An Impromptu Trip Yields 5 Louisiana Statebirds, July 2013

Although I’ve been over the ABA reportable threshold in Louisiana for some time, I’m just 6 over threshold.  As a result, for years I’ve been worried that the threshold could inch up past my total some day.  So when an opportunity to spend a couple hours birding in LA came up, I jumped at it.  Because the trip came up at the last minute, I had only packed my binocs which would limit my chances of finding my shorebird targets.  And high heat and humidity would make the birding unpleasant at best.  But with some advice from my good birding friend from LA, Marty Guidry, when work was done for the day, I was ready to go hoping for maybe a couple statebirds. 

I arrived in Cameron Parish in mid-afternoon and my first stop was an impoundment to try for shorebirds.  There were quite a number of peeps and terns there, but all were too far away to ID with my binocs.  So I moved on to Holly Beach where shorebirds were right along the road.  I ran into numerous terns (Royal’s mostly, with lesser numbers of Caspians, Leasts, and Sandwich’s), and many shorebirds (mostly Sanderlings, and some Wilson’s and Piping Plovers), but nothing new for my LA list.  I needed Snowy Plover, and may have had one, but it was too far away to ID. 

Next stops were on Davis Road immediately south of the town of Cameron.  My first stop was at the Cameron sewage ponds, where a Black Tern and Neotropic Cormorant were nice, but still nothing new.  Next stop was the East Jetty at the mouth of the Calcasieu River.  At the point there was a small wetland with a number of roosting gulls and a few shorebirds.  Panning through the flock revealed one sleeping Marbled Godwit (new LA bird #1) and another possible Snowy Plover, but still too far to ID.  My statebird map for Marbled Godwit is below – although I’ve seen this species in only a few of the inland states where it is a breeder and migrant, I have pretty good coverage for its coastal ranges.

Other shorebirds included Killdeer, and Semi and Black-bellied Plovers, which gave me 5 plovers for the day.  A King Rail practically at my feet was a nice addition.

Then I went over to the observation tower and could see a very impressive flock of birds lined up along the beach - I estimated 1,000 Brown Pelicans, 300 Royal Terns, and 200 Laughing Gulls.  Mixed in were a small number of other gulls including 1 1st-2^nd cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull (#2), and a few Herring and Ring-billed.  LA was my 24^th state for Lesser – not bad for a bird that was considered to be a rarity not too many years ago.

Then I went to the freshwater wetlands north of Cameron in hopes of whistling ducks – both species are possible there.  A cooperative Clapper Rail was nice, but otherwise it was pretty slow (and very hot!).

From there I headed a short distance north to the Cameron Prairie NWR.  En route I stopped in a brushy area and had a perched male Painted Bunting – what a beautiful bird!  My first stop on the Pintail Loop at the refuge was a short boardwalk through a wetlands that looked like good habitat.  Numerous family groups of Common and Purple Gallinules and many species of waders were right along the boardwalk.  Then I turned a corner and hit the jackpot.  The first birds I noticed were two ducks flying away – mostly dark with a white base of the tail – Fulvous Whistling-Ducks (#3).  I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen this species – but it’s got to be many years.  Then I noticed 2 others sitting in the wetlands a short distance away, along with 2 Mottled Ducks.  LA is only my 4^th state for Fulvous – TX, FL, and now LA in its normal range, and MD as a rarity.

A few feet to the right were a small number of shorebirds moving through the vegetation.  Here’s where a scope would have come in handy.  It took me a while but I was able to pick out 3 Lesser and 1 Greater Yellowlegs, and 3 smaller Stilt Sandpipers (#4).  Then a Solitary Sandpiper flushed from along the boardwalk (#5).  I’ve seen both Stilt and Solitary in most of their regular states (and a few states as rarities), but still need each of them in a few eastern states.

Another highlight was a very close dark ibis which turned out to be a Glossy, a few feet away from 4 White-faced Ibis.  The boardwalk turned out to be an exceptional spot.

With 5 new statebirds that gives me 247 on my LA list and 11 over the threshold.  I aim for 15 over the threshold in each east state so only 4 more to go to hopefully make sure that I stay above threshold in LA.  Plus I ended up with 77 species for the short trip – not bad in just 3 hours of birding at the end of the day.