Sheldon Lake State Park offers birds a safe winter haven
A chilly morning under a cloudless blue sky in late October compelled me to look for birds wintering at Sheldon Lake State Park.
The park is situated near heavy industry, 20 miles northeast of downtown Houston. Improbably, it offers a surprisingly serene landscape encompassing 2,800-acres, including a scenic lake where bald cypress trees loom like big green umbrellas.
Upon arriving, I saw a flock of white pelicans, bulky white birds resembling king-size bed pillows floating high in the air against the azure sky. Then a legion of yellowrumped warblers bobbed among tree limbs while uttering quick chit-chit notes and flashing namesake buttercolored rumps.
All were signals that birds from northern breeding grounds had arrived at the park’s safe winter haven.
Atop the 82-foot John Jacob Observation Tower, I had a panoramic view of the park, with its lake, its restored native prairies, its woodland ponds and even with Houston’s downtown skyline peeking above the horizon.
I scanned the lake and saw groups of compact ducks called green-
winged teal floating casually on the water near a stand of cypress trees. Four northern pintails paddled the water closer to shore, with long erect necks showing a bold white stripe down the sides.
Soon the lake will host multitudes of winter ducks along with scores of snow geese, and the lake’s bald cypress trees could be perches for bald eagles.
I walked along the half-mile Pond Loop Trail that cuts through thickets interrupted by secluded ponds that were once fish hatcheries and now host such water birds as great egrets, great blue herons and ibises.
Four white ibises, with long, pointed, bright redorange beaks, marched
Sheldon Lake State Park & Environmental Learning Center
Where: 14140 Garrett Hours: Park: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily; Learning Center: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays Cost: free Info: tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/sheldon-lake ahead of me on the trail. They slipped through the thickets to a pond and perched, white as snow, on the banks but were magically inconspicuous to people strolling by.
Other winter birds were quite conspicuous. Ruby-crowned kinglets, for example, with plump little bodies, flitted among branches while constantly flicking their wings to spook up insects.
A northern flicker, with a black crescent on its chest, perched on a tree snag and uttered its “wick-wick-wick” call before flying to the ground to pluck up insects.
Standing beside the maroon-tinged muhly grass near the picnic area, the temperature was a mere 54 degrees. Yet warm sunlight had energized butterflies like Gulf fritillaries that flitted hither and thither on shimmering orange wings.
I could have stayed in the park all day, but it was noon and I was hungry.
Email Gary Clark at Texasbirder@comcast.net