frenchtown revealed a large shape feeding prominently in the nearest pool: female Hudosnian Godwit, 2 Stilt Sandpipers, and at least three White-rumped Sandpipers were the headliners today. After a brief check of Rollover Pass to add a pack of skimmers and a hearty amount of Black Terns (some of which had now "blacked-up" nicely), we were back on the "dome": High Island, where warbler numbers were on the rise. I stopped in at the photo blind where a Blackburnian only flirted with the idea of coming down to the drip, and a Bay-breasted Warbler repeatedly visited the grandstand drip. However, in this superb 30 minute spell in the blind a male Cerulean Warbler dazzled the few of us present...magic!