More Birding for Less Birds at the Boy Scout Audubon Society Sanctuary

May 1, Boy Scout Sanctuary

Date: April 28 and May 1, 2025

Place: Boy Scout Audubon Society Bird Sanctuary,  High Island, Texas 

Coordinates: 29.562083, -94.390382

Level: easy

 

 

On his first visit to southeast Texas with our elder chika, Pappa Quail had checked out the best birding places in the area of Beaumont, including the High Island sanctuaries that are owned and managed by the Audubon Society. A couple of years later when Pappa Quail brought me to that region of Texas he was eager to explore the High Island Sanctuaries again. For me, it was the first time seeing the avian richness of the Gulf's spring. Our second day of the trip begun with a visit to the bird sanctuaries on Smith Oaks Sanctuary, which was a huge birding place, especially because of the dense rookery in that place. After the Smith Oaks we moved south a few blocks to check out the Boy Scout Sanctuary. 

April 28

The Boy Scout Sanctuary is located in a High Island neighborhood and there was no designated parking area, only open street parking. The houses were very spaced and surrounded with a lot of greenery, giving the entire area the look of a village rather than that of a town. The block near the sanctuary's entrance was already full with parking carts so we parked a couple of blocks away and walked to the entrance. There, under a wood canopy was a long table with information brochures and merchandize. The table was manned by a couple of Audubon Society volunteers who were happy to share information with Pappa Quail. Across the trail from the information booth was a stand of wood bleachers overlooking a small swampy pond surrounded by baldcypress and other trees. 

 A few other borders with long lens cameras and telescopes were at the bleachers and soon Pappa Quail and I joined them in scanning the pond. The first thing that popped in my eye was a tiny green dot that was sticking out of the dark mud on the far side of the pond. I pointed it out to Pappa Quail and he took a photo - it was a frog.  

Frog

 

 Birding wise, there was fairly little action at the pond. A single waterthrush patrolled the far shore of the pond - for me it was a lifer species. There were also a catbird and a grackle but Pappa Quail didn't bother with photographing them. 

Northern Waterthrush

 

 Pappa Quail continued scanning the pond for a while but I soon got bored and started scanning the vegetation instead. 

Roughleaf Dogwood, Cornus drummondii

Eventually Pappa Quail gave up on seeing anything else in that pond. He joined me and we started down the trail which immediately plunged into a dense thicket of trees. 

The Boy Scout Sanctuary is a relatively small place but like the Smith Oaks Sanctuary, it too has a maze of trails that loop through and around the forest. One of the first turns we took brought us to another pond with baldcypress but much less other vegetation. 

Baldcypress, Taxodium distichum

Pappa Quail spotted a black and white warbler there. The bird didn't cooperate well with the camera, so the best photo of it is of its behind. 

Black and White Warbler

After scanning the pond area for more birds and finding none we resumed our walk int the forest. One of the understory plants looked familiar to me - something about the 'leaves of three' structure. I avoided touching it and it turned out I was correct - that was the eastern poison ivy, a close relative of the west coast poison oak. 

Eastern Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans

Among other things we saw on the forest floor I recognized the turkeytail fungus that blooms out of the fallen, rotting wood that it slowly consumes.

Turkeytail Fungus

Here too some of the trails were on a raised boardwalk. There was no flooding at the time we were there but the preserve trails were certainly designed for that possibility. 

Then we stepped out of the forest into an open area and the boardwalk rose considerably higher than the ground below. We now walked above a dense thicket of bushes from which rose domes of forest canopies. 

The boardwalk went near the boundary of a study area which I think was within the sanctuary, but off limits to the public. We had a good view on some tule ponds and a large area of cut grass between them. Still, we didn't see any interesting birds there that day. 

Far below the boardwalk I saw a patch of small pink flowers. I couldn't get a good photo of these flowers so I asked Pappa Quail to photograph one for me with his powerful birding lens. 

Meadow Pink, Sabatia campestris

Disappointed with the lack of birds Pappa Quail started rounding the trail back. He did stop however, to take a photo of a duskywings butterfly. It fitted the dusky-looking clouded sky. 

Horace's Duskywings

As we rounded up our walk through the Biy Scouts Sanctuary Pappa Quail spotted a bird - a juvenile summer tanager, or as we clled it jokingly, a 'Spring' Tanager. 

Summer Tanager, juvenile

 May 1

 When we visited High Island again three days later we started the day at the Boy Scout Sanctuary. 

 We expected a storm to come through on the night before but the forecast dwindled into a light rain. The rain continued through the morning and when we started our walk through the sanctuary we were wrapped in our plastic ponchos that protected our cameras. The first reason we had to pull the camera from underneath the poncho was a small, well-camouflaged toad that hopped on the wet mat of leaves on the forest floor. 

May 1, Gulf Coast Toad

It seemed to me that there were more wildflowers now, three days later in the rain. I got to see the interesting-looking whitemouth dayflower which I saw first two days before at the Big Thicket Preserve, on a hike I am yet to write about. 

May 1, Whitemouth Dayflower, Commelina erecta

Also more of the bushes were blooming today, including the Chinese privet that I saw at the Smith Oaks Sanctuary three days before. 

May 1, Chinese Privet, Ligustrum sinense

Some honeysuckle vines covered nearby trees and bushes. The honeysuckle was blooming also. This honeysuckle was introduced from east Asia to be used in landscaping. From people's gardens it escaped into the wild and established itself there.

May 1, Japanese Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica

Wrapped in our ponchos we went back to the open area outside of the forest, and climbed the raised boardwalk. 

May 1,

The mild rain didn't bring about a fallout event, which is when migrating birds battling a storm when flying overnight across the Gulf of Mexico fall exhausted onto High Island, which is the first solid land they come to in that part of Texas. Despite that, we did have some better luck with birds that day at the Boy Scout Sanctuary, even if not all the birds we saw were migratory. 

May 1, Northern Cardinal

I spotted a bold blue bird on a small tree ahead and called Pappa Quail's attention to it. "I know" he said to me but he was aiming his camera at a different direction. He was following an indigo bunting but that bird wasn't being cooperative. When Pappa Quail turned his attention to the blue bird that I spotted, he got some nice photos of what was a blue grosbeak. 

May 1, Blue Grosbeak

Still, the yield of birds was low and we decided to finish our round in the Boy Scout Sanctuary and move t the Smith Oaks Sanctuary where we were guaranteed to see birds. As we rounded the trail back into the forest I paid attention to some interesting knobs on tree trunks around me. 

May 1,

We finished our birding walk at that muddy pond near the sanctuary's entrance where once again we saw the northern waterthrush. Probably it was the same individual that we saw there on our first visit three days ago. 

May 1, Northern Waterthrush

Together with the Smith Oaks Sanctuary, the Boy Scouts Sanctuary is a wonderful place to see some really pretty south-Texan nature and in the right season - also a lot of neat birds.