The following day, Friday, April 18, we visited the Pineywoods.  At our first stop all had great views of singing Prairie Warbler and of Bachman's Sparrow.  Later, after many attempts with hidden singing Swainson's Warblers, we had exciting looks at a cooperative singing individual.  After a fun picnic lunch next to Beech Creek, we enjoyed a walk in the Big Thicket National Preserve (hearing Kentucky Warbler) and the new visitors' center there.  We ended our day at Boy Scout Woods (adding good looks for all of Cerulean Warbler) and at the stunning Smith Oaks rookery. 

Saturday, April 19, was our day to do the Anahuac Yellow Rail walk with David Sarkozi and spend some time birding there with David Sarkozi.  A young alligator, hissing warningly, entertained us at the walk meeting place.  This walk, attended by some 100 birders, flushed three brief Yellow Rails and two briefer Black Rails.  (That afternoon's Yellow Rail walk, attended by our trip's Tim Maas and Myra Porter, produced at least seven Yellow Rails!)  Anahuac was the place for Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and we enjoyed a pair on the drive out.  This was a good find that we were able to show to a grateful Jon Dunn, leading his group there also.  Despite having David Sarkozi for a few hours in the late morning, Anahuac was beautiful but slow birding.  Only a couple of people glimpsed a Purple Gallinule and most of the ibis and spoonbills were off nesting, guessed David.  Fulvous Whistling-Duck were evident in good numbers and we had a good study of a Stilt Sandpiper.

For the afternoon we drove up to Cedar Hill Park, bordering enchanting Lake Charlotte, on the western edge of the Pineywoods south of Liberty.  Our very pleasant walk in this park and on nearby private property, with a mammoth active Bald Eagle nest, produced the first Black-crested Titmice for both trips and a brief glimpse of Pileated Woodpecker.

That evening about half the group returned to Cedar Hill Park for owling.  We got no response within the park.  From a nearby area where we had had some success the prior trip, we did get a fairly cooperative calling Eastern Screech-Owl, but could not draw it out to where we could get a light on it for viewing.  A distant Great Horned Owl was also heard.  The main target bird of Barred Owl might be (and was) unresponsive due to its nesting, David Sarkozi had told us.

We returned to Sea Rim and Sabine Woods on Sunday, April 20.  More study of the numerous migrants we had already encountered was satisfying.  A major highlight of all of the trips was the presence of both cooperative Black-billed (pointed out to us as we arrived by Guy McCaskie) and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, often close enough to each other for immediate comparison viewing.  Several of us were awestruck.  Difficult as it was, we tore ourselves away from Sabine Woods to drive over to High Island to see how those areas were and see if we would visit Bolivar.  High Island was again slow and the light at the Smith Oaks rookery was too poor for photography and got worse with darkening clouds.  As it started to drizzle, we decided to try Bolivar, which we could bird from the cars if it was raining.

For the next hour and a half it rained, at times heavily with convincing lightning and thunder.  Yacht Basin Road and Bob's Road produced numerous Clapper Rail.  As we got to Bolivar Flats the rain stopped and we made the trek up the flats.  We had great studies of the terns (especially of Royal and Sandwich), sandpipers (Least, Semipalmated, Western, Sanderling and Dunlin) and of small plovers (Piping, Snowy, Semipalmated and Wilson's).  Enjoyable was a flashing Reddish Egret. 

For the entirety of the first trip and this second trip up till then, the winds had been consistently out of the south, giving a free ride for migrants to well past the Texas coast, certainly past High Island.  Now the wind was more out of the north. We tried to get back to Boy Scout Woods before dark to see if the storm had brought birds to High Island.  It was pretty dark when we arrived and one last birder told us that Chestnut-sided Warbler had been seen in the late afternoon.

For our last day, Monday, April 21, we chose to first go to reliable Sabine Woods, hoping that yesterday's storm and the continuing slight north winds might have brought something interesting.  As we got to the first tree at the entrance, John Prendergast (the producer of the video ID series with Jon Dunn as narrator) excitedly announced "Blackburnian Warbler," the first for the season.  Other firsts that morning at Sabine and the Sea Rim Willows included Magnolia, Golden-winged and Chestnut-sided Warblers.  Other migrants of note were Gray-cheeked Thrush (so many had come in that they were more numerous than the ever-present Swainson's Thrush) and Gray Catbird.  Catbird had been present here every day but today they were everywhere.  In less than one minute's time some 20 birds flew between two clumps of trees like a flock of bushtits would.  In our four hours here there were easily 200 Gray Catbirds.  At Sea Rim, with just low willows, we had eye level views, often too close to focus with binoculars, of Black-throated Green, Kentucky, Worm-eating Warblers.  Great views also of low-preferring Prothonotary and Hooded Warblers, Ovenbird and Northern Waterthrush.

We decided to bet on High Island finally getting some action and stole away from this wonderful experience.  At Boy Scout Woods it was much like Sabine and Sea Rim, with the new birds of Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, and singing Golden-winged Warblers.  Also, Cerulean and the last warbler for the trip, Wilson's.  Perhaps most impressive was a far away, perched and camouflaged Common Nighthawk that most of us took awhile to get onto (some along time) but was spotted instantly by Patricia Basurto.

We ended this Texas Trip II with enjoying 30 warblers and 176 birds overall.  Eight of these warblers were observed on their breeding grounds: Northern Parula, Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler and Yellow-breasted Chat.