Images from Bolivar Peninsula (TX) - September 2019

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Assorted photos taken last week on the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas. Betty, my wife, called this region one of my happy places. Anahuac NWR, several Audubon Sanctuaries at High Island, 18 miles of Gulf of Mexico beaches, the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary, and a number of other excellent birding locations can be sampled in a single day.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Rettilon Road, Bolivar Peninsula (TX)
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera, 300mm f/4 IS Pro Lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/3200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 640


I was happy when I captured my first ever in-focus shot of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in flight. The next photo shows the bird before takeoff. Out of sequence? Yes, but I wanted to show the reason for the happiness (the bird in flight) first.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Rettilon Road, Bolivar Peninsula (TX)
Same camera, lens, and settings as the previous photo.


Rettilon Road is the route to the beach and the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary from Texas State Highway 87. I often see Scissor-tailed Flycatchers on the fences and posts along this road.

Forster’s Tern - Rollover Pass, Bolivar Peninsula (TX)
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera, 300mm f/4 IS Pro Lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/1600 sec at f/5.6, ISO 500

And I enjoyed the time I spent in my happy place trying to get images that show the sequence of wing positions of a Forster's Tern while landing. The same camera settings were used for the next four shots.

Forster’s Tern - Rollover Pass, Bolivar Peninsula (TX)

Rollover Pass is a man-made channel across Bolivar Peninsula. The flow of water through the cut has produced an extensive tidal flat on the bay side of the peninsula. The Houston Audubon Society’s description of this area states that at low tide, tens of thousands of shorebirds, gulls, and terns feed and roost here.

Forster’s Tern - Rollover Pass, Bolivar Peninsula (TX)

Forster’s Tern - Rollover Pass, Bolivar Peninsula (TX)

Forster’s Tern - Rollover Pass, Bolivar Peninsula (TX)

Snowy Egret - Bolivar Peninsula (TX)
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera, 300mm f/4 IS Pro Lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/2500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 640

Also at Rollover Pass I saw a Snowy Egret engaged in an unusal feeding behavior. The bird was standing on rocks next to the pass and waiting for the breaking waves to deposit something edible within it's grasp.

Snowy Egret - Bolivar Peninsula (TX)
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera, 300mm f/4 IS Pro Lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/2500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 500

White Ibis - Yacht Basin Road, Bolivar Peninsula (TX)
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera, 300mm f/4 IS Pro Lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 250

Five White Ibis standing on a log that I believe was carried to this location by the surge of a hurricane several years ago. The log has been in this location for as long as I have been coming to Bolivar. Three overlapping photos were stitched together in Lightroom to produce this image. Yacht Basin Road crosses coastal marsh for about a mile and dead-ends at the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Shorebirds can be seen feeding in the pools on both sides of the road. Whimbrels, White Ibis, Long-billed Curlews, Great Blue Herons, other wading birds, are often seen here. Audubon literature indicates that Clapper Rails, Willets, and Seaside Sparrows breed in the cordgrass marsh bordering the road.

This area is definitely one of my happy places. Would any birder not be happy to spend some time here?

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.