A Good Friday Bulbul

 The end of the road south of High Island Texas made one realize what day was today, but I did not go birding today looking for anything in particular in High Island.  We stopped in East Texas to see a bird, a bird I have seen at least 132 of previously and even 14 in Hawaii, but never any in the Classical ABA.  Birding for me is a game of lists and at times, the list must be kept up.  

The Red-vented bulbul is a very common bird in the Indian subcontinent of Asia, and Bhutan for that matter but it was not considered countable in North America until the population in an around Houston Texas had been considered self-sustaining long enough to qualify for the rules and someone to make a motion to add it.  How they came to Houston is unknown but suspicious they arrived by ship or the pet trade although one would not suspect this bird would be popular. The first bird recorded was in 1958,  The birds started breeding in the Heights area north of Houston and in 2010, they were included on the ebird list for the area starting around 2010, and in 2016 when Hawaii was added to the ABA which included red-vented bulbuls, since the population in Houston was both sustaining, established, and been around for quite some time it eventually became countable by being added to the "list."

My life list for the "classic" or continental ABA is sitting at 823 after not really chasing anything for a while.  Oddly, I have three birds that I could count around, a Whooper swan in Newfoundland (which I can't fit in my schedule), a brown jay in South Texas which is on private land and even though I will drive close by to it, I do not think I know any way to get, both really good birds, tough rarities to see, and then there is these silly bulbuls in Houston, so what ends up on my quest?  Houston....

I have been though Houston in an airplane 8 times since the bird was countable and I have yet to stop, but 2023 was different.

We left Paradise in Florida on Wednesday in "Big Bird" packed up for a lazy trip north awaiting the snowmelt.  We are going north by going west.  So, we headed west towards Texas.  First night camping was at a RV campground east of Pensacola and the second night we arrived last night in Beaumont, Texas after seeing Tony the Truckstop Tiger in Louisiana.  We have camped twice now in Beaumont, both times it has rained hard and stormed all night that it makes one wonder if that is all that it does in East Texas.

The rain paused enough this morning to drive the car over to Houston on our day off to look for the bulbul.  We went to Woodland Park, it was cool and dreary but no bulbuls showed.  We walked down to the White Oak Park green belt and walked around some more as it started to rain and then as we were heading back to the car something with a white butt flew out of a tree.  It was like we were back in Bhutan, and instantly recognized.  "There we go."  I said and Silja looked and then went to the car to get out of the rain while I pulled out my camera from the backpack for a couple of bad photos.

Red Vented Bulbul

It was the bird and it was countable.  Yeah!! I guess?  I was just happy to be able to get out of the rain.  To celebrate, we then had lunch at a nearby café, the Belgium Café and I had my lifer beer which here was a St Barnardus beer.  

It was a Belgian beer some consider the best in the world (or so they claim on their website).  It was good, maybe too good and a beer I should have saved for a brown jay or a whooper swan, I guess next time I'll try something else.  The food was also great, so if you come to Houston and whether you see the bulbul or not, stop by and have a glass on tap, try it with the curried chicken salad, the lobster bisque or the mussels, it is all good and you'll be reminded of Brussels.

We then drove to High Island. A birding "Holy Grail" spot I have never been to before. We walked around.  There were some warblers flitting about including some worm eating warblers, and a hooded warbler like this one.

With the big storm finally going through, there could be some good fallout tomorrow or possibly Sunday, but we have to get going towards Big Bend National Park.  Beaumont is just a wayside on the trip.  But I have bird number #824 in USA/ Canada ex Hawaii and I guess that is something.  Tomorrow, westward ho!

Happy Easter

I hope your Passover was special

Olaf