Golden Triangle Audubon Bird Alert - July 26, 2009

At this time of year, thoughts begin to turn to the upcoming fall migration.  Shorebirds will soon be passing though, although the trick, as always, is finding the habitat that they elect to use in transit.  We understand that it is now normally possible to bird Cattail Marsh again. One first needs to seek permission and sign a liability waiver at the guard trailer in the parking lot at the entrance.  The trailer is apparently manned continuously.

Another not-to-be-missed opportunity in the last week in July and the first two weeks of August is observation of Swallow-tailed Kites in the Trinity River bottoms.  A trip on July 26 in the middle of the morning immediately found five kites working close to Highway 90 between Liberty and Dayton.  As usual, most were in the area just west of the river crossing itself, although one was in another favored area along the north side of the highway just east of the climb up into Dayton.  Normally the kites forage just above the tree tops, and now that the trees along that stretch of Highway 90 have grown considerably, the birds may be missed on a single pass along the highway.  The four lane 65-mph highway can be busy, but does have wide shoulders and some access roads off it, so it is possible with care to pull well off the road and stop.  Although the highway is typically busy, the traffic lights in both Liberty and Dayton ensure that there long gaps in the traffic from time to time in either direction.  Be cautious as the speed limit on Highway 90 changes frequently between Beaumont and Dayton, and there are frequent decreases and increases in the number of lanes.  Some in Liberty involve unusual transitions. While in Liberty, you should also be able to find some Mississippi Kites. You may be able to see them from the Liberty Municipal Park soaring over the neighborhood to the south and south east.  They will also almost always be found by driving the neighborhood very roughly in the triangle(more or less) bounded by Main Street on the west, Grand Street on the south, and Lakeland Street on the east.  They do venture outside this area, especially west of main street.  Both species of kite typically feed on dragonflies, often eating on the wing. Both species are early migrants, and numbers decrease rapidly after mid-August as the birds proceed south. (Of course, birds of these two species likely pass through the Golden Triangle as they make their way to the "assembly" areas prior to migration.  On July 26th, we saw one Swallow-tailed Kite over Highway 90 just inside Jefferson County near Nome.  Other raptors included a young Crested Caracara just inside Liberty County, and a Swainson's Hawk on a wire near China.)

Although west Jefferson County has seemingly had fair amounts of rain in recent days, there are only a few areas of standing water, and no significant shorebird concentrations.  We noticed a good number of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in the area, but very few Eastern Kingbirds, the reverse of normal.  Otherwise, the avifauna is dominated by Cattle Egrets.

John A. Whittle