Catahoula Lake and Catahoula NWR (La Salle Parish)-- 9/8/2019

Sanderlings at Catahoula Lake

Related Posts:
 - Catahoula Lake, August 2018 -
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/08/catahoula-lake-august-2018.html
&
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/09/catahoula-lake-la-salle-parish-august.html

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   On September 8 I went to Catahoula Lake to look for shorebirds. I had gone on August 23, but found the lake bed too muddy to walk on and water still a touch too high on that day. By Sept. 8 more than enough time had passed for things to dry out and the lake bed to become more accessible.
   I started by birding the Catahoula Lake Recreation Area location, in which I include the mile of Diversion Canal Road between LA-28 and the rec. area, and the short dirt road down to the lake.

Diversion Canal Rd

rec. area / spillway and canal

canal, between spillway and lake

dirt road to lake

I then walked out on the lake bed roughly paralleling the east side of the diversion canal channel where it cuts across the lake bed. In order not to frighten away the shorebirds along the canal, I would approach the canal for a good view of what's around that area, then arch away from the water as I walked along, until approaching another spot on the canal.

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diversion canal on lake bed

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looking southwest along the lake

looking northwest across the lake

looking northeast down the lake

The water was the lowest that I've ever seen it on one of these visits. I walked as far as where the edge of shallow water or mudflats would typically be this time of the season, but this time it was slightly muddy but basically solid ground covered in short grass with the broad expanse of shallows nonexistent. The permanent pool, off in the distance, was basically invisible from there. Not feeling like walking miles round-trip to access more water, I decided that the birding along the canal had been good enough and turned back. When I got close to the edge of the lake bed, instead of taking the main dirt road I stayed on the lake bed and followed the edge of the woody vegetation around to the canal and took the shortcut back to the parking area.

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Swainson's Warbler location

Birds
   There were a good many flyover water birds seen from the rec. area when I arrived that morning, including Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills. A Broad-winged Hawk flew over fairly low, pursued by a swallow. There was a male Ring-necked Duck, perhaps wounded during duck season and unable to migrate, in the canal between the spillway and the lake.

Ring-necked Duck

   Songbirds were on the move. A few passerines, giving flight calls, were seen coming out of the sky over the lake to land in the thick woody growth between the lake and the dirt road. Searching for them in the thicket I found Kentucky and Hooded Warblers, and a Prothonotary Warbler that may have been with them, mingling with Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (resident and/or arrivals?) and a (resident?) family group of White-eyed Vireos.

Kentucky Warbler

(video: female or hatch-year Hooded Warbler, foraging)

A Dickcissel was heard and seen circling overhead at the parking area. A group of four Painted Buntings -- at least three of them adult males, the other ID-ed by call -- came flying from the lake together.

   Once out on the lake bed, I found all the shorebirds concentrated along the canal. There were lots of noisy flamboyant Black-necked Stilts and Killdeer.

Black-necked Stilts

Least Sandpipers and Spotted Sandpipers foraged along the water's edge.

Least Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

There was a Pectoral Sandpiper by a small pool across the canal, and groups of peeps would occasionally be seen flying along or across the canal further down, beyond where I went.

Pectoral Sandpiper and Black-necked Stilt

Besides these "gimme" species, there was also a Willet and a few Sanderlings.

Willet

Willet in flight, showing the distinctive black-and-white wing pattern

Sanderlings

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderlings

Black-necked Stilts and Willet

   This was a nice little assortment of shorebirds, but overall numbers of individuals was low and some species that I'd commonly seen here in past years went undetected. These missing species include Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed and/or Short-billed Dowitchers, American Avocet, and Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers. Some others that I'd occasionally find in previous years but not this time include Buff-bellied, Upland, and Semipalmated Sandpipers, and Marbled Godwit. No Least or Black Terns were seen this time either, nor were any ducks detected (Blue-winged Teal and sometime one or both whistling-duck species can be found here this time of year), and wading birds were not as numerous as they often would be (no doubt concentrated far off around the permanent pool and channels, where I couldn't see them).

   Back near the edge of the lake bed I found two Northern Parulas (both calling, one seen) and two Swainson's Warblers (both calling, one seen) foraging in the edge of the woody growth not too far from where I had seen the other warblers earlier that morning.

Swainson's Warbler

   Below are the two separate bird lists for the Rec. Area and Catahoula Lake.

Catahoula Lake Rec. Area
La Salle Parish
7:17 a.m.; 1 hr 7 mins; 1.3 miles
start temp. 73 F.; clear; mostly calm

Ring-necked Duck - 1
Mourning Dove - 4
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1
Black-necked Stilt - x
Killdeer - 1
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Wood Stork - 8

Wood Storks

Great Blue Heron - 3
Great Egret - 42
Snowy Egret - 2
white egret sp. - 37 - distant
Roseate Spoonbill - 10
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 2
White-eyed Vireo - 14
Blue Jay - 2
American Crow - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 2
swallow sp. - 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 6
Carolina Wren - 4
Common Grackle - 6
Prothonotary Warbler - 1
Kentucky Warbler - 1
Hooded Warbler - 1
Summer Tanager - 3
Northern Cardinal - 11
Dickcissel - 1

Catahoula Lake
La Salle Parish
8:25 a.m.; 2 hours; ~1 mile
~80's F.; clear; not much wind to speak of; water very low even by summer/fall draw down standards

Mourning Dove - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 3
Black-necked Stilt - 39

Black-necked Stilt

Killdeer - 12
Sanderling - 7

Sanderling

Least Sandpiper - 5 - probably more among "peep sp."

Least Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper - 1
peep sp. - ~50 - distant along canal
Spotted Sandpiper - 7
Willet - 1
Cattle Egret - 14
white egret sp. - ~100 - distant, or flyovers noted while I was busy ID-ing shorebirds
White Ibis - 1
Turkey Vulture - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 3 - two hatch-year, one adult
Eastern Kingbird - 3
White-eyed Vireo - 2
American Crow - 7
Carolina Chickadee - 1
Barn Swallow - 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 3
Carolina Wren - 1
Common Grackle - x - flyover(s) heard while I was scanning shorebirds
Swainson's Warbler - 2

Swainson's Warbler

Northern Parula - 2
Northern Cardinal - 2
Painted Bunting - 4

Other wildlife on Catahoula Lake and around the Rec. Area...
   Mammals included Swamp Rabbit...

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...Eastern Fox Squirrel, and a family of Northern Raccoons (mamma raccoon and two half-grown youngsters).

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   Butterflies included duskywing sp., Common Checkered-Skipper, dark swallowtail sp., Little Yellow, Sleepy Orange, Gulf Fritillary, 'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple, and Question Mark. This is from memory as I did not record butterflies in my notes this time. Species diversity was low, and the only ones that I'd say were numerous were the Little Yellows.

Sleepy Orange

   After leaving Catahoula Lake, I decided to pay a visit to Catahoula NWR Headquarters Unit. This is one of my most frequented birding locations, but during the past couple of months I'd neglected to bird there as often as I normally would. I drove, making numerous stops, the portion of the refuge loop that goes past the north end of Duck Lake to the corner by Cowpen Bayou, then drove back, and down the east leg of the loop as far as the gated side road that goes to the east side of Duck Lake. A large part of the refuge loop is still closed until damage from the flood earlier this year can be repaired.

north end of Duck Lake

inflow/outflow channel (Duck Lake Slough)

east leg of refuge loop

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   The water level in Duck Lake, though low-ish and gradually dropping, was still high relative to the rest of the Catahoula Lake system and there wasn't a lot of good shorebird habitat. However, the low water on the outflow side of the levee had wading birds concentrated along the slough that connects the lake to the rest of the Catahoula Lake system.
   In the woods there was a fair amount of activity, despite the heat.

Catahoula NWR HQ Unit
mostly La Salle Parish with a sliver of Catahoula Parish
11:06 a.m.; 1 hr 34 mins; 2.4 miles
~90 F.; clear; not much wind to speak of; water level marker in Duck Lake: ~34'

Black-bellied Whistling Duck - 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1
Black-necked Stilt - 2
Killdeer - 1
Wood Stork - 32
Anhinga - 2
Double-crested Cormorant - 4
Great Blue Heron - 5
Great Egret - 127
Snowy Egret - 9
Little Blue Heron - 2
Tricolored Heron - 2
Green Heron - 2

Green Heron

White Ibis - 8
Turkey Vulture - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Empidonax sp. - 1 - seen very briefly; couldn't say which sp. except that it was a very small green/gray/brown flycatcher with buffy or white wingbars
White-eyed Vireo - 6
Red-eyed Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 4
Carolina Chickadee - 6
Tufted Titmouse - 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 4
Carolina Wren - 7
Kentucky Warbler - 1
Summer Tanager - 1

male Summer Tanager

Northern Cardinal - 9
Indigo Bunting - 1

Butterflies at the NWR included (from memory; did not record butterflies in my notes this time): Common Checkered-Skipper, Cloudless Sulphur, Hackberry Emperor.

a pair of Cloudless Sulphurs

   As always, if you spot any incorrect IDs or have suggestions for those that I'm unsure about, feel free to let me know.
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