Hurricane Rita's Impact on

Texas and Louisiana Birding Sites and Habitat

Our hearts and thoughts are with the people in the path of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.  We realize that it is a little more difficult to find out about the places that birds and other wildlife rely on for nesting, migration stopovers, and their habitat.  The following are messages from the Texbird list serv:

Smith Point Hawk Watch:

29 Sept

This is our first full day (yesterday's count was only for the afternoon) of
migrating raptor count since we had to evacuate the area on Sept. 21. Our
intrepid hawk counter is living under some really miserable conditions
currently so if you visit the tower be sure to bring him a care package. It
is a 50 mile round trip to the nearest open store.



Remember that Smith Point is accessible only from I-10 via Texas Hwy. 61 and
FM 562. When arriving in Smith Point stay straight until 562 deadends at
Galveston Bay. Just before the deadend turn left on a paved street past a
couple of large houses and into a large parking lot by the hawk tower.



Results for Sept. 28:

Osprey - 4

Mississippi Kite - 12

Northern Harrier - 3

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 173; this is a large jump for this species

Cooper's Hawk - 12

Broad-winged Hawk - 90

Peregrine Falcon - 2

Merlin - 1

Peregrine Falcon - 2



John C. Arvin

Research Coordinator

Gulf Coast Bird Observatory

103 W. Hwy 332

Lake Jackson, TX 77566

(979) 480-0999

www.gcbo.org

28 Sept, PM Smith Point Hawk Watch lives! (barely; see related Smith Point Update).
Kyle's totals for a half day in 98 degree temperatures yesterday follow. We
are back to one counter. The season peak is upon us and I expect a large
flight for the weekend with tomorrow's promised cold front. Kyle could
really use some help, and (for visitors who can go home at night) conditions
are no different than usual bearing in mind that you need to be gassed-up
and have food and water before leaving I-10.We removed the hawk watch signs
prior to Rita so that we wouldn't lose them. I don't know if Kyle has put
them back up or not. If not, drive into Smith Point on FM 562 and continue
straight until you can see the deadend at the Galveston Bay shore. Turn left
into a paved street that passes two large houses and arrives at a large
parking lot where the tower is located.

Results for Tuesday p.m., Sept. 27:

Mississippi Kite - 1 (it's getting late for these in any numbers)

Northern Harrier - 1

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2

Cooper's Hawk - 3

Broad-winged Hawk - 27

Crested Caracara - 1

Peregrine Falcon - 3

American Kestrel - 1


28 Sept AM

Our chief hawk watcher, Kyle McCarty, returned to Smith Point yesterday. He said there were lots of trees down but not a lot of severe structural damage to buildings. The hawk tower at Candy Abshire WMA is o.k. The main problem for the area is that there is no power and estimates of when power may be restored range from 2 - 6 weeks, so conceivably there may be no power throughout the rest of the hawk watch period. Smith Point can only be approached from I -10. The Galveston ferry is limiting its traffic to Bolivar Peninsula residents only. The nearest gasoline and supplies are at I-10. Needless to say living conditions at Smith Point right now are at subsistence level and are pretty unpleasant due to the heat and mosquitoes, no lights, running water, or refrigeration. Kyle actually put in a half day counting raptors yesterday but I do not have his totals yet to report. Whether the count can continue under present circumstances is not yet clear, but I will update the situation as I learn of it.

John C. Arvin, Research Coordinator
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory
103 W. Hwy 332
Lake Jackson, TX 77566
(979) 480-0999
www.gcbo.org
 

Satellite Images of Rita Impact, locating the Willows (along TX87) and Sea Rim State Park:

28 Sept: Regarding the Sea Rim State Park area and the Willows.

I checked out the website Joe Kennedy posted,
http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/rita/RITA0000.HTM and was able to locate the above.

On the "Base Map Index Page," follow the northward path of Rita to the 1st set of 5 east/west blocks.
Click on the 2nd one from the left.  It should say "Keith Lake, TX".  You
will see two rows of blocks.  Go to the bottom row.  Click on the 9th and
10th blocks from the right.  The Willows and the park can be seen rather
well in the images when you click the magnification indicator in the lower
right of the image.  The entire boardwalk at the Willows is visible.
Disturbing to say the least.

Carol Bookout
North Houston

High Island

27 Sept:  The Houston Audubon High Island sanctuaries are closed as conditions there are not safe.  I will post when they open again. W. Burkett (HAS Sanctuary Manager)

There are photos of the hurricane damage to Houston Audubon's Boy Scout Woods on the Houston Audubon web page www.houstonaudubon.org

26 Sept:  We went to High Island this morning to check on the Houston Audubon
Sanctuaries. Smith Oaks has LOTS and lots of limbs down but none of the big oaks went
down. All the dead tallows in the Rookery went down as did all of the willows.
This unfortunately means the loss of many nesting sites. We are looking for
funds to build nesting platforms similar ones that have been successful at Avery
Island in Louisiana. It definitely needs to be a higher priority now.  (ED NOTE:  Winnie estimates that about $2,000 is needed)

Boy Scout Woods is a real mess several large water oaks came down and many
smaller trees. There are branches and leaves covering all the boardwalks. 
Several old mulberries toppled over. It looks very different.

We will start cleaning up this weekend, if the cold front really comes, as it
is way too hot right now. I could use a couple people with chain saws and
folks to rake and haul. If you want to help please let me know. We will probably
be working the next couple of weekends Oct 15 is a regular High Island Workday
and there is a chance I will also work on Thursdays.

Other things of note.
The Sheriff's Dept. is only allowing property owners on the Bolivar Peninsula
at this time.
It will be a while before they have electricity down there as there are 30+
broken poles.

We could not get to Bolivar Flats as Rettilon Rd had salt water across it. It
was deep enough that fish were swimming across the road.

Bird wise the only unusual thing I noticed was a lack of Laughing Gulls. Only
10 following the ferry when there should have been 100+. None were sitting on
the Corp of Engineers dock. Just not many anywhere. I wonder if they were
blown inland.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Winnie Burkett
Friendswood
WBBurkett@AOL.COM

Sabine Pass Area  

05 October 2005

I got some aerial photos of Sabine Woods recently that show post Hurricane
Rita damage. I've posted them at

http://www.texasbirds.org/sabine_woods.html

David Sarkozi
President
Texas Ornithological Society
Houston, TX

28 Sept:  Texbirders,
    For what it is worth, one of our neighbors goes in and out of the area, he repairs Post Offices and was in Sabine Pass yesterday.
    The Post office is not really good, the bar just south (don't turn at the stop sign) of the stop sign is off its pilings and there is a 40' crew
boat just past the bar.  There was a LOT of water in the area and he could not get much past the intersection because of high water.
    There will be needs for a lot of work at the different refuges and Sea Rim State Park in the future.   There is no water yet in the area.
     DO NOT GO THERE YET.
Ed Hunter, Houston

Quintana NBS

27 Sept.  Quintana Neotropic Bird Sanctuary was spared any major damage by Rita.  A couple of the dead Tooth-Ache trees that had died from the flooding of our last tropical storm have fallen over on the trail and have been cleared back enough to pass by.  Mosquitoes were minimal.

The two water falls were re-activated and quickly drawing birds in:

Nashville Warbler (5+)
Wilson Warbler (10+)
Blue Grosbeak (5+)
Eastern Kingbird (3)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (5)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Empids: Acadian, Least


Sea Center Texas No Damage

27 Sept:  Least Grebe (2) still present, but you may have to look longer as the heat has driven them into the reeds. thcollins@ORBITWORLD.NET

Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, Lake Jackson, TX:  No Damage

Port O'Conner

Rita spared Port O'Connor, bringing only 30-40 mph winds and a 3+ foot storm tide.  Nary a drop of rain was to be had from the storm here and since then temps have been way above normal for this time of year.  The dry southwest winds have had a tendency to keep most of the migrants in place or at least in numbers in town.  I have seen no real difference in numbers of small migrants on my morning walks from day to day since the 25th, but the players change.  I would categorize the birding in POC over the past few days to be good to very good.  I do a walk of about 1.5-2.0 hrs. each morning very early to avoid the heat.  The walk is about exercise as much as birding and for that reason I do not spend a lot of time in any location.  Nonetheless, I do see quite a few birds.
   I am not going to make long lists of the regular migrant fare to be had here but rest assured there is no shortage of the ubiquitous little "yellow jobs" (eg. Wilson's, Nashvilles, Chats, Yellows etc.) along with the normal assortment of empids et al. though of the empids I see very few Acadians and only slightly more Yellow-bellieds.  Least, Alder and Willows are the most common and in that order.  A few Olive-sideds are still passing through, Catbird and Brown Thrasher activity has sure picked up and Indigo Buntings are slowly increasing in numbers.  Plenty of Blue Grosbeaks etc.

  I arrived back here from Bastrop Co. on Saturday morning with Rita still fussing to the east.  No odd birds were noted, but the wonder event this time around had to do with dragonflies, vast swarms of them along the front beach in town, near all being exhausted Green Darners.  They piled up in every available shelter out of the wind and I took numerous photos of them hunkering in numbers under balconies, eaves etc.  They appeared almost as tired as migrating birds and it was sometimes hard to stir the grounded ones into flight.  A few were eating their smaller fellows.  There were so many in the air that the sound of their dry rustling wings could easily be heard above the wind.  By 2:00 pm the lot of them had regained their energy and had dispersed to parts unknown.  Pretty cool.  Also a sudden appearance of biting flies came with Rita, small and looking a lot like houseflies. They too soon vanished.

  Gulf Menhaden are in motion again, according to my notes from last fall, right on time.  These huge clouds of fish are in the near shore waters appearing as darker clouds below the surface.  They number in the billions I'll wager.  More than 1/2 million TONS of these animals are harvested every year in offshore water of the Gulf where they are endemic.  This makes them the most important marine species for the commercial fishing industry in terms of weight in North America.  As they pass the shorelines in 4-8 foot water they draw a wide variety of predators from larger fish to birds, dolphins etc.  Crevalle (Jack Fish) and Black-tipped Sharks tear through the clouds of menhaden like rip saws bringing the surface waters to a "boil".
  Brown Pelicans load up on these fish easily.  Bloated and heavy, they then retreat to a jetty or shore to spend the 40-50 minutes it takes for them to digest and then "tail pipe" the remains. Then they are off for another bout of feeding along with the larger terns and the Laughing Gull which does not catch its own menhaden but relies on sub-surface and flying predators to perhaps leave behind injured fish or portions thereof.  All in all it is a neat thing to watch at this time of year.

       Anyway, to the Port O'Connor Highlights of the last few days.................(I still have yet to get a number of these into the Clearinghouse)

Sept. 24 .... Storm still raging to the east
Lots of Nashvilles and Orioles
97 Tricolored Herons passed by in migration at dusk that I saw

Sept. 25 .... Town remains mostly empty of people.  100+ deg.
Many hundreds of Ruby-throats
Groove-billed Ani  1
Great Crested Flycatchers 12
Orange-crowned Warbler 2 (FOS)
Frigatebirds ...10+
127 Tricoloreds at dusk

Sept. 26 ....100+ deg.
Kentucky Warbler 1
Mourning Warbler 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher 2
Savannah Sparrow 2 (FOS)
Peregrine Falcon 1
112 Tricoloreds at dusk.

Sept 27
Virginia Rail (FOS)
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Cooper's Hawk ( huge female) fast in pursuit of a Collared Dove.  (did not see the out come)
Chimney Swifts 8
Upland Sandpipers 9
121 Tricoloreds at dusk.

Sept. 28
Broad-winged Hawk 1 (seldom ever seen by me in POC)
Eastern Phoebe 1 (FOS in POC)
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 (rare in POC)
Mourning Warbler 1
Great Crested Flycatchers 9-10
Olive-sided 2
Ruby-throats everywhere in town in the hundreds,  would have thought they would have peaked out by now.  As I write this I estimate between 100-120 hummers using the feeders on the balcony.

   As of yesterday evening my 'Tricolored Heron-watch" has produced 703 individuals  and now Little Blues and Green Herons are really starting to move out as well.  There is a small promise of a front passing through here tomorrow so it will be interesting to see what transpires later this evening and tomorrow.

   I would like to acknowledge all those who sent me mail over the last week.  I have been moving around, without a computer for a few days, busy etc..  Please know that I (we) did get all notes eventually and are grateful for those.  I am afraid I did not get a reply off to everyone.  My apologies.

Brush Freeman
Port O'Connor.
 

National Audubon Society's Rainey Sanctuary near Abbeville LA

 9-27-2005 (excerpts from a note from Norm Brunswig, Audubon SC)

Timmy Vincent, manager of the  Paul J. Rainey Sanctuary located just south of Abbeville, LA, called this morning to report that the Audubon staff and families are all fine.   

Timmy’s assistant, Burton Lege, had 2-3 feet of water in his home and is in the process of cleaning it up.   Abbeville and all of the little towns around it have taken a terrible blow, as have all of the little communities even nearer the coast.

 Rainey’s buildings took a huge blow.  The oldest camp, where Burton lived when on duty in the marsh, was totally destroyed.  The main camp, where Timmy lives and which served as the sanctuary head quarters, survived, barely.  All of its porches and decks were torn off and washed away.  The shuttered windows were forced out by the storm surge and all of the contents were washed away.

 Timmy and Burton must first help themselves and their families, which they are hard at work doing now.  When they have stabilized their personal situations, they can make a more complete assessment of Rainey’s buildings and equipment, all of which can be replaced, and with the massive federal response, will. 

 On the brighter side, because the marshes were all completely and deeply flooded before the crashing storm surge arrived, it appears that the great Rainey Marsh itself may have sustained relatively little damage.  The full sea-strength Gulf salt water will set the fresh and brackish marshes back, but with rain and freshwater from the flooded bayous pulsing in and out with the tides, they will begin to recover soon.

For answers to questions about this list, as well as current Texas Birding Links, visit the Texbirds Reference Page at http://www.texbirds.org