Some days you just gotta take what they give ya.
This morning's trip to the Headquarters Unit of Catahoula National Wildlife was not one of great spectacles or special rarities, but that doesn't mean there weren't things worth the short drive. The water, probably mostly due to recent significant rainfall events, was just too high in Duck Lake to allow for much shorebird habitat. Likewise, wading birds weren't offered the concentrated fish-in-barrel feeding opportunities that the late summer / early fall drawdown typically brings. However waders were present in appreciable numbers and there was decent bird activities from other groups, especially passerine family groups, that made for an interesting enough trip.
This most recent ongoing rainfall event must have brought a real gully-washer to the refuge last night. The corn field adjacent to the entrance had water backed up all through the rows, the ditches flowing into the refuge were rolling merrily (and muddily) along, and the gravel road of the refuge loop, a good quality and well maintained gravel road, was just about as slushy as I've ever seen it.
I headed to the north end of Duck Lake first to do my usual long stand-around period there, picking up a few of the usual woodland birds along the way, and was pleased to see a decent showing of wading birds when I got to the lake. Among the species present were Wood Stork, Great Blue and Little Blue Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, and the always awesome pretty-in-pink Roseate Spoonbills. Spoonbills were unexpectedly missing from my previous trip to this locale, so it was doubly nice to see them here in relatively good numbers as should be. Some flyover Cattle Egrets and, later, a flyover pleg. sp. ibis (probably White-faced Ibis) were seen. Notice, though, that the list of waders is missing some of the usuals such as Green and Tricolored Herons and at least one of the two night-heron species.
The only shorebird was a Spotted Sandpiper seen in flight out over the lake. Normally there's at least one or two Spotteds around, often foraging at the edge by the levee or hanging out at the boat ramp. This has been a really weak year for shorebirds at this locale so far. Typically at this time in the season there'd always be a flock of Black-necked Stilts around, yipping and yapping and putting on a show, and at least some small rag-tag assortment of southbound sandpipers plus the obligatory Killdeer. Not this mid-late summer, though. Not so far, anyway. Fingers crossed for the water to finally go down!
A pair of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks came flying in and circled the northeast corner of the lake as though they were going to land, but then flew on northward beyond the road. Not all that uncommon in this area these days, but its still a nice little boost to see these guys. Though I've not seen obviously young birds of this species around that I can recall, their regular presence in spring and summer in the Catahoula NWR and Catahoula Lake area in recent years surely suggests a breeding population. Maybe this couple just left the kids at home?
Others, however, brought the whole family out. The Painted Buntings in the weedy/brushy strip along the levee at the north end of the lake included multiple juveniles. A family group could be seen together, youngsters following adults around. Likewise, Northern Cardinal juveniles were seen out and about with the adults. The Indigo Bunting males were still singing quite frequently, but the Painted Bunting males seemed to have completely stopped territorial singing.
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| Male Painted Bunting, refuge loop atop the levee at north end of Duck Lake. |
After turning around at the northwest corner of the loop by Cowpen Bayou, I retraced my path back to the fork by the sign-in area and took the south fork along the eastern edge of the refuge. This area offers some good forest songbird opportunities without having to drive the entire loop and go through the heart of the big woods. I only went as far as the gated right-of-way (which I saw has just been turned into a gravel road, lets hope they DO NOT open it to vehicles as that will really mess with the fall and winter waterfowl on the lake) about 0.8 mile from the fork. Though, of course, the post-breeding doldrums are in full swing and the birds aren't singing nearly so much, I was still able to hear a few Red-eyed Vireos and Acadian Flycatchers. The Kentucky and Hooded Warblers that had been in that area earlier this breeding season were not in evidence.
Among the other wildlife encountered were two White-tailed Deer bucks. Young-looking, not appearing very large for male White-tailed, one had antlers that looked about right for a small 6-point or 4 point, the other one maybe spikes. The foggy conditions meant that I couldn't see them too terribly clearly. Other non-avian wildlife includes Blanchard's Cricket Frog - very small chorus by north end of lake, Green Treefrog - significant chorusing at north end of lake area, Cope's Gray Treefrog - 2 heard, Fowler's Toad -2 heard, and a Swamp Rabbit.
All-in-all, this was not the hundreds-of-egrets-and-a-half-dozen-shorebird-sp. morning that it could have been, but it was nice to have an August morning that was CLOUDY and vaguely COOL and just down right PLEASANT. I will gladly take such a morning, go birding, and be thankful for what I find!
Complete (but meager compared to many for this location!) bird list for this morning on HQ unit or Catahoula NWR is below.
8/2/14, 6:43 am to 8:46 am, 2.4 miles. Conditions: 73 to 74 degrees f., cloudy/light fog, near calm/light breeze. Water level marker at north end of Duck Lake showed 34.8 feet. Birded driving a section of the refuge loop with numerous stops and a long stand-around period at north end of Duck Lake.
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - 2
Wood Stork - 11
cormorant sp. (Neotropic?) - 1
Anhinga - 6
Great Blue Heron - 6
Great Egret - 38
Snowy Egret - 6
Little Blue Heron - 9 - 3 adult, 6 juvenile.
Cattle Egret - 14
White Ibis - 31 - 30 adult, 1 juvenile.
pleg. sp. - 1
Roseate Spoonbill - 30, adults and young birds
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Morning Dove - 18
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 3
Chimney Swift - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Acadian Flycatcher - 3
Eastern Kingbird - 1
White-eyed Vireo - 3
Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Blue Jay - 3
American Crow - 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 7
Cliff Swallow - 3
sw. sp. - a few out over lake in the distance that could not definitely be assigned a species.
Carolina Chickadee - 6
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Carolina Wren - 9
European Starling - 13. Flyover at Duck Lake early, headed east.
Northern Parula - 1
Summer Tanager - 1
Northern Cardinal - 19. Includes at least a couple of juv., probably more.
Indigo Bunting - 14: 9 singing (male), 1 male, 1 female, 3 age/sex unknown.
Painted Bunting - 6: 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 4 juv.
Red-winged Blackbird - 10
Common Grackle - 190. In post-breeding flocks.
Orchard Oriole - 3
And that's about it for now.
Happy Birding!
Happy Birding!
Jonathan Clark
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