Houston Audubon sanctuary steward Andrew Beck and I visited the Bolivar Peninsula today accompanied by a TPWD warden. We went to assess the condition of the Houston Audubon sanctuaries but looked at much more. It is truly a horrific scene.
Leaving High Island we first stopped by Mundy Marsh our 358-acre sanctuary that is behind the Audubon Village Development (no connection to us). This sanctuary appeared to be in good shape except that the sign and fences were down. From our vantage point we did not see a lot of house debris in the marsh.
Next we went to Bolivar Flats the roadside and marsh are in good shape there are a lot of plastic bags on the fences. The beach looks very different. When you get to the end of Rettilon Rd there is a large hole caused by water running out of the marsh. The beach has been moved back to the vehicular barrier that was parallel to the beach, and this barrier is pretty well destroyed. Much of the sand from the beach was pushed inland along with some debris, really not much compared to what is everywhere else. The vehicular barrier where everyone parks is still there but will need some work. The observation tower is gone but we may have found it in Horseshoe Marsh. I don't think we can get it back to Bolivar Flats. There is a large empty Del Monte shipping container in the grass and there appears to be another shipping container back in the marsh. We saw shorebirds, pelicans gulls and terns on the beach but not large numbers. We only walked ¾ of the way to the vehicular barrier.
Next we visited Horseshoe Marsh. The part of the sanctuary closest to the ferry landing is a mess, debris from the houses in Port Bolivar washed into the sanctuary and it will be a big job to clean it up. Fortunately most of the fences are still up. We drove around Port Bolivar and I think most of the trees in town are dead, but I hope I am wrong. The bridge on the 108 loop that goes over Horseshoe Lagoon has been damaged.
I have been asked about the Johnson Place where many of us bird. The house didn't appear to have sustained much damage but several of the big oaks are down and all are brown.
Considering that it is late September the prime time for migration we saw few birds today. There were some herons and egrets plus the birds we saw along the shore. No Mockingbirds or shrikes the only raptors we saw were Merlins at High Island. There was one Collared Dove in Port Bolivar and a flock of starlings. I saw one swallow on the peninsula. The Bolivar Peninsula is a very special place, a place that is usually teeming with life. It was sad to see it so damaged.
For photos of this trip, see link at top of the page.
