Catahoula NWR, First Half of October 2014

North end of Duck Lake

Its been a while since my last post, and there's a number of things that I'd like to get caught up on, but I think that first I should cover the trips to Catahoula NWR, HQ Unit for the first two weeks of October. October is a great time to bird this location, especially the month taken as a whole as one can see the shift from summer to winter avifauna quite dramatically over those particular 4 weeks or so.
   The trip for the first week of the month and the second will be handled separately within this blog entry, and each will have my species list from that day and a few photos. Here goes....

   10/3/14
   The air felt more-or-less like autumn, which is an encouraging sign. One expects to find new arrivals, FOS's, when birding a fall-like early October morning. I birded the nearer sections of the refuge loop, driving first on the north side as far as the corner by Cowpen Bayou and including a long time standing around by the north end of Duck Lake. After that I backtracked and took the east leg south and turned around at the right-of-way that turns off the west side of the road, showing Duck Lake in the distance.
   Some summer birds still holding strong, and evidence of southward migration by neotrops was in evidence. Also, though, a few FOS winter species had finally arrived.


Eastern Fox Squirrel foraging on the ground.

   This was also the day before the opening day of squirrel season, and the abundant Eastern Fox 
Squirrels (Eastern Gray Squirrels seem not to inhabit the woods of the HQ unit) seen that day would be undetected on the next week's trip. The beginnings of last year's squirrel season fell during the government shutdown, and as a result the extremely high numbers of hunters that normally flock to this locale for the opening weekend weren't able to hunt it. This has lead to a robust squirrel population at this location over this past year. I should clarify that I am not anit-hunting in general, but it is very interesting to note that the excessive hunting pressure that marks most early Octobers on the HQ unit does have an unduly strong effect on the resident squirrel population, making it often seem somewhat small relative to the truly excellent quality of the habitat.

Eastern Fox Squirrel

Species list for 10/3/14:
8:50 am to 10:02 am.
Conditions were 72 to 74 degrees f., light breeze to near calm, cloudy. Water level marker at north end of Duck Lake showed 34.2 feet.
Traveled 2.4 miles with numerous stops, long stand-around period at north end of Duck Lake.

Blue-winged Teal - 23
Northern Shoveler - 7
duck sp. - 30

White Ibis

Pied-billed Grebe - 1

cormorant sp. - 1

Great Blue Heron - 3
Great Egret - 5
Snowy Egret - 1
Little Blue Heron - 2
Tricolored Heron - 4
White Ibis - 21
Roseate Spoonbill - 1

Black Vulture - 2
Turkey Vulture - 5
Cooper's Hawk - 1 (FOS)
Bald Eagle - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2

peep sp. - 4

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 6
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Northern Flicker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 2

Downy Woodpecker

American Kestrel - 1


Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 1 (FOS)











Eastern Wood-Pewee (previously misidentified as Empidonax sp.)

White-eyed Vireo - 6

Blue Jay - 5
American Crow - 2
crow sp. - 3

Carolina Chickadee - 6
Tufted Titmouse - 2

Carolina Wren - 9

Easter Bluebird - 2



A closer look at the Eastern Wood-Pewee

Gray Catbird - 1


Northern Cardinal

Brown Thrasher - 1

Nashville Warbler - 1 (FOS)
Common Yellowthroat - 3
Hooded Warbler - 2
American Redstart - 3
Northern Parula - 3

Northern Cardinal - 12
Blue Grosbeak - 1
Indigo Bunting - 5

Indigo Bunting

Red-winged Blackbird - 50

passerine sp. - 2


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10/14/14

North end of Duck Lake, showing some of the pelicans present.

  It was one of those cool, crisp mornings when you just know that its autumn. Bird activity was fairly good. The only non-avian wildlife observed (not counting the fish activity on the lake) was a young American Alligator in the slough that flows into / out of Duck Lake. No squirrels seen or heard along the road. I birded driving a short section of the refuge loop from entrance to my usual parking spot by the north end of Duck Lake (about 1.1 mile). A number of short stops, and a long stand around period at north end of the lake.
   The hoard of American White Pelicans that greeted me when I got near the lake was quite a sight. There were significantly more than I am used to at this locale. Also nice was a first year Lark Sparrow spotted along the road at the north end of the lake and a Sharp-shinned Hawk cruising the wood line by the NW corner of the lake. Both of those were FOS.

American White Pelican

Species list for 10/14/14:
7:16 am to 9:01 am
Conditions were 55 to 59 degrees f., clear, near calm to light breeze. Water level marker at north end of Duck Lake showed 34.3 feet.
Traveled 1.1 mile.

Wood Duck - 7
Northern Shoveler - 3
Blue-winged Teal - 7
duck sp. - 1

Neotropic Cormorant - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
cormorant sp. - 1
American White Pelican - 463

American White Pelicans

Great Blue Heron - 4
Great Egret - 23
Snowy Egret - 4
Little Blue - 1
Tricolored Heron - 3

Great Blue Heron

White Ibis - 2
Roseate Spoonbill - 29



Black Vulture - 15
Turkey Vulture - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 (FOS)
Red-shouldered Hawk - 3

Killdeer - 1
Greater Yellowlegs - 3
peep sp. - 4
Dowitcher sp. - 90
shorebird sp. - 12

Mourning Dove - 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 2

Eastern Phoebe - 1

Blue Jay - 3
American Crow - 3
Fish Crow - 1

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 2
Tree Swallow - 9
Barn Swallow - 12
Swallow sp. - 50

Carolina Chickadee - 9

Eastern Meadowlark

Carolina Wren - 3

Eastern Bluebird - 1

Common Yellowthroat - 2

Lark Sparrow - 1 (FOS)

Northern Cardinal - 6
Indigo Bunting - 5

Red-winged Blackbird - 55
Eastern Meadowlark - 1

American White Pelicans

Coming up over the course of the next few days I'll be putting up several new blog posts, catching up to the present and including some material from the last couple of months that I've neglected to cover. Included will be one for the trip that Tom and Brenda Pollock and I took to the Catahoula NWR HQ Unit on 10/16/14.

Happy Birding!
Jonathan