by Jim Stevenson
The Spoonbill Rookery at High Island is probably the top ornithological attraction in Texas. There are nesting Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Neotropical Cormorants and Cattle Egrets. It is owned and managed by Houston Audubon Society, who provides excellent signage on site.

There often is nobody on duty at the rookery, as there is at Boy Scout Woods, but visitors still owe the $5 entrance fee. As a GOS member, please do your part and make this payment. You can certainly see the value of these monies to birds, conservation and environmental education.

Roseate Spoonbills are one of several species of spoonbills worldwide, but the only pink one. Like flamingoes, they metabolize shrimp and other crustaceans from the water and the carotene helps the feathers maintain their color. The bill of the spoonbill is spatulate, like a giant shoveler’s beak. Adults have bare, gray heads while immatures have white, feathered heads. But at the rookery, they have neighbors!

This Great Egret is in high breeding plumage, as seen by the green cere. They are identified to species by the yellow bill and black legs, plus the large size. Great Egrets migrate up from the Tropics circum-Gulf and may be seen flying east, just offshore, in March. So here is one courting:

Nobody does plumes like Great and Snowy Egrets. Egrets lack color and song so they impress their gals with spectacular plumes. This species in engaged in courting and mating at present, but will have chicks in late April and May

Much smaller is the Snowy Egret, so white the feathers seem to bleed white in pictures. They normally have a yellow cere and feet but in high breeding plumage, the cere is red and the feet orange. This denotes a fertile bird and one that will be actively seeking a mate, and nesting.

The plumes of a Snowy in HBP rival that of the Great Egret’s, and at the Spoonbill Rookery, they breed side by side. The only argument birds get into is for space and sticks, and few pick fights with Great Egrets. [Birds seldom nest near Great Blue Herons, as they will kill and eat chicks and small adult birds.]

Black-crowned Night-Herons nest in small numbers at the Rookery, and they may be extremely predaceous on eggs and baby birds. Other species know this, as they get a lot of grief from smaller herons and egrets. They are also very active when most parent birds are sleeping, so they’re a double threat. Normally, they are feeding off posts in Galveston Bay, jumping off to grab Swimming Crabs (Portunus) from the surface.

So if you’re flying past High Island, like this immature spoonbill, drop in, get a day patch and enjoy the best ornithological site in Texas.