Smith Oaks Forest, Dons Drip, and another trail along Smiths Pond

After lunch we decided to take the trail to Nicole’s Niche and Dons Drip. Driving to another parking lot we would be closer, but it ended up being a waste of time as we could have easily reached them both from our lunch spot near the Rookery. Last year at Dons Drip we become involved in a birding controversy as a warbler had been misidentified. I wrote about it and won’t repeat the story here). This year we did not see any birds using the drip and we had the place to ourselves.

Continuing along the leaf covered trail, to Nicole’s Niche, I kept a constant lookout for birds and snakes. Not seeing any I walked to the drip, a place where water has been piped to form a bird bath and a bird sip. I noticed movement next to my foot I saw a four-foot-long snake threatening to bite me. I had almost stepped on it, and Renita was so close to it that I said “Lookout, snake!”. She screamed, loudly I might add, and then jumped in the safe direction. She had almost stepped on it! So much for spotting any birds. I reminded her that one must be quiet to see birds or bears, (I will not repeat what she said as she also gave me the look)!

The snake rattled its tail, but it was only mimicking a rattlesnake. We later identified it as a Texas Rat snake. They can and will bite but this one only threatened. If you blow up the picture you can see its eye is round not catlike, which is indicative of all non-poisonous snakes. Last year at Dons Drip we had been involved in a birding controversy as a warbler had been misidentified. I wrote about it and won’t repeat the story here). This year we did not see any birds using the drip and we had the place to ourselves.

Walking the other trails, we photographed a rosette spoonbill flying bye and passed an alligator trail where it crossed the path from one pond to another. Keeping an eye out for its snout we wanted to make sure we didn’t end up as lunch, but we never spotted it.

Renita spied a female anhinga across the pond and took a good photograph of it as it perched and dried it’s wings. On the way back to the car I saw a resting water moccasin floating next to the trail. It ignored us and I tried to take its picture, but I forgot to use the manual focus and the camera focused on some nearby grass.

Darn it. It had been a great day, it always is at High Island. The Houston Audubon Society does an excellent job maintaining the eight birding sites. Well done Houston! Now it’s on to Grand Isle, Louisiana where family and more birds await! Clear skies