In summer, we launch kayaks before dawn. It is light enough to see and the nesting birds are actively foraging to feed their young. By midmorning, the heat dampens the enthusiasm of birds and kayakers.
It is always a thrill to be in a kayak when a black skimmer flies by inches above the water's surface.
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Several species of sparrows hide in the tall marsh grass. Herons and egrets are present along with brown pelicans, white ibis, and roseate spoonbills. Many species nest in large colonies on isolated islands.
One of the most characteristic birds of the Texas coast is the reddish egret. It is a year-round resident though not as common as the great egret or great blue heron. It is dark gray with a rusty neck and head. Ten to fifteen percent of the reddish egrets are white-phase birds — that is, snow white. To distinguish such a reddish egret from the similar snowy egret, birders compare the legs and feet, which are entirely black in the white-phase reddish egret, unlike the snowy egret, with its black legs and very yellow feet. They also check the bills; a white-phase reddish egret adult has a two-toned bill that is pink with a dark tip, while the snowy egret's bill is all black. Behavior also distinguishes reddish egrets. When feeding they dash around, scaring up food in the water. They also shade the water with their wings to see better, a technique called "canopy feeding." During breeding season, reddish egrets get downright shaggy, as long plumes grow along their necks.
It is always a thrill to be in a kayak when a black skimmer flies by inches above the water's surface. Even better is a flock of skimmers flying by in unison. As the birds swoop, turn, and dip their bills in the water, every movement is synchronized. The skimmer's lower bill is longer than the top and snaps shut reflexively when something touches the bill. It skims small fish from the water's surface this way.
For a beginning birder, sandpipers and plovers appear to be indistinguishable. With study, observation, and pointers from experienced birders, novices begin to notice the bulbous bills of plovers and the pointed, more delicate bills of sandpipers. They begin to notice behaviors that distinguish sandpipers from plovers. Feeding dowitchers, for instance, move their heads up and down like pump jacks. The usually solitary spotted sandpiper flips its tail as it walks along. Soon, the birder is rewarded by the ability to identify now-familiar species from afar, even without field glasses.
On my first birding trip, I remarked to a veteran birder that there were so many different birds to learn. She replied that when the birds molted as the seasons changed, their plumage altered so I could learn them all over again! Dowitcher, dunlin, black-bellied plover, spotted sandpiper, black-necked stilt — each shorebird is a specific size. Leg length, bill length, and head and body size help birders distinguish one species from the next. Each exploits a particular level of mud beneath the surface. Every inch of waterlogged mud serves up its own menu of invertebrate life: worms, snails, clams, larvae, eggs, shrimp and crabs. Birds of different species often feed together because they are not competing for the same food.
American avocets, strikingly graceful with their upturned bills, are sometimes seen along the shallows of Goose Island. One birder observed an avocet picking mosquitoes off the beach one at a time. Black-necked stilts have the longest legs in proportion to their bodies of any bird but the flamingo. Avocets and stilts swim well using their partially webbed feet.
