As my upcoming
November business trip to Houston began to take shape it was looking like I
might have a free day. So I decided to
take a day of vacation and do some local birding in the area – which would be
cheaper than incurring change fees to fly home a day earlier. However, with some eBird research I wasn’t
finding any possible TX statebirds nearby to chase after. So I set my sights on southwestern LA, and
found recent reports of several possible statebirds, many of which were
associated with rice harvesting in the Thornwell area. Specifically quite a number of Yellow Rails
were being seen, along with a few American Bitterns (alas I still need this
common bird for my LA list). My first
ever Yellow Rails were 2 I saw in AR in October 2000 when I was lucky enough to
find a combine harvesting rice. That was
a tremendous day, when I spent almost the entire time walking alongside the
combine, also finding 2 extremely rare Black Rails, and hundreds each of Soras
and Virginias. With those fond memories
I was really looking forward to another opportunity to watch rice being
harvested.
Now I had to do
my detailed research. I noticed that
several of the eBird reports were from Donna Dittmann and Steve Cardiff. In February 2017 I birded in their Baton
Rouge yard to add Calliope Hummingbird and Purple Finch to my LA list. So I reached out to them again, this time to
get advice on their Rails. Unfortunately
it turns out that they had coordinated in advance with a rice farmer to be at
his fields when he was harvesting, so instead I would have to drive around the
fields in the area and be lucky enough to find a field that was being harvested
when I was there. That approach worked
for me in AR – hopefully it would work for me in LA as well.
Rice harvesting
doesn’t happen until later in the day to allow for the morning dew to
evaporate, so I could make at least one other stop before heading to the
Thornwell rice fields. I decided to
start at dawn at Peveto Woods - a remnant patch of woods along the coast which
can be a great migrant trap. There had
been several recent reports of late fall warblers there that I still need for
LA. There were also a number of recent
records of Franklin’s Gulls at various spots along the coast. And then there was a spot not too far away in
Calcasieu Parish where a pair of White-tailed Hawks had been seen for nearly a
month. So along with watching the rice
harvest, that would make for a full day of birding (and driving). My plans were set.
I arrived at
Peveto Woods right at sunrise and began to bird the woodlands. There were good numbers of birds present, but
all were wintering birds. I found
several Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers, but couldn’t find any late
migrants. A quick stop at the nearby
beach yielded a nice Piping Plover, and a couple Western Willets, but nothing
else. So with visions of flushing Rails
dancing in my head (it wasn’t yet the season for sugarplum visions), I headed
out of Peveto to make my way to Thornwell.
Along the way I stopped at each flock of Gulls and Terns I spotted roosting
along the coast to look for Franklin’s, but with no luck. Things had to pick up when I got to
Thornwell, right?
As I neared
Thornwell I started to see numerous rice fields, though almost all had already
been harvested. As I got closer I
spotted a large flock of white Geese flushing from a field in the distance - I
guessed there could be 1,500 birds in the flock, which included a number of
White-fronts. But rather than stopping
to check out the Geese, I needed to focus on finding a rice field being
harvested. As I started to crisscross
the back roads I began to find quite a number of fields that hadn’t yet been
harvested. But I couldn’t find any
activity in any of the fields. I spent at
least an hour driving around the area, checking out fields along maybe 15 miles
of roadways, but with no luck. At 11:30
I had to stop to take a work call, so I pulled over at what seemed to be a nice
location and began the call. Just then I
noticed a small Flycatcher fly from a nearby tree – it was an immature
Vermillion Flycatcher. Not a new LA
statebird (it was my 3rd for LA), but a nice bird nonetheless. I got this record phonescoped shot of the bird,
which had a yellow belly rather than a more typical pink or red.
My call ended a
few minutes later, and I decided to call it quits on looking for a rice field
being harvested. Just then a large
tractor appeared over a small rise in the distance. It was apparently cutting the tall grass
growing in this field. I put my binocs
on it and noticed its tires were wet.
Maybe this field would be wet enough to harbor a few Rails too. So I trained my binocs on the tractor as it
cut the field. Soon a large flock of
Cattle Egrets appeared out of nowhere to feed in the newly cut grass. Then three Caracaras dropped in to eat. Then I spotted a small dark Rail fly out of
the grass which I think was a Sora – a quick 2-second view and the distance
made for a difficult ID. A minute later
a couple more likely Soras flew out. And
just then a Rail flew out which luckily fluttered low over the grass for maybe
10 to 15 seconds. At one point as it
banked a bit I caught flashes of white wing patches – it was a Yellow
Rail. Not the best of views, but good
enough to check it off. I’m glad it
wasn’t a life bird – I’ve also heard it as a nester in MN and of course saw the
migrants in the rice fields in AR.
The tractor
disappeared over the small ridge and headed to the north. I tried to re-find it but could never get
close enough to it to watch for more Rails.
The consolation was while looking for the tractor I found another large
flock of Geese and a flock of dark Ibis that included both Glossy and
White-faced. I decided to call it quits,
with a nice list of 45 species for the area, including a wild guess of 3,000
Snow Geese, along with at least 5 Ross’ and 500 White-fronts, and an estimated
300 dark Ibis.
Next I was off
to try for the White-tailed Hawks.
Recent sightings had mentioned both an adult and an immature, and eBird
reports seemed to suggest they were pretty regular in the area. So I was optimistic. When I arrived I quickly found a pair of
large raptors perched in the distance in low trees along the back side of a
cattle pasture. Very typical habitat for
White-tails, and typical roosts as well.
The one bird was facing me, and with scope views I could see it was all
white below. I was about to tick it off
as a White-tailed, but decided to get better views first. A few minutes later it took off and one of
the first things I spotted was white at the base of the tail – but then I saw
red nearer the tip. It was a Krider’s
Red-tailed Hawk – reasonably similar to an adult White-tailed, but no cigar. Later the other perched raptor flew from its
perch and it too was a Red-tailed. I then
went to another part of the prairie and spotted an all dark Buteo with its back
to me. I instantly thought it was the
immature White-tailed, but with a scope view I saw white feathering on the
shoulders. Soon it turned a bit and I
could see it was a rare Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk. I spent at least another hour in the area,
spotting other Red-tails, several Harriers and Turkey Vultures, but no
White-tailed Hawks. Although I wouldn’t
question anyone’s IDs, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few birders spotted the
Krider’s thinking it was the adult White-tail, and the Harlan’s might be the
immature White-tail, especially if they were distant.
It was a long
day which yielded just one new LA statebird, giving me 276 for my state
list. And although I hoped for more, I
ended up with a nice tally of 90 species for the day. Plus finding the Vermillion Flycatcher and
the Harlan’s and Krider’s Red-tails was fun.
If only I had found a rice field being harvested…
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