Stormy feathers

As the aircraft approached George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the pilot declared the weather in southeastern Texas sunny and mild.

Great, I thought, blue skies and gentle breezes.
My final destination was High Island, about 80 miles southeast of Houston on the Texas Gulf Coast's Bolivar Peninsula.

Lush greenery

This mound of trees and shrubs has a reputation as one of the top birding sites in the US. As an occasional birdwatcher, I was drawn by its reputation.

But I was rooting for a storm, because, according to bird aficionados, the best birdwatching on High Island takes place during, or just after, a storm front with northerly winds.

Migrating birds — warblers, orioles and thrushes — struggle against the gusts, as they fly north from the Yucatan Peninsula, 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico.

When the exhausted birds reach the Texas shore, they sometimes fall from the sky. High Island is geographically suited for this phenomenon, known as a “fallout''.

From the air, High Island looks like a protrusion of trees and shrubs in the flat marshlands — an ideal resting spot for migrant birds.

Easy watching

After a storm, the wind-battered birds are so exhausted by the flight that they become almost oblivious to birdwatchers.

Enthusiasts who have seen a fallout said you can almost pick up and pet the exhausted birds. But the weather of Texas makes it difficult to plan to see a fallout. Still, the abundance of wildlife — from pink spoonbills to toothy alligators — makes the trip worthwhile.

At the height of migration season — March through mid-May — thousands of birds rest before setting off to the Midwest and the Eastern US.

Packing a pair of binoculars, a digital camera and a field guide to North American birds, I drove to the Louis B Smith Bird Sanctuary.

It's also known as “Boy Scout Woods''. The Houston chapter of the Audubon Society owns four sanctuaries on the island and the Texas Ornithological Society owns a fifth refuge.

Andrew Beck, 28, an Audubon sanctuary steward, gave me a tour of the island and the sanctuary's trails. It had been six months since Hurricane Ike, a Category 2 storm, tore into the Texas coast and the sanctuary was still a tangle of upturned trees, broken branches and snarled underbrush.

Beck's job is to clear the trails and pull out non-native plants that can dominate the vegetation and replace berry-producing trees that feed the birds year round.

After Ike wiped out habitat and freshwater sources along much of the Texas coast, Beck said the remaining trees and freshwater ponds on High Island became even more attractive to alligators, snakes, armadillos and, more importantly, birds.

Crowning glory

As Beck explained this, his attention was drawn to the treetops by the tweet-tweet-tweeting of a yellow-crowned warbler.

“Each week, we will be seeing more until mid- to late May,'' he said.

At Boy Scout Woods, we walked along dirt trails, stopping at several wood benches and grandstands located in front of small fountains and ponds, where birds splashed and sipped water.

From a distance, the migrants looked like cellophane-wrapped candies among the branches: A yellow-rumped warbler, a candy-apple-red cardinal and a caramel-brown Carolina wren.

It's no wonder the island draws up to 10,000 visitors a year.
Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary, High Island's largest refuge, is only a few blocks from Boy Scout Woods.

We hiked to the banks of the artificial Clay Bottom Pond, once used to store the town's water supply. You don't have to be a bird lover to be awed by the views.

At the pond's northern end, egrets, herons and cormorants were building nests atop oak and cypress trees on a U-shaped island known as the Rookery.

On the southern end, blue-winged teals and roseate spoonbills waded in the shallows, hunting for shrimp, fish and other munchies on the banks of Heron Island.

The spoonbills get their pink colour from eating shrimp. The older the spoonbill, the richer the pink.

Predator gators

The water in the pond rippled with alligators, some juveniles only four feet long. The alligator-infested waters surrounding the Rookery protect nesting birds from egg-snatching predators.

As Beck and I approached the water's edge, we triggered a panic. The spoonbills took wing. Snow-white egrets also launched from the surface.

Black cormorants and teals followed. The sky was a kaleidoscope of colour.

“Don't worry,'' Beck said. “They'll come back.''

And they did. After several minutes, the birds returned to their spots in the water and on the trees.

I left High Island to check out the shorebirds near Crystal Beach, a community that was all but wiped out by the hurricane.

The sky darkened and a light shower streaked my windshield. A storm was moving in. Maybe the right conditions for a fallout, I thought.

Unforgettable sight

Back at Smith Oaks, the Sun was beginning to set. By the time I reached Clay Bottom Pond, the rain had subsided, the clouds had parted and the bright rays of the Sun shone through.

No bird fallout this visit. But High Island offered a scene from the water's edge that made up for it.

Dozens of spoonbills, egrets and cormorants were perched on the branches of cypress and oak trees on the opposite shore like ornaments on a Christmas trees.

As I watched, a full rainbow materialised over the trees. It was a visual souvenir. And High Island even wrapped it up in a bow.

Go there ... High Island ... From the UAE ... From Dubai

Houston is the closest airport.

Emirates flies daily. Fare from Dh4,345

Delta flies daily via Atlanta. Fare from Dh3,795

— Information courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata.
Ph: 04 4380454

Where to stay and eat