If you like being out of doors, then you might enjoy a walk in the park with the leaders provided by the Friends of Galveston Island State Park. Finding some of the many birds that inhabit the park is the primary purpose of these walks, but no special knowledge of birds or equipment is required for enjoying these walks that will give you a taste of the seashore, the brushy fields, and the marshes of the Park.
The chief emphasis of the walks is on finding birds and looking at them, not
just listing them. The number of good looks everyone has of birds determines
the
success of the walk. Usually we have spectacular views of a number of birds.
Beginning on the beach on the Gulf side of the Park, we try to have a look at
the birds on the shore before they are disturbed by people. Usually we can turn
up gulls and terns, sometimes even a comparative rarity such as a Franklin's
gull, and a number of shorebirds such as sanderlings, willets, and plovers -
sometimes even godwits.
After our beach walk we move inland and see what birds can be found on the Bay side of the park. Here we often find white-tailed kites, caracaras, ducks, egrets, ibis, and ospreys. Usually we get excellent scope views of a number of these. One morning we had close-up views for a much-sought-after bird, Smith's longspur.
So put on your walking shoes and join us for a walk in the park at Galveston Island State Park. We have walks each Sunday morning from March 29, 2009 through May 24, 2009. The walks start at the Welcome Center of GISP, North side of FM 3005, just west of 13 Mile Road at 8:00 AM. Walks will last 11/2 to 2 hours. Bring your binoculars and wear closed toed shoes. We hope to have see a large number of Spring Migrants each
Sunday.
Richard Mayfield
To download a list of birds sighted in the park in PDF format, click here.
The vultures perched in the trees caught the attention of Mort Voller as he headed to Galveston Island State park to begin the Sunday morning bird walk of Oct. 24. When the early arrivals for the walk gathered on the beach with Dick Peake, they found the beach free of people and teeming with birds. The skies were clear and a light breeze kept the temperature comfortable and the mosquitoes inactive. It was an auspicious beginning for a truly memorable birdwalk at GISP.
As more birders joined the group on the beach, deciding what bird to put the spotting scopes on proved difficult. The Long-billed Curlews amid a large flock of Marbled Godwits view with Royal and FosterÂ’s Terns for attention when a Neotropic Cormorant landed among the numerous Laughing Gulls and a Ring-billed Gull or two. As the birders anxiously tried to focus binoculars on the Ruddy Turnstones and Piping Plovers running about in front of them, two Least Sandpipers and a Western Sandpiper appeared just as a knot of the now rare Red Knots appeared further down the beach. A lone Caspian Tern flew by to distract the birders from sorting out Sanderlings, Willets, and Black-billed Plovers. Just before the group left the beach, a solitary Snowy Plover ran toward them and stopped for a look.
Away from the beach, the walkers found a Great Egret at the edge of a pool
and on a picnic kiosk a small flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds and a
Red-winged
Blackbird perched for several minutes. Looking up, then, they saw Turkey Vultures
circling in the air (some observers even picked out some Black Vultures among
them. Large brown birds perched on telephone lines turned out to be young White
Ibises, who flew by as the group watched an Eastern Meadowlark and some starlings
perched on the wires a little farther toward the cars as they prepared to drive
to the bay side of the park.
It seemed to them then that the remainder of the morning could not equal what they had already experienced. They were wrong.
The first stop on the bay side produced a Northern Mockingbird and a very cooperative Cooper's Hawk, not to mention a pair of Crested Caracaras that allowed everyone leisurely scope views. A little farther down the road, a rare dark phase Broad-winged Hawk flew from a perched and flew low past rapt gazers. The next stop produced a Snowy Egret, a Great Blue Heron, and an immature Neotropic Cormorant. As the happy birders prepared to climb into their cars to proceed to the Clapper Rail Trail, they notice that the vultures were kettling above them and had been joined by a number of smaller raptors—numerous Broad-winged Hawks and a smaller number of larger Swainson’s Hawks were riding the thermals with the vultures.
Migrating hawks do not like to cross extensive bodies of water, so large kettles of migrant raptors are rarely seen on Galveston Island. This was a rare treat. The watchers ogled the circling hawks and vultures until they exhausted the lift of the thermals and glided off to the south. Later, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Merlin, a Red-tailed Hawk, and a Northern Harrier rounded out the morningÂ’s excellent raptor count.
Still, the morning was not over. Three species of migrating swallows, pairs of Pied-billed Grebes and White Pelicans, four Killdeer, and a splendid scope view of a Loggerhead Shrike were among the birds yet to come. After little over two hours when we ended the walk, 52 species made themselves available for listing. All in all, it was truly a great day for a walk in the GISP.
Copyright © 2006 Friends of Galveston Island State Park. All rights reserved. Last updated July 6, 2006.