I spent almost 3 weeks in High Island, Texas birding. This area is known as “the place for spring migration” and it certainly did not disappoint this year.
Each spring millions of birds that wintered in Central and South America are driven north by the urge to establish breeding territories and select mates. They first push north to the Yucatan Peninsula and the adjacent Mexican coast. Beginning in early March, migrants reach the tip of the peninsula and if the weather conditions are favorable, just after sunset, migrants leave Mexico and head north across the Gulf of Mexico. The trip across the Gulf is 600 miles and with good weather takes about 18 hours. Arriving on the Texas coast midday, some of these birds stop at High Island.
I had my binoculars, rather than a camera, in hand the majority of my time. Nevertheless, there is a wonderful rookery at High Island and I could not resist taking some pix of a Tricolored Heron courtship.
