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Publication Date

6-1-2003

Abstract

The Gulf of Mexico Coast contains some of the most important staging and wintering shorebird habitats in North America. The mosaic of habitats along the Texas Gulf Coast is of particular importance because it contains large expanses of unvegetated foraging habitats juxtaposed with beach and marsh habitats that provide areas for both foraging and roosting. The focus of this study is to determine linkages among habitats within a coastal mosaic on the central Texas coast through determination of shorebird abundance, habitat use, and behavior as well as the quantity of invertebrate prey and their energetic quality. Data were collected at Indian Point Park, Corpus Christi, Texas, a coastal mosaic containing tidally influenced, depressional ponds, irregularly flooded tidal flats, uplands, an excavated “lake,” undeveloped bay beach, and salt marsh. Shorebirds were censused using instantaneous scan sampling twice monthly since August 2002. Invertebrates were collected from transects in areas where birds were foraging and where they were not to determine and compare abundance, biomass and energetic content. Twenty shorebird species have been documented. The majority observed foraging and they were most abundant in salt marsh, pond, and lakeshore habitats. Preliminary analyses indicate that shorebirds were most abundant in areas where invertebrates are abundant.

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