14. July 2010 by Capt. Tommy.

I have had my really cool job for 7 years now and I still get to see things I have never seen. The other night on our sunset cruise we had run over to the rookery at Dead Man Island to check on the baby Brown Pelicans. We then headed over to San Jose Island along Long Reef and I spotted what I thought was a Magnificent Frigate Bird on the Long Reef marker. When we got closer I realized it was an Osprey! We don’t get many Ospreys that stay here for the summer so that was pretty cool in itself but just then a Frigate Bird came barreling in.

When the Osprey took off the Frigate Bird stayed on him as if the Osprey had a fish. Now the Frigate has a 7 ft wingspan and when they pursue another bird to steal their catch it is pretty impressive. I looks like their wings are in two sections. When a smaller more maneuverable bird makes evasive moves the Frigate Bird will bring the inside section of his wings in close to his body leaving the very thin outside section out giving him the advantage.

The Frigate stayed on the Osprey for about 100 yards and then two more Frigates came in and helped the first one chase off the Osprey. Just another day on Aransas Bay. . .

Come see us!

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25. June 2010 by Capt. Tommy.

Sorry I’ve been extremely scarce lately.

The good news is we are seeing Magnificent Frigate Birds on all of our Dolphin trips.  Thes birds are very impressive with their 7 ft wingspans. They feed by attacking other birds and taking their food.  They lurk above the shrimp boats and when a gull gets a ribbon fish it’s on!

Photo by Tommy Moore. All rights reserved.There are baby terns and baby pelicans on Deadman Island and big numbers of spoonbills at Paul’s Motte.

Our Dolphin trips are at 9AM and our Sunset trips are at 7:30PM I will do private birding trips on my skiff too!

Come see us!

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24. November 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

Our season officially opened on the 14th of November and we had great looks at the cranes. We had high tides all week which while covering up some of our hot spots enabled us to get into the shallow waters of Sundown Bay and get really good looks at the few cranes in the area. The migration was just a bit off from previous years with only 91 birds counted from the airplane on Thursday the 19th.

This weekend was outstanding after the front on Friday with a lot more Whoopers and other new arrivals. We picked up American Bitterns on both Saturday and Sunday, The Common Loons have arrived en mass, we saw three flying on Saturday which is always a treat. They are so big and so fast! White-tailed Hawks have also been pretty reliable for a change.

Other species seen:

Snow Goose
American Wigeon
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
White-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
Peregrine Falcon
Sandhill Crane
Whooping Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Snowy Plover
American Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Horned Lark
Sedge Wren
Seaside Sparrow

Special thanks to Richard Gibbons!

Happy Birding!

Capt Tommy

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10. November 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

We made a trip to the refuge this morning and picked up 19 Whoopers. Unfortunately none were close but it is always a thrill to get the first birds of the season. We saw one juvenile and its plumage was beautiful!

I really love this time of year because the always seems to be a lot of action. As the cranes arrive they all have to work out their territories and that is always exciting. Today the male of a territorial pair on Dunham Bay chased a cohort of 3 sub-adults around for about 20 minutes until they finally had enough and went elsewhere.

The season officially starts this Saturday the 14th of November so come on and join us.

The highlights of the day were: Whoopers, Snowy Plovers, White-tailed Hawks, and a lesser Black backed gull.

Happy Birding!

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30. October 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

Happy Fall Y’all!

Sorry I’ve been MIA for the summer. I have been working on some outside projects but it’s now time to get back to birding!

We made a trip up to the Refuge Wednesday aboard the Skimmer. Spencer and Janet Youngblood  hosted a group for the 1st trip of the year. We only saw two cranes on the wing about a mile out but we should get some more birds in the next few days with these fronts. I was surprised that we didn’t see any ducks as there had been some redheads coming and going along the eastern shore of The Peninsula for a few days preceding the trip.  My favorite shorebird flat at Dunham Bay  produced Semi-palmated and Piping Plovers as well as  Dunlin, Sanderling, and American Avocets. Also present on the flat were Caspian, Royal , and Forster’s Terns, Laughing, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. Further north we also picked up Long Billed Curlews, White Ibis, TV’s, as wel as all of the usual herons and egrets, Northen Harriers and a far off White-tailed Hawk. The tide was very high and the south wind was howling so we made our way back toward Fulton along the protected San Jose shoreline where we picked up three large groups of Roseate Spoonbills.

We officially start our season Saturday November 14th so come on down and do some birding with “Skimmer style”.

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16. April 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

Greetings!

We went out to the Second Chain Rookery last Saturday and were treated to spoonbill galore! Some were nesting with the GHBs. There is lots of nesting material being move both onto and around the island. It is hilarious watching these birds steal material from each others nest.

Skimmers, Caspian, Forsters, Royal, Gull Billed, Sandwich, and Least Terns are all courting with fishes in their bills. The Reddish Egrets are in full breeding plumage with their beautiful purple lorses and Pink and purple bills.  Also on the rookery were Crested Cara Cara, Great and Boat-tailed Grackles, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, American Oystercatchers, Ruddy Turnstones, Laughing and Herring Gulls, White Ibis, Willets, Blackbellied Plover,  oh and yes the white GBH in full sight! What a treat!!!!!!

Y’all call Leslie at 877 TX BIRDS and lets go birding. Remember that we can take groups of 4 on our 22 ft skiff for $350 for a half day.

Happy Birding

Capt. Tommy

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15. April 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

Well I’ve been derelict in my blogging duty but here I am!

I took a group of Kids out to Matagorda Island and stopped at Cape Carlos Dugout  where there are Reddish Egrets and GBHs nesting. The Oystercatcher family nesting at the south end of the island hatched their chicks last week. When we pulled up the adults were there but no chicks. I scanned the edge of the vegetation but could not find any chicks. I began to watch the adult female open an oyster on the reef about 20 feet from their nest. When she got the meat out she walks toward the nest and 2 chicks came a’running!

She fed each chick a half of the oyster and then flew up and chased a Laughing Gull away who was interested in the Chicks meal. I then started watching the male open 6-8 oysters in about 5 minutes. Then he walks over to the chicks and yaks up one oyter at a time. He caught each oyster in the tip of his bill to feed the chicks. He reminded me of a Pez machine. The Chicks are really cool, they look like little dinosaurs. They have really thick legs. They are about 6-7 inches tall at 1 week old.

We are still seeing whoopers way out in the marsh and the rookeries are on fire!  I will blog the rookery report shortly.

Happy Birding!

Capt. Tommy

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29. January 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

We have had some very exciting birding over the last few weeks. While sighting only a couple of “rare” birds(white GBH and a lesser black-backed gull) we have seen our usual suspects doing cool things. Early this week we were drifting down on a whooper that was feeding close to shore when a Merlin flew in right at us and landed 10 feet away from the boat in a black mangrove bush. It stayed only 30 seconds or so when it realized what was going on and flew abot 30 yards down to the next mangrove. Everyone on the boat was able to get a great look at this small raptor.

Our tides were very low last weekend and we were unable to make our usual route through the back bays and I had just turned the Skimmer south for the return to Fulton Harbor when I looked up and spied a mature White-tailed Hawk kiting  about 100 feet high 30 yards away. I stopped the boat and watched the bird through the incredible new Nikon Monarch X  8.5X45 binos when he folded his wings and dove to about 30 feet and stopped again. It was a beautiful display of flight and I heard the crowed gasp. About 30 secnds later he made his final attack on his prey behind the cane about the same time his mate arrived and kited above him. I am sure some clients got great photos of these birds and will hopefully share them with us.

We did finally get a look at an Aplomado Falcon on the mainland last week. These birds were re-introduced on Matagorda Island some years back where we see them fairly regularly but I have never seen one along our Intra-coastal water way route until now.

The whoopers are still having a tough time finding blue crabs but we are getting great looks as they have been feeding on razor clams along the edge of the Intra-coastal Water Way. We have also been seeing the Lobstick “Scarbaby” in his territory along the edge of Sundown Bay. This bird was bitten by a snake as a juvinile and we indentify him by the long scar on the back of his neck.

The birding is great and the seafood is delicious and the weather is even better so come on down and see us!

Good birding!

Capt. Tommy

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9. January 2009 by Capt. Tommy.

It happened again on Tuesday! I saw something I have never seen. Whooper are very territorial and typically a pair with a juvenile will not tolerate other adult birds  around the family. When we saw three birds in the distance when we entered the refuge I began my bit about sub adults and how when you see more than two adults hanging out they were sure to be sub adults. As we got closer I noticed the juvenile with the group and much to my surprise they were a family and a sub adult bird prowling the shoreline. We watch awhile and the male bird with a red and silver band found a dead fish on the beach.

He picked at the fish for a bit when the sub adult came over to see if he could get in on the action. The banded bird would drop the fish and rush him and the sub adult  would back off. This went on a few times and the banded bird lost interest in the fish and moved away so the sub adult ran over and picked up the fish. Well that got the banded bird all worked up and he started chasing the fish grabber. When the banded bird would ease up the sub adult would start to eat the fish and the banded bird would rush him again. They moved about a hundred yards down the beach while the whooper mom and chick looked on. Finally the sub adult gave up and so did the banded bird and they both moved back toward the family and all four birds worked their way down the beach. VERY STRANGE!

We are still getting great looks at the white Great Blue Heron in Carlos Bay and picking up 40 to 50 species on each trip. Our weather finally broke and we have had a couple of glorious days.

Good birding!

Capt Tommy

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30. December 2008 by Capt. Tommy.

Greetings to all and happy new year!

My internet has been down for a week and we have been birding our butts off. Yesterday we had the Christmas Bird Count crew on board and we scraped up 91 species unofficially.

Speaking of scraping, these poor whoopers  are really working hard for their food. The drought has our crab crop way down. We are however seeing some crabs being eaten and getting good looks at cranes on each trip. The whoopers are moving alot and going into each others territories.

The red-breasted mergansers and gadwalls have finally arrived en-mass which is good to see, I had seen only one or two mergansers all year and no gadwalls before yesterday. I guess the cold front that arrived sunday evening finnaly brought them in.

We are consistantly picking up semi-palmated and piping plovers which is always fun and the white great blue heron has been very consistant in Carlos Bay. He has been pretty far out there some days but you can get a pretty good look with the Nikon spotting scopes.

Which reminds me! Nikon just sent me their new Monacrch X Binos. All I can say is WOW!  This product is incredible! They are 8.5 X 45 and they are super bright and very clear and they will sell between $600 and $700 when they come out in February. They are sure to be a winner for Nikon and Rockport Adventures.

Y’all come go birding with us. We have great birds, great food, and great deals at the local hotels. Come on down, warm up, and have some FUN!

Good birding!

Capt Tommy

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