By Christine Wehrli, Community Outreach Programs Manager
In March, amidst preparation for all things spring migration this year, I received some unfortunate news. I would need to get knee surgery after tearing my ACL and menisci in a rugby game. This meant 7 weeks of crutches and a non-weight bearing left leg, which also meant no bird walks or in-person events for me this spring.
Fortunately, just last year, I met a woman named Virginia Rose who gave me a new lens on accessible birding. Virginia Rose is the Founder and Chair Emeritus of Birdability, whose mission is to share the joys of birding with people who have disabilities, and to ensure birding is accessible for everyone. One thing she mentioned as she was assessing some of the Houston Audubon sanctuaries was “Car Birding”. While in the past, I had casually peered out the car window looking for birds on wires, I had never birded intentionally from my car before.
With that in mind, I decided not to let my injury and limited mobility hold me back from birding. For most of April, I lived vicariously through the bird sightings of my co-workers at Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary and High Island. Bright and early one morning in late April, my partner and I drove out to Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Anahuac NWF) as I knew they had great car birding opportunities, both to Frozen Point and around Shoveler Pond.
As we entered the park, there was a big group of birders gathered around the gazebo near the Visitor’s Center. We pulled into the disabled parking spot and went to see what all the fuss was about. Fortunately, the gazebo was a short distance away and the path to it was paved so I was able to crutch over easily. Inside, at the base of the roof, we saw three baby Barn Owls nesting. It was such an unexpected joyful start to the birding trip. I gazed in awe at these Studio Ghibli-like creatures hunched over, mostly puffy and white. They were cute, yet also a little eerie. Occasionally, there would be a rapid tapping noise from their feet that reverberated through the roof.
After this pleasant start, we got back in the car and followed the road to Frozen Point. Along the way, we pulled over to the side of the road many times to see what we could find. Along that route, I spotted some birds I had never seen before, including an Eastern Kingbird, Orchard Oriole, and Least Bittern. The Orchard Orioles were particularly chatty that day and I enjoyed listening to their lively, brisk notes. As always, the Merlin app came in handy for a lot of the bird song identification, as I continue to work on my ability to bird by ear. We made our way back to the Shoveler Pond Auto Loop to see what we could find there. In addition to the numerous shorebirds, I spotted several other car birders and felt a nice sense of solidarity. A few of my favorite bird finds in the pond were the Fulvous Whistling Duck, American Avocet, and Blue-winged Teal.
Before leaving, we made one last stop at the gazebo to say farewell to the beloved baby Barn Owls. During our morning of car birding, we saw a total of 36 species. But more importantly, I felt an immense amount of gratitude that I was able to get out into nature during spring migration, and for all the work being done to make nature and birding more accessible. To learn more about what actually makes an accessible trail and to see a map of accessible birding locations, I highly recommend visiting the Birdability website.
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