Catahoula NWR Christmas Bird Count (zone 5 team), 12/29/2015

Little River at Little River Recreation Area, Catahoula Parish

   This year's CA CBC wasn't as exciting as some years (no Burrowing Owl or Say's Phoebe or anything like that) but it was good to get out there and check out some locations that I don't often visit outside the CBC. This is especially the case with Delta Plantation - the farm that encompasses a large part of my coverage zone (zone 5) and the adjacent zone 6. I was joined by my father who, though not really a "birder", has a lot of outdoor experience and has come along on the CBC before.

CBC count day sunrise

   The first birds of the day were Killdeer, Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl at the entrance to the farm on the boundary with Dewey W Wills WMA. Here, bottomland hardwood forest meets open, wet farmland. My father spotted a Bald Eagle which I didn't notice from my position a little ways from him until the bird began vocalizing, even though it apparently flew right by me! (too busy fiddling with the camera. I'll learn my lesson.).  I did some walking, but mostly we birded from the truck while on the farm. During a brief chat with the team from zone 6 at the zone boundary, the juvenile eagle reappeared and we also spotted a Merlin fly overhead. The Merlin (presumably the same one) would be seen again later. The farm was disappointingly dead in many areas; not at all like my first couple of years doing the count (2009 and 2010) when the place seemed like a paradise for open-country and wetland birds. However, we were impressed with the large flocks of Snow and Greater White-fronted Geese and greatly enjoyed spending some time watching them flying in to join those already on the ground.

Snow Geese (both "Blue" and White phases)

   At the edge of some woods on the way back to the entrance gate we spotted a couple of Inca Doves (shown in video below) fly up from where they'd been feeding on the roadside with cardinals, sparrows, and others. A group of four Pine Warblers were also at this spot.


   For a while after that, it was mostly the usual birds, with a flock of Vesper Sparrows on Cypress Bayou Loop (NE end) near the junction with Highway 28 being a little highlight. We spent a considerable while at the Little River Recreation Area at Archie, where I walked the grounds and did a pretty thorough survey of the birds there. The highlight was at least two Neotropic Cormorants hanging around with the several Double-crested Cormorants in the river. Often the Neotropic Cormorants were side-by-side with their larger and more frequently encountered cousins, making for easy comparison.

Neotropic Cormorant on the left, w/ Double-crested Cormorants, at Little River Rec. Area

The Neo's, though small numbers of them are a fairly regular sight in the area in the summer and autumn, are harder to find during the winter and are, in fact, not on the CA CBC checklist.

Neotropic Cormorants (with Great Egret) at Little River Rec. Area

   A little more birding along Hwy 84 and side roads brought us only the expected species, and added only one species - House Sparrow - to the day's list, but it was gratifying birding all the same.
   Some notable absentees from my CBC list this year include Horned Lark (usually abundant on the farm), Common Grackle (All day without any grackles? Seriously?!), Brewer's Blackbird, Blue-headed Vireo, several species both of ducks and shorebirds, and I think this is the first year where I didn't get an accipiter species (Sharp-shinned Hawk or Cooper's Hawk) on the count. There were unexpectedly low numbers of some species such as American Pipit and Northern Harrier, and all-around disappointingly low numbers of ducks.
   At the time that I'm writing this, I haven't heard what the other teams who covered the other zones of the count circle found. Here's hoping we have an impressive list for the CA CBC as a whole!
   A few non-avian things ...
We noticed several species of wildflowers in bloom. Some of the ones I feel pretty confident of the correct identification for include these colorful Cotton Morning-Glory on Delta Plantation (edge of woods by Inca Dove spot),

Cotton Morning-Glory (Ipomoea cordatotriloba)

these Bird-eye Speedwell (or similar Veronica species) at the Little River Rec. Area,

tentative i.d.: Bird-eye Speedwell (Veronica persica)

and the Heliotrope (??Heliotropium procumbens??) that grows along the river bank there.

tentative i.d.: Heliotropium procumbens

Lots of the orange ripe fruit of the Maypop aka Purple Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) were seen on the farm (and a few at the rec. area), looking odd and out of place, like fruit dumped on the ground, now that the vines are largely wilted and inconspicuous.

Maypop fruit (Passiflora incarnata), the end product of those beautiful purple flowers of the spring and summer

   A couple of butterflies were seen, but only in fleeting glimpses from the truck, so I am just not sure what to make of them. There were, however, a lot of these moths at the Little River Rec. Area. They look to me a lot like Celery Leaftier Moths, which I've encountered a lot in the region earlier in the year. But, if I've learned anything about moths, its that they can be tricky to i.d.!

tentative i.d.: Celery Leaftier Moth (Udea rubigalis)

   Southern Leopard Frog, Spring Peeper, and I think Cajun Chorus Frog (memory a little foggy and didn't record in my notes all frogs that were heard) were heard calling a few times at a few places. Mammals were pretty scarce though there were of course a few Eastern Fox Squirrels seen during the day's birding.
Complete bird list for our time in the CBC circle is below.

6:30 am to 3:57 pm (3.5 hours on foot, the rest by vehicle)

 

miles birded by vehicle: 23

miles birded on foot: 1

 

45 to 54 degrees f.; cloudy, then significant clearing in the afternoon; light breeze.

73 species plus 2 taxa

Greater White-fronted Goose - 410

Snow Goose - 8,000

Wood Duck - 23

Mallard - 18

Northern Shoveler - 6

Green-winged Teal - 20

Ring-necked Duck - 21

Ruddy Duck - 11

duck sp. - roughly 200 (distant group on water, poorly-seen flyovers, and the like)

 

Neotropic Cormorant - 2

Double-crested Cormorant - 7

American White Pelican - 7

 

Neotropic Cormorant (left) and Double Crested Cormorants

Great Blue Heron - 8

Great Egret - 5

 

Black Vulture - 2

Turkey Vulture - 14

Northern Harrier - 2

Bald Eagle - 1

Red-shouldered Hawk - 1

Red-tailed Hawk - 14

 

American Coot - 50

 

Killdeer - 74

Greater Yellowlegs - 3

Long-billed Dowitcher - 200

shorebird sp. - 7

 

Eurasian Collared Dove - 8

Inca Dove - 2

Mourning Dove - 15

Great Horned Owl - 2

Barred Owl - 2

 

Belted Kingfisher - 1

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 12

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 4

Downy Woodpecker - 8

Northern Flicker - 6

Pileated Woodpecker - 1

 

American Kestrel - 9

Merlin - 1

Carolina Wren, Little River Rec. Area

 

Eastern Phoebe - 6

 

Loggerhead Shrike - 5

 

Blue Jay - 14

American Crow - 147

 

Carolina Chickadee - 19

Tufted Titmouse - 9

Brown Creeper - 1

 

House Wren - 1

Winter Wren - 2

Carolina Wren - 29

 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1

 

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 12

 

Eastern Bluebird - 10

Hermit Thrush - 5

American Robin - 4

 

Brown Thrasher - 2

Northern Mockingbird - 8


Northern Mockingbird, near Hwy 84/ Archie community

European Starling - 19

 

American Pipit - 24

 

Orange-crowned Warbler - 6

Common Yellowthroat - 1

Pine Warbler - 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 36

male Pine Warbler

 

Chipping Sparrow - 15

Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 2

White-throated Sparrow - 67

Vesper Sparrow - 9

Savannah Sparrow - 64

Song Sparrow - 22

Swamp Sparrow - 3

Eastern Towhee - 7

Swamp Sparrow, Evergreen Church Road, Catahoula Parish 

 

Northern Cardinal - 49

 

Red-winged Blackbird - 77

Eastern Meadowlark - 8

 

American Goldfinch - 39

 

House Sparrow - 3 

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Maypop fruit, Little River Rec. Area

Happy New Year!