WG scores a magnificent six! We’re sitting in departures at Houston International having stopped off on the way from our hotel to do a spot of last minute birding. We called in at W.G. Jones State Forest reserve with one very particular target in mind – Red-cockaded Woodpecker – a rare ‘pecker with a patchy distribution across the south-eastern states. Pine Warbler were seen immediately on arrival in the carpark and then again on the woodland trails. Our first tick of the day – swiftly followed by Eastern Bluebird. Woodpeckers starting to put in an appearance – first Red-bellied, then Red-headed, followed by Pileated, the latter two being trip ticks. Brown-headed Nuthatch was seen high up in the pine trees – another trip tick. We’d returned from our trail walk still searching for our target bird when Nicola helpfully bumped into a member of staff on her way to the loo. He provided invaluable information about where we might look. The Red-cockade population is in trouble and they’re doing everything they can to halt the population decline, including embedding nesting-boxes in live trees and managing a release programme of young birds brought in from neighbouring states. One of the fascinating attributes of this bird is the trick of drilling holes in trees below the nesting cavity to create a ring of sap which protects against snakes climbing up the tree to steal the eggs! All we needed to do was find the trees with nest-boxes and sap running down the trunk! A stake-out of suitable trees quickly produced the goods – Jane seeing a bird fly in and begin drumming on a nearby tree. Target bird in the bag. Our 373’rd species of the trip and our sixth of the day. Another great GABRaT trip – great birds, great company and a host of memories… See you next time.