The Corona Virus Pandemic of 2020 affected many lives, mine included.  After returning from our little trip to Rockport in early March to celebrate our 46th anniversary, Dorothy and I pretty much self-quarantined for the rest of March and all of April.  Other than once-a-week trips to the grocery store, we stayed home alone.  Early on, I began to fill my time by working on this website, and I have made much progress in cleaning up the structure and content.  But I soon began to seek other ways to occupy my mind and my time, and I settled on trying to experience more of the world of bird watching.  Seeing the Whooping Cranes and the Bald Eagles at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on our trip to Rockport left me wanting more!  So, I began taking daily walks in the neighborhood, looking for birds.  When I spotted a pair of Crested Caracaras (Mexican Eagles) on the back fence-line of the old pottery company pasture, I knew I needed more camera firepower to reach and document the birds I was seeing.  I was seriously contemplating purchasing a 600 mm zoom for my Nikon D7200, when I ran across the Nikon P1000.  The P1000 is a point and shoot, but has an amazing zoom — the equivalent of 3000 mm!  So, I bought one, and it has greatly enhanced my ability and enjoyment in photographing birds.  I won’t win any awards, but I have taken some amazing pictures of beautiful birds.  In short order, I became bored with neighborhood walks, so I went into New Braunfels and shot pictures of some beautiful birds at Betty’s house, and at Landa Park.

I had seen a mention of “Warbler Woods” on Facebook, and, upon looking into it, found it is a very well-regarded, private bird sanctuary less than 20 miles from my house.  I made my first visit to Warbler Woods on April 16, 2020 and enjoyed it immensely.  Through Susan and Don Schaezler (the owners), I was introduced to eBird, an amazing online resource managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  (See:  https://ebird.org/about ).  eBird is amazing!  It allows you to search a map for “hotspots” and look at a list of the birds that people are seeing there.  A couple of visits to Warbler Woods resulted in my being able to observe a number of the colorful and beautiful migratory birds that stop there each March and April.  But, to be honest, I was having a very hard time seeing, much less identifying, the smaller species, especially the warblers.  I was browsing another Cornell Lab website called “All About Birds” and came across an article entitled “Six Warbler Hotspots to Try Out This Spring”  (see:  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/6-warbler-hotspots-to-try-out-this-spring-plus-how-to-find-your-own/ ).  I was primarily interested in finding out if Warbler Woods was listed (it wasn’t), but soon realized that a site called Sabine Woods was not far from my old home town and was regarded as one of the best in North America.  So, I decided it was time to break quarantine and head out on a little road trip to Sabine Woods.

I got up Sunday morning, April 26, 2020, and, after packing a small bag and my camera equipment, headed southeast toward Sabine Woods.  I took IH-10 through Houston to Winnie, where I hit Highway 73 to Port Arthur.  From Port Arthur, Highway 87 heads south toward Sabine Pass.  My first stop of the trip was an eBird hotspot on Backridge Road, just past Elkins Lake.  Here are a few of the birds I observed at this first stop.

From Backridge Road, I headed on down to the small hamlet of Sabine Pass.  I wanted to visit the Sabine Pass Battleground, but, unfortunately, it was closed.  If you have never heard of the Battle of Sabine Pass, it is an amazing tale.  On September 8, 1863, Lt. Dick Dowling and his small force of 44 men stopped a Union flotilla of four gunboats and seven troop transports (with over 4,000 Union troops) from taking their small mud fort.  They ended up disabling two ships and capturing a gunboat while taking 200 prisoners — all without suffering any casualties.   Their heroics (44 men stopping an entire Union expedition), inspired the Confederacy and became known as one of the most lopsided battles of the war.   For more details of this historic battle, see:  https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qes02 .  I hope to revisit this place someday so that I can see the exhibits at this State Historic Site (and do a little birding as well!).

From Sabine Pass, I headed east on Highway 87 for a little over two miles, where I stopped at Texas Point.  There is parking, an informational kiosk, and a couple of short trails.  I walked both trails, but, since there were no blinds or water features, getting a good look at the birds was difficult.  I headed further east (about another two miles) to the parking area for Sabine Woods.  There were a large number of cars there, so I continued on to Sea Rim State Park to kill a little time and let Sabine Woods thin out a little.  The main Sea Rim park unit was gated and closed, but the  Marsh Unit was open, so I spent a little time observing birds there.  I then backtracked to Sabine Woods and spent a couple of hours walking the trails there and spending a little time at the back water feature.  I left Sabine Woods about six in the evening and drove to the La Quinta Inn in Bridge City, where I spent the night.  Here are a few pictures from that afternoon.

I got up Monday morning, excited to spend the day birding.  I started out near the hotel, driving out Lake Street to Bailey’s Fish Camp.  I saw a number of interesting birds, and some are pictured below.

After spending about an hour birding Lake Street out to Bailey’s Fish Camp, I headed back out to Sabine Woods, arriving about 9:00 a.m.  I started out by hiking the trail to the right, since the day before I had concentrated on the trails to the left (west, then north), which eventually led me to the large lagoon in the back of the property and a nearby water feature.  As I walked the trail to the right (east), I discovered a water feature near a very large mulberry tree, which was very near the front fenceline.  I also discovered a water feature and blind named “Rose Ann’s Water Feature”, located more in the center of dense woods.  While walking, I came across several huge feral hogs, just outside the eastern fence of the sanctuary.  I spent the day wandering the sanctuary, and I believe that I walked every trail.  I also spent considerable time at each of the three water features.  There were very few people at the sanctuary this day, but I did run into a very nice fellow (oddly enough, named Tom!) who had flown in from North Carolina to see a special teel at Port Aransas (he missed it by a day!).  Here are photos of some of the birds I observed on this day.

Originally I had planned to spend a half day at Sabine Woods, then drive over to the Louisiana side and visit Hackberry Ridge and Peveto Woods (a sanctuary maintained by the Baton Rouge Audobon Society).  As noon quickly turned into 2:00 p.m., then 3:00 p.m. at Sabine Woods, I decided to just spend the whole day at that location.  Late in the day, while sitting quietly at Rose Ann’s Water Feature, I caught a glimpse of something moving through the nearby underbrush.  I focused on the area where I had seen movement and, lo and behold, a Bobcat was staring at me through the brush.  I slowing raised my camera and got a shot before the animal slowly moved on.  I tried to follow it to get a better shot, but didn’t have much success.  If you grandkids want to learn more about Bobcats, see: https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/nonpwdpubs/introducing_mammals/bobcats/ .  At the end of the day, I drove back to Bridge City, picked up some gumbo at Judice’s, and retired to my room, a tired and happy bird watcher!

The weather was supposed to turn nasty on Wednesday, so I got up and headed out early that morning.  I decided to stop and spend a little time at High Island, weather permitting.  The day before, Tom from North Carolina said he stopped by High Island and, although the large Houston Audubon sites were closed (Boy Scout Woods, Smith Oaks, and Eubanks Woods), he enjoyed visiting Hooks Sanctuary (TOS property) which was open.  So I drove to High Island, spent a little time at Hooks, drove out to the beach, and drove around town a little.  I saw a number of birds, but look forward to going back someday when the Houston Audubon sites are open.  After spending a few hours there (and buying some face masks at a convenience store!), I headed home, encountering heavy thunderstorms much of the way.  Here are a few photos of my time in High Island.

I enjoyed this little birding trip.  It was also therapeutic for Dorothy and I to have a couple of days apart, since we have literally spent every waking hour together since the onset of the Corona Virus quarantine.  I am starting to get more comfortable in my new role as bird watcher.  It is sometimes overwhelming, especially identifying some of the smaller, more mundane species.  But I am making progress, content with my mediocrity, as long as it is my very best mediocrity!  Last week, I went by Birds Unlimited in New Braunfels and purchased a pole and two bird feeders.  I hadn’t put it up yet, still undecided where it should be placed.  But today, as I worked on this blog post, I got inspired and set up my brand-spanking-new bird feeders.  So, I leave you with two photos:  one is the last picture I took in High Island; the other is my new feeder here at the lake.  I hope to attract some birds…  We shall see!