As of the beginning of the year I set a new
goal to reach 15,000 total ticks – “just” 825 to go as of January 1. That meant I couldn’t turn down any
reasonable opportunity to add new statebirds even in states where I already had
good totals. So as my regular January
trip to Houston neared, I started to think about whether there might be some
statebirds I could add in Louisiana, even though my state total there was a
respectable 256 – 20 over the old ABA threshold. The southwestern corner of the state is only
about a 2-hour drive from Houston, and it’s one of my favorite places to bird
anywhere in the country. Then again –I
should say it’s one of my favorite places to bird in winter – believe
me, it’s blasted hot, humid, and buggy there in summer.
Now I needed to see if there might be a
sufficient number of new LA statebirds in the area to justify adding a vacation
day to my trip. I set up an eBird Needs
Alert, and the first thing I noticed was numerous records of Black Scoter. And there were a couple White-winged Scoter
and Long-tailed Duck sightings too, all from Holly Beach along the Cameron
Parish coast. I had seen Surf Scoter in
this same part of the coastline in the past, but needed all the others. But then I started to have cold feet - would
heading all the way to LA be a bit too much for just a 1-day trip? But I routinely take a 2-hour drive to chase
after a single rarity in New England, so a 2-hour drive into LA from Houston,
with multiple potential targets, would surely be worthwhile. I talked myself into it - the trip was
on!
Now came all the pick and shovel work to do
research on eBird and the LA listserve.
One of the challenges to researching sightings in the southwestern
corner of LA is that there are very few birders in the area, so there are few
routine reports. Most of the recent posts
came from this year’s Christmas Counts, and luckily there are quite a number of
counts in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes.
So that led to quite a few reports, but most were now several weeks old. Hopefully the great birds seen on the
Christmas Counts would stick around.
With this initial research I found 10 possible targets to pursue.
Next I connected with my LA birding friend
Marty Guidry. Marty is not only very
active birding in LA in general, but also has a long history with the Christmas
Counts in southwestern LA. Sure enough
Marty had some good details on many of the birds I had researched on eBird, and
was available to bird with me on my vacation day. As on my previous LA trips, his micro-directions
and local advice would prove to be invaluable.
I met Marty at the edge of the tiny town of
Holly Beach, a town still rebuilding after being total demolished by Hurricane
Rita back in 2005. Marty knew that the
diving ducks had been hanging out just west of town, a critical detail since no
specific locations had been mentioned in eBird.
After a short drive to the west we had our scopes out and began to scan
the surf. We found many Lesser Scaup
bobbing in the water, but no scoters.
Then we began to pick out an occasional Black Scoter in the flock (LA
statebird #1). LA was my third state for
this species away from its more common wintering ranges on the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts (see my statebird map below).
Although it was great to finally find a couple scoters, the reports and photos on eBird showed whole flocks of Black Scoters. I mentioned to Marty that maybe we weren’t at the right spot, so we took a short walk to the west to scan a new part of the coast. And here we finally found several groups of 5 to 8 Black Scoters – finally critical mass to find the others. I picked out a couple Surf Scoters here and there, and then finally found one immature male White-winged Scoter (LA statebird #2). With more shaded inland states than for my Black Scoter map, my statebird map for White-winged Scoter is reflective of the fact that this species is typically the most common inland wintering scoter.
We spent some more time scanning through
the numerous birds in the surf, but couldn’t pick out the Long-tailed Duck that
had been occasionally reported here.
Although I didn’t want to give up on this bird too quickly, there were
many other stops ahead of us. So we
decided to move on, very happy to have tallied 50 Black Scoters, 8 Surf
Scoters, and 1 White-winged Scoter, in with at least 100 Lesser Scaup.
The next couple stops were more
speculative, with low-probability targets.
First we birded the Cameron Oxidation Ponds where a Redhead had been reported
a couple weeks earlier. We found lots of
Ruddy Ducks and some Lesser Scaup, but no Redhead. Then we made a brief stop where a Black Rail
had been found a few months earlier, but it was long gone. Or at least it didn’t reply to any of our
playbacks that day.
Next we were on to a residence on the west
side of Creole where a Buff-bellied Hummingbird had been reported since
November. The most recent eBird report
was more than a month old, but Marty had it on the Christmas Count. And most importantly Marty had the homeowner’s
phone number – with a quick phone call he found out that the bird was still
being seen and we were allowed to come look for her bird. When we arrived Marty mentioned that his
first try for the bird, while he was standing in the back yard, was
unsuccessful. But the bird quickly came
to the feeder when he looked from inside the house on his second atttempt. Unfortunately the homeowner wasn’t home the
day we were there, so we would just have to cross our fingers that the bird
would cooperate while we watched from out back.
To try to improve our chances we stood far
to the side of the yard and began our wait.
This actually put us quite far from the house, and we had to use
binoculars to see if anything was at the feeder. I was a bit worried whether we would notice
the hummingbird fly in. Then I
remembered that Buff-bellied Hummingbirds can be quite vocal – years ago I looked
for one coming to a feeder in FL and heard it calling long before it arrived at
the feeder. So I not only kept my eyes open,
but also my ears open, for our target bird.
And almost as predicted, after about 20 minutes I heard the Buff-bellied
calling in the distance. Then I spotted
it perched in a tree in the backyard.
And a few seconds later it flew in to drink at the feeder (LA statebird #3). LA is only my third state for this species –
in addition to the calling bird at the FL feeder, and of course birds in their
regular range in TX.
Our next stop was just a short distance to
the east at the Oak Grove Sanctuary.
This is an isolated natural patch of woods and underbrush that is well
known as a hot spot for landbirds, especially during migration. Marty had taken me here on an earlier trip
when we were successful finding a wintering Barn Owl. Today our targets were two stakeouts - a
Woodcock and a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches that Marty and others had seen a
few weeks earlier on the Christmas Count.
First we slowly walked the stretch of trails where the Woodcock had been
seen several times, but it was not to be.
The entire patch of woods seemed to be good habitat for Woodcock, so we
kept our eyes open during our entire visit.
But we would end up missing this one.
Another 100 yards down the path we got to the area where the Nuthatches
had been seen. As we watched and
listened for the birds we both remarked that this wasn’t typical Red-breasted
habitat – the trees were all deciduous with no conifers in site. After a short wait with no luck Marty started
some playback, and a minute later I heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch reply. Eventually we got good looks at the bird foraging
nearby (LA statebird #4). Surprisingly I
still have 5 more states to go to fill in my statebird map for this
wide-ranging species.
The sanctuary was very birdy, and we made
several more stops along the trails, checking off numerous Gnatcatchers,
Kinglets, and Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers. We were making our way back to the Woodcock
spot for one last try when I spotted a Thrush on the ground – it had an orangey
back, and as it turned I saw large brown spots below on a white
background. It was a Wood Thrush, very
rare for mid-winter. Certainly not a new
statebird for me, but by far the rarest of our sightings for the day.
We then turned north to head to Cameron
Prairie NWR, and specifically Pintail Drive.
This is a classic auto route through excellent wetland habitat loaded
with waterfowl. Our targets here were a
Tundra Swan, a male Cinnamon Teal, and Redheads. Although all had been reported during
Christmas Count season, only the Teal had been reported recently. As we started around the drive we encountered
the first of many large flocks of dabblers.
Soon we had every expected dabbler species, but no Cinnamon Teal. Then we started to see small mixed flocks of
White-fronted and Snow Geese, which was important since the Swan was typically
seen with the Snows. But Marty mentioned
the number of geese was way down from the count day, and with no Swan in site,
perhaps it had moved on with the wintering flocks of Snows.
As we continued around the drive we stopped
to check for the Teal anywhere we spotted dabblers, but still no luck. None of the eBird reports mentioned where the
Teal had been seen, and with many hundreds of dabblers scattered throughout the
impoundment, I was thinking this would turn out to be a “needle in a haystack”
kind of search. We now had reached the
eastern part of the drive, and looked to the east into deeper water where Marty
had had the Redheads mixed in with other divers. But we saw no divers at all. Like the geese, had the divers also already
moved out to start their spring migration?
We turned our attention back to the shallow
impoundment and yet another flock of dabblers in the distance. I started to scan the flock with my binocs
and picked up a brief glimpse of bright red. Did I have the Cinnamon Teal? But then it was gone. I continued to search the area and spotted
the red plumage again – it was indeed the Teal in the distance (LA statebird #5). We got the scopes on the spot and eventually
the bird reappeared as it played hide-and-seek among the other dabblers. But even when only a portion of the bird was
visible, that red plumage sure stood out among the various shades of brown of
the other dabblers. LA is a nice
addition to my statebird map for this species; I still need it in a couple
states in its regular range.
Our last target for the day was Say’s
Phoebe. We had 2 birds to try for, both
seen by the same observer a few miles apart on one Christmas Count in Calcasieu
County. Although those posts were now
quite old, the one on Old Camp Road mentioned that the bird “was in the same
area as in past years”, so I hoped it would be reliable. Plus the report mentioned it was at the bend
in the road, so we had pretty specific directions. The other sighting was “on east end of Levee Rd. loop”
which I couldn’t find on the map despite lots of searching. So the first bird would have to be our
target. Along the way we made a couple
quick speculative stops to try for Yellow-headed Blackbirds in blackbird
flocks, but could “only” find an adult male Vermillion Flycatcher. As I always say – “I can never see enough
male Vermillion Flycatchers.”
There were actually 2 different bends in
the road along Old Camp Road, but the eastern one was in a wooded area which
was not typically good habitat for Say’s.
When we arrived at the western bend we found much more open habitat
ideal for a Say’s, with piles of brush that would be great perches. But despite a lot of searching we couldn’t
find our target. The consolation prize
was 4 Caracaras – I remember years ago spending quite a bit of time to
eventually find this species in what was at the time its lone reliable spot in
LA.
Now what do we do? I told Marty about the other reported
location, but that I couldn’t find the road mentioned in the eBird report. Marty looked at his book map and noticed a
road in the general area that made a small loop. I pulled up my map app, quickly found this
road, and saw that it was named “Levee Loop Rd.” – not the “Levee Rd.” I had
been unsuccessfully searching for till now.
Now that we had the right location, we were off to the second Say’s
Phoebe spot.
The first part of Levee Loop Rd. was a
small subdivision with large yards and planted trees. Despite the manicured appearance, it was
quite birdy, with a number of Yellow-rumps flitting about. We got to the eastern end of the loop where
the Say’s had been reported on the count, but to not avail. The southeast corner of the loop included a
horse pasture with lots of fenceposts to perch on. This looked like an ideal spot, but with a
quick look we couldn’t find a Phoebe.
Then I noticed more movement a bit to the west and spotted a
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher flitting from treetop to treetop. Although not a new statebird, it was a nice
rarity to find for the day. I got this
phonescoped photo of this cooperative bird.
We drove over to the west, and while
watching the Scissor-tail I spotted another flycatcher in the treetops – it was
a female or immature Vermillion. And a
minute later I spotted a male Vermillion as well. Then a couple Eastern Phoebes flew into the
area. All the flycatchers were actively
feeding, so we were convinced we would find the Say’s among this group, but we struck
out again.
We talked about heading back to the east
for a more extended search of the horse pasture, but I thought we should first
bird the last stretch of the road to the west.
I drove up ahead and soon had a fleeting glimpse of what I thought was a
Phoebe in a yard to the south. I pulled
over and scanned the spot but came up empty.
Then I saw more movement and quickly got out the scope – it was the
Say’s Phoebe (LA statebird #6), our fourth flycatcher species for this spot. Sure glad we didn’t head back to the east
instead. Nice to add LA to my statebird
map as a rarity, though not as rare as the ones I’ve seen in MA and NH.
What a great way to end the day! We ended up with 98 species for the day – an
excellent January total. And of course I
was extremely happy to have added 6 new birds to my LA list. Now you can see why I love birding in
southwestern LA. My statelist is now at
262 - 26 over the reportable threshold.
And it was only a couple years ago that I remember struggling to reach
my “Reportable Plus 15” goal in LA.
Before parting ways, I couldn’t thank Marty
Guidry enough for his great birdfinding advice.
Once again his micro-directions were key to finding many of my
targets. And now that I’m back in the
“total ticking” game, I’ll hopefully be back in LA birding with Marty again in
the near future.
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