Catahoula NWR Christmas Bird Count -- Zones 2 and 5

Wilson's Snipe -- Catahoula NWR CBC, zone 5

   This winter's Catahoula NWR CBC was held on January 2, 2018. My father and I were the team that covered both zone 2 and zone 5. Though no truly rare birds showed up, we had some nice finds and a generally good day of birding.
   The weather was from mostly sunny to cloudy, with an ever-present north breeze. The real defining factor, though, was the cold. The temperatures ranged from the mid-teens to the mid-thirties Fahrenheit. There was ice throughout the day in puddles, pools, creeks, ponds, rivers, lakes... Compared to the practically balmy conditions I've experienced on some years' CBCs, this indeed felt like Christmas-time birding.
   Additionally, we got a boost from having gotten permission to bird the Louisiana Delta Plantation farmland (PRIVATE PROPERTY, RESTRICTED ACCESS) that constitutes a nice chunk of zone 5. With this, we were able to find birds that would have been overlooked trying to bird from public roadsides elsewhere in this zone.

Zone 2 "North"

Habitat shots:

Indian Bluff Road -- birds at this location included: American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Dark-eyed Junco, Chipping Sparrow, ...

Devil's Creek -- species at this location included: Red-shouldered Hawk, Winter Wren, Pileated Woodpecker, American Robin, ...

Indian Bluff Road -- species included: Brown Thrasher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Northern Cardinal

Lakeview Road -- species included: Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, ...

Lakeview Road -- near bluffs that lie along this part of north shore of Catahoula Lake

Indian Bluff Road

Indian Creek Road -- species included: Pine Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, ...

Indian Creek Road -- lots of Pine Warblers around here, plus Hermit Thrush, Dark-eyed Junco, Yellow-rumped Warbler, ...

Indian Creek, from the tiny "bridge"

Indian Creek Road -- species at this spot included at least a half dozen Song Sparrows; other species at this spot and elsewhere along this stretch of road included: Swamp and White-throated Sparrows, Orange-crowned Warbler, House Wren, Brown Thrasher...

same spot as above, but on the way back through -- a surprisingly bird-y spot

A few notes before bird list:
   We birded along roads in part of Nebo area south of LA-127; Indian Creek Road; Sharptown Road;  LA-460 to Whitehall, and a brief attempt at birding along Hwy 84 between Whitehall and Old River (not many opportunities to safely bird there). The deep freeze conditions worked to our advantage in some respects: roads that may have been too muddy for me to be comfortable taking were frozen solid and little more than a bumpy ride while the subfreezing temps lasted. Some shallower puddles were now shards of ice slung along the roadside by large oil company trucks that passed through earlier.
   One dread thing about trying to bird in the general vicinity of Nebo is that one is rarely out of earshot of oil wells, which make it hard to heard any birds that might be around. Well, this time many wells were inactive and so most places were good for hearing birds.

2 birders

Start Time: 7:54 am

End Time: 1:00 pm

total hours: 5 hrs, 6 minutes

total miles: 15.15 miles

party miles on foot: 0.25
party hrs on foot: 0.75

party miles by car: 15
party hours by car: 4.5

Birds:

43 species; 531 individuals

Black Vulture - 1

Turkey Vulture - 13

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1

Red-shouldered Hawk - 5

Red-shouldered Hawk -- Nebo

a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks -- Nebo

Red-tailed Hawk (Krider's) - 1 - Flew from tree along hwy 460, we drove along behind it for ~0.2 miles before it landed in edge of woods. We couldn't stop for long as there was a car coming up behind and no real shoulders to pull over. We turned around at a nearby road, but hawk was gone when we passed back by. Really wanted to get photos!

Mourning Dove - 2

Killdeer - 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 15

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1

Downy Woodpecker - 6

Northern Flicker - 2

Pileated Woodpecker - 5

Eastern Phoebe - 4

Blue Jay - 23

American Crow - 34

Carolina Chickadee - 14

Tufted Titmouse - 5

Brown-headed Nuthatch - 4

 (video: two Brown-headed Nuthatches -- Lakeview Road, Nebo)

Brown Creeper - 1

Brown Creeper -- Nebo

House Wren - 2

House Wren -- Indian Creek Road

House Wren -- Indian Creek Road

Winter Wren - 1

Carolina Wren - 9

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 7

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 17

Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- Nebo

Eastern Bluebird - 38

Hermit Thrush - 5

American Robin - 23

Brown Thrasher - 3

Northern Mockingbird - 6

European Starling - 1

Orange-crowned Warbler - 1

Pine Warbler - 16

Pine Warbler -- Indian Creek Road

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 43

Chipping Sparrow - 17

Fox Sparrow - 1

Fox Sparrow -- Nebo

Fox Sparrow -- Nebo

Dark-eyed Junco - 10

White-throated Sparrow - 41

Song Sparrow - 11

Song Sparrow -- Indian Creek Road

Swamp Sparrow - 10

Eastern Towhee - 7

Northern Cardinal - 47

Eastern Meadowlark - 25 (quick count of single flock that flew up near highway 460)

Pine Siskin - 9

Pine Siskin -- Nebo

American Goldfinch - 43

Zone 5 "Delta East"

Habitat shots:

Hibbs Bayou

crossing Big Bayou or Long Bayou -- the strip of woods that line this fat muddy stream harbor woodland species that would otherwise be missing out on "the tundra" of bald farmland

Delta Plantation farmland -- species along this stretch of road included: American Pipit, Horned Lark, Savannah Sparrow, Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, Merlin

back across Big Bayou, on the way back through farm -- this spot around the sheds and bayou/trees is a hangout for a number of species

Delta Plantation -- species in this field included Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, Lapland Longspur, American Pipit, Horned Lark, Savannah Sparrow...

Little River Recreation Area, off Hwy 84 at Archie -- our last stop on the CBC. Species included: Great Egret, Belted Kingfisher, Song and Swamp Sparrows, a flock of Chipping Sparrows...

A few notes before bird list...
   Many thanks to Mr. Keeth for granting permission to conduct CBC birding on Louisiana Delta Plantation farmland (RESTRICTED ACCESS). On the way to Delta Plantation, we noted birds along US-84 where it passes through zone 5. We then spent most of our time for this zone on the farm, and stopped off at the Little River Rec. Area on our way back along 84. 

2 birders

Start Time: 1:04 pm

End Time: 5:09 pm

total hours: (after subtracting time outside circle during this period during which we were driving from one side of the zone to another - no public roads through the middle of the zone) 3 hrs and 23 minutes

total miles in circle: 10.1

Party-hours by car: 2.95

Party-hours on foot: 0.5

Party-miles by car: 10

Party-miles on foot: 0.1

Birds:

27 species; 2132 individuals

Snow Goose - 1500 - estimate, probably on the low side

Snow Geese -- Delta Plantation

Snow Geese -- Delta Plantation

Greater White-fronted Goose - 203

Great Egret - 2

Turkey Vulture - 4

Northern Harrier - 3

Red-tailed Hawk - 3 (including one dark morph)

dark morph Red-tailed Hawk -- Delta Plantation, flying over Big/Long Bayou and environs

dark morph Red-tailed Hawk -- Delta Plantation

Killdeer - 98

Killdeer -- Delta Plantation

Wilson's Snipe - 4
(videos: Wilson's Snipe foraging by probing through the ice. Delta Plantation (restricted access).

Eurasian Collared-Dove - 6

Mourning Dove - 204

Mourning Dove -- Delta Plantation

Belted Kingfisher - 1 - at Little River Rec. Area - last species added to our day's list

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2

American Kestrel - 5

male American Kestrel -- Delta Plantation

Merlin - 1

Eastern Phoebe - 1

Loggerhead Shrike - 2

Blue Jay - 4

American Crow - 1

Horned Lark - 14

Carolina Chickadee - 1

Northern Mockingbird - 3

European Starling - 3

American Pipit - 75

American Pipit -- Delta Plantation

American Pipit -- Delta Plantation

Lapland Longspur - 2 -- They were with a flock of Am. Pipits that were flushed by Northern Harrier. These two, who split off from group and flew over us, gave the Lapland's "tee-you" alarm calls numerous times, which I confirmed by listening to online audio of Lapland Longspur directly after observation. I watched one w/ binoculars as it flew over and circled around to land out of sight in the field, but I wasn't able to discern much detail about it's physical appearance, looking up at gray sky in poor lighting, other than that the bird had the appropriate form for a longspur - round head and short pointy conical bill particularly noted.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 2

Chipping Sparrow - 56

White-crowned Sparrow - 12

Savannah Sparrow - 78

Song Sparrow - 3

Swamp Sparrow - 1

Northern Cardinal - 8

Brown-headed Cowbird - 2

Rusty Blackbird - 1

Brewer's Blackbird - 30

Brewer's Blackbird -- Delta Plantation

   Thanks also to count compiler Marty Floyd, who organizes this CBC and several others in Louisiana. There were several teams working the Catahoula NWR CBC's different zones that day. I've seen the tentative list for the CBC; the final official tally of species and individuals could differ slightly, though. The count hasn't seemed as productive as it did during my first couple of years participating (Dec. 2009 and 2010), but never the less there's lots of birds to be found on this patch of La Salle and Catahoula Parishes and it's always an exciting day.
   Count week species (those not detected one the CBC date, but on the 3 days before and 3 days after that date) that I observed included Blue-headed Vireo and Least Sandpiper.
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