Central Louisiana Birding & Wildlife: Rapides and Grant Parishes, 2/14/16

Spotted Sandpiper at Kincaid Lake, Rapides Parish

There were some interesting birds in Alexandria on Valentine's Day morning (including things like White-winged Dove, which I don't find at my usual birding locations), but after a little while a group of us met up at Kincaid Reservoir/Lake, west of the city, to try for the Eared Grebe that had recently been seen there. Parking near the Tunk's Cypress Inn restaurant, we walked the trail that goes across the little 'spillway area' (for lack of a better word coming to mind) and over the wooded hill to the dam. We didn't see the Eared Grebe, but there were several of the common Pied-billed Grebes around, as well as small groups of such ducks as Lesser Scaup and Northern Shoveler.
While heading back across the little spillway, one of our party spotted some Common Goldeneyes. These ducks are somewhat uncommon in our area and were the definite highlight at that location. The Goldeneyes were near the far bank, across the cove to the south/southeast of Tunk's, and satisfactory looks could only be had through the scope, which we all took a turn at. Of course, a few blurry distant photos were also taken. There were a female and two males - the males have a largely white body with a green head, prominent white patch in front of the eye, and the namesake yellow eyes; the females are gray with a brown head, paler tip to the bill, and, of course, yellow eyes.

Common Goldeneyes at Kincaid Lake (female on left, male on right)

Common Goldeneyes at Kincaid Lake (female on left, male on right) w/ Lesser Scaup in foreground/right

Some of the other birds at this location were Spotted Sandpiper, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, and a crow that may have been Fish Crow. There were quite a lot of wildflowers blooming near the lake - some larger and more prominent like Vetch; most smaller, low-growing flowers like Veronica, Houstonia/Bluet, Woodsorrel, and False Garlic.

Vetch near Kincaid Lake

False Garlic near Kincaid Lake

two types of (blurry) Bluets
(the larger, blue/purple ones are Houstonia pusilla?) near Kincaid Lake

a couple of species of Bluet (Houstonia) near Kincaid Lake

(And no, despite what day it was, we didn't also visit nearby Valentine Lake. haha.)

Eastern Phoebe at Catahoula Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden, Grant Parish

After Kincaid; Tom, Beth, and I decided to make a stop at the Catahoula Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden in the Kisatchie National Forest's Catahoula Ranger District in Grant Parish. There were cool temperatures this day and very few flowers blooming at the garden in the heart of winter, so not surprisingly the butterflies were not out and about. However, the garden was hopping with songbirds including Dark-eyed Junco, Eastern Towhee, White-throated Sparrow, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. A couple of individuals of some kind of small rodent - my best guess is Hispid Cotton Rat - were glimpsed scurrying away through one of the flower beds. Unfortunately, we never got a clear look at them. Pine Warblers were singing in the adjacent pine woods, where we also saw numerous Brown-headed Nuthatches and a Blue-headed Vireo.

Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Kisatchie National Forest, Grant Parish

The highlight of this stop was, of course, the resident Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. We could hear three or so, and got good looks at at least one of them (see video). There are colonies of this endangered bird - endemic to mature pine forests of the southeastern U.S. - here in the Catahoula Ranger District, and with a little patience, they can be found pretty reliably in the woods near the garden. (A friendly reminder to those searching for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers - please do not disturb this sensitive species unnecessarily.)

All-in-all, a very nice morning of birding.

Habitat shots: