Wednesday, February 14, 2007

A GULF COAST WINTER TRIP

I decided to do something about the Louisiana situation. Which was that I had very few species listed for there in spite of having lived and spent a lot of time in New Orleans after I started birding. I'm trying to make the ABA threshold in all the states touching Arkansas. That's silly, but what isn't in the face of the end of civilization.

This is an email I sent to Don Chalfont of Michigan and Florida after we had exchanged some lists. We discovered that we'd both sadly neglected birding in Louisiana, and I got motivated to do some mop-up. The big annual ABA convention was in Louisiana, but I couldn't justify the expense. It was later in the year and conflicted with some other commitment to act as birding guide for an Elderhostel trip. Also most of the LA birding habitat is easily accessible and widespread so it's not necessary to have a guide if you have some experience at just puzzling out maps and the time to simply explore.

So a twelve day gulf trip with 3 days in LA. Got 104 species, 83 were new tics, probably more that I never logged in like CAWR, BRPE, maybe others. Anyway I'm attaching a pdf to give a sample of LA in the winter. One day north, stayed at a state park on an oxbow lake south of Tallulah, one day SW, stayed near Lake Charles, and one day on Lake Pontchartrain near Mandeville. The state park looks like an excellent migrant place, right near the big river, great birding habitat, with well spaced big trees, brushy areas etc. Think I might do a LA, MS, TN spring migrant run. I got to the panhandle finally, a cold rainy proposition, there for the big storms on the news sitting in Outsz's Too outside St Mark's, next day snapping pics at Wakulla (got a private tour on an intro to one of the rangers), but added great stuff for winter in FL (40 new), now at 194, close enough to force another trip. So I'm jazzed as they say. Needed the break badly, funny that I can be exhausted almost the whole time - drive, bird, drive bird, drivebird, etc, but come home invigorated. Best birds were an Oldsquaw on the coast of AL, and a Long-eared Owl serenade for half an hour in AR, also saw Red-throated Loon and Tufted Duck in AR, Thayer's Gull too. A pretty good time. Hope you're well and enjoying the winter somewhere warm. I never got down to a T-shirt that whole trip.

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What follows is a more detailed accounting of the trip.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

OUT OF ARKANSAS

January 26, 2007

Started the morning setting up the truck for travel, getting clothes, books, optics and computers together. Had to spend over an hour updating the HP for possible internet connections, tho it's mostly for running the GPS. Then set out for SW Arkansas and Millwood Lake. Charles Mills had found one, then two and three Rock Wrens, a species I'd tried for many times in AR unsuccessfully. Found two of them on the Okay Levee, most of a mile of large rock rip-rap, but it took a lot of walking, since I set out initially in the wrong direction, then back past my start point, and beyond. First new tic for the trip. I was at 5430 total tics at the start.

I messed around in Ashdown getting gas and groceries and some dinner, and got back to Millwood State Park after dark. It was pretty deserted. I was fairly tired from 6.5 hours of driving and dealing with getting the logistics working. But some time after midnight I woke up to an unfamiliar owl sound. If it's not too uncomfortable (weather or bugs) I like to sleep with the back lid of the shell up just for the night listening. I went through the owls I knew well, and no match. Got up and got the tapes from the cab and played other remote possibilities, and discovered that I was being serenaded by a Long-eared Owl, which are uncommon in Arkansas in the winter, and especially this far south. Flirted with the idea of calling Charles Mills in the morning, but decided that my reputation as an imaginary birder spoke against it. More on that later when I feel like typing out my rant. But a great find for AR in the middle of the night.

Monday, February 12, 2007

INTO LOUISIANA

Jan 27, 2007

My notes say it rained off-and-on all day, but I don't recall it. I left out of Millwood before first light, grabbed some breakfast in Ashdown, and drove into Louisiana, south to Shreveport and then east to Monroe and D'Arbonne NWR. I stopped wherever the habitat looked like it might be attractive, and found some new LA birds in wet fields and along creeks as I proceeded east. Twenty-eight new tics for the state by days end. I was hoping to get into Tensas NWR, but the approach road was many miles of mud and potholes filled with water, and I turned back. I found on a later trip that the best approach is from the south, where the highways are mostly narrow two-lane blacktops, and the refuge roads seem better maintained.

I had studied the maps for a camping place, and there was a State Park, Bruin, on and oxbow lake south of Tallulah. Looked like it might be good habitat and put me near the Mississippi River corridor. It was deserted mostly, soggy, and $16/night for a paved parking site. Later in the year it's very popular for RV folks. The habitat in the park was excellent, large trees widely spaced, low lying brushy wet areas, the lake itself with a cypress swamp edge, and brushy sparrow roads in the immediate vicinity. Lots of Red-headed Woodpeckers, always gratifying.

Jan 28, 2007

Birded around the park, and along the back roads. Good selection of woodpeckers and some sparrows. One followed a series of oxbows, but the good birds were in the shallow wet pools in the mowed fields. Did well, then followed some more little two-lanes south and west to Catahoula NWR. I got on their tour route which was a muddy mess. At one point I was up to the hubs following across a flooded levee at the furthest point from the gate and got into low trees full of blackbirds, Stopped to peer since it looked good Rusty spot and finally got one using the tapes, all the time with subliminal visions of the tires settling into the muck. It ended well though, no problems.

From there it was pretty much a focused run for the coast, into the Hurricane Rita destruction zone. Lots of wrecked buildings and inhabited RVs, and then new construction on twenty foot pilings. Blown down trees and housing debris everywhere. First big stop there was Cameron Prairie NWR. I've had a soft spot for it since many years ago when it was first getting open, before there was a tour route, I had gone there and had the vision of eight or ten Roseate Spoonbills flying low over the truck with the sun behind them, translucent wings glowing backlit. A treasured part of my internal neurological slide-show. This time there was an very good tour route, open, and quite productive for ducks and herons, and a few lingering shorebirds. Figured on coming back the next day, but first had to get to a State Park, Sam Houston Jones by name, nw of Lake Charles. Took the ferry at Cameron, drove through the devastation at Holly Beach, which literally was wiped away, not one building standing, just a grid of concrete pads. The birding in the borrow ditches was good as was the sunset, with night herons coming out. Almost dark as I passed the Sabine NWR entrance, but figured on being back the next day.

I added 40 tics for the day in Louisiana driving corner to corner from ne to sw.

Jan 29, 2007

I birded around the state park in the morning for an hour but found nothing new. The habitat quality and variety was low and disappointing. There might have been better if I'd looked harder or luckier, but I was anxious to get back to the big refuges. I got back to Sabine NWR and discovered that the boardwalk was destroyed by the storm. They plan to hurry getting it back in use, so next year should make a good stop. Went on to Cameron Prairie for another loop, and then to the Lacassine pool after a stop at the Headquarters area. The pool was excellent, even inspired to take some pictures. Best series was a King Rail that just walked along the edge of the road posing, at least half a dozen tolerable images. Then a drive with miscelleneous stops to Mandeville, Fountainbleau State Park. Switched one storms damage for another's, Rita to Katrina. The park had piles of torn up trees and the ubiquitous trash, but the Live Oaks were Okay. It became real obvious that some species had become storm resistant and others not. I added another 9 tics for the day; yesterday was too good.

Jan 30, 2007

Spent over an hour in the morning working over the park, some very good habitat, but a lot of it blocked off for safety reasons. From there I went to Big Branch Marsh NWR and explored a lot of side roads and shoreline habitat along Lake Pontchartrain, heartbreaking mess, the back roads had piles of trash that folks had hauled there from cleaning up their own spaces. This was overa year since the storm, and an indication of the dismal public response to the disaster.

I decided to punish myself further by driving around the east end of the lake and back into New Orleans, where I've lived a couple of years off and on in the past, long enough that the romance had worn off. NO East was miles of smashed apartments, vacant malls, half-assed repairs (probably all the folks could manage), drear and trash and rubble. In the city proper, quarter and downtown and along St Charles, it didn't look so overtly screwed, a lot of trees had survived and that helped the look, but stores were mostly closed, not from damage so much as lack of custom, closed restaurants, closed drugstores, closed groceries. You could see the life had gone out of it. It must have been lean and boring to try living there. I could barely stop but discovered an open Popeye's on Claiborne, and that called for chicken and beans and rice. A little local flavor. But then I fled on eastward into Mississippi, taking the old route 90 instead of the Interstate which allowed some roadside stops and a Marsh Wren. 6 more LA tics.

I started with 41 species seen in Louisiana, and ended with 124, an increase of 83 species.

King Rail


King Rail
Originally uploaded by Jettpakk1
Found at Lacassine NWR, I got several good shots. Quite tame for a normally hard to find and hard to see bird.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA BRIEFLY

Jan 30, 2007

I drove along the Gulf Coast from Waveland to Biloxi. Some old houses had survived fairly well, some had disappeared so thoroughly that even the splinters were lost, including that of my friend Barbara Scott in Pass Christian. There was a lot of rebuilding, mostly commercial, fix the old casinos and make more, more big condos, very heavy construction to resist the next storm. Biloxi was sad, terrible damage and then terrible neglect. Got out of there and found National Forest Campground north of town.

Jan 31, 2007

I left at the crack of dawn, and only tried a couple of stops in MS, which didn't amount to much, but had planned a more extensive exploration on the return leg. I'd have done a lot better if I'd had the Mississippi Coast Bird guide, but have to admit I was sort of grossed out by all the damage. I was particularly disappointed that the Sandhill Crane refuge was closed, as well as two park areas along the shore where I'd stayed before with some luck.

Anyway, on into Alabama on the Interstate around Mobile, then down to the actual Gulf shore. Went to Gulf State Park, and discovered their Nature Center where there was a Long-tailed Duck (Oldsquaw) which I didn't recognize at first, immature male, that I was trying to make into some other immature. Thank goodness for Field-guides and somebody in the center on a cold windy day. I thought about staying there but the campground was an RV parking lot filled with snowbirds, and priced for all the amenities. I buzzed back east to Bon Secour NWR, found a very good trail along the inlet there with a parking lot on the south side as soon as you crossed the refuge boundary. Finally had 10 new AL tics, before heading into Florida. That made 105, and thus my first level goal.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

INTO FLORIDA, AND STORMS

Jan 31, 2007

I got into Blackwater State Forest after dark, after a lot of poking around trying to find the place, which had signs I found confusing, but eventually settled down, to discover I was under the flight path of some kind of military cargo flyway, with big planes taking off right overhead every few minutes. (Groan) But after awhile they stopped and sleep was possible.

Feb 1, 2007

Up before first light, and away, except for the locked gate. After awhile of looking at the bulletin board and other head-scratching behavior, I looked in the packet that came with the registration, and there was the combination. It was raining too, and continued all the way to Tallahassee. Rain was light and sporadic from there to St. Mark's NWR. The birding was great. I already had 154 tics, not too bad, would have been better if I'd kept good records of all the trips to Florida, but on the earlier ones I was concentrating on lifers, and hadn't made a complete state list. Nevertheless in four hours of drizzle and short openings I managed to find 28 new FL species. Great shorebirds, ducks and loons, and sparrows along the beach and the lagoon behind it at the Light-House. Later when I sent a message to Don Chalfont, he commented that the FL panhandle could be excellent birding in the winter. Big clouds building to the north and west.

And then the rain really set in. I had planned to stay in a campground along the St Mark's River where the refuge road turned off the highway, but the river was rising fast, and I feared getting stuck on flooded low ground. I went over to the restaurant next door, Outz's Too, had a great fish dinner, listened to homemade music in the tent-like stage area attached, asked the owner for permission to sleep in the parking lot, and stayed there, rain and wind driving and howling the whole time. As the storm passed east over the main body of Florida, it spawned tornadoes, big damage, killed people and wiped out one year's reproduction of the FL Whooping Crane flock. National news stuff. We knew something unusual was up when water started flooding the restaurant dining room, something they'd never seen, but we did some work with brooms and shovel to fix the drainage and got it mostly dried out.

Feb 2, 2007

I got up really early, drove down the highway for some kind of C-store breakfast, and was back and through the refuge gates in the dark. The rain had stopped, but the world was soaked and the creeks and ditches full to the banks. Another great day, with 12 more new FL species, but after three tries I couldn't get the Henslow's Sparrow that other folks were seeing. I walked the Lighthouse trail and the Mounds Trail. I had been on both before but this time I took the time to bird them thoroughly. I drove to another area called Alligator Point, the tip of the little southward dip of the Panhandle, and found good birds on the protected water on the backside (north side) and also checked out a state park area there, but not well.

My real goal was Wakulla Springs State Park. This is really special, and not to be missed. The spring feeds a large pond-like pool and flows into a wide shallow river. You get on a canopied boat that holds maybe forty folks, we had about six, and it makes a loop down the river and back up a side channel. The captain calls out the birds and answers questions. The birds are many, varied and extremely tame. Great close-up looks and photo ops for waders and ducks. I got it together to actually take some pics, and a few were keepers. Then came the real treat. I had an introduction to one of the rangers, Jackie ?, and she met up with me after the regular trip with another ranger, and invited me along for her boat handling training. So we made the loop gain with a lot more poking into hidden places, and a lot more informative conversation concerning geology, species, pollution and other threats, and general life handling. Unforgettable.

I had been traveling long enough that I was running out of clothes so I found a funky little laundromat, listened to the locals jive and tease, and renewed my underwear supply. I found a free campground in the National Forest north of there, near the Georgia border, no comforts, but a high bright winter full moon.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Little Blue Heron


Little Blue Heron
Originally uploaded by Jettpakk1
This is a really pristine spring bird.

American Bittern


American Bittern
Originally uploaded by Jettpakk1
I kept asking the boat captain if he ever saw any bitterns, and he acted like it was a rare possibility. I think he knew exactly where to find it. Most of the Wakulla birds are staked out and teed up by the staff.

SPECIES LIST FOR FLORIDA PANHANDLE, FEB 2007, (2 days)

Here's the list for the three days in Florida, 92 species

Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Reddish Egret
Tricolored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
American Bittern
White Ibis
American Wigeon
Green-winged Teal
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Northern Bobwhite
Sora
Common Moorhen
American Coot
American Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Semipalmated Plover
Wilson's Plover
Killdeer
Snowy Plover
Marbled Godwit
Lesser Yellowlegs
Red Knot
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
American Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Winter Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Carolina Chickadee
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Blue Jay
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle

Thursday, February 08, 2007

A DAY IN SOUTHWEST GEORGIA

Feb 3, 2007

I was up and away early enough to make the 5am opening of McDonald's in Quincey FL. No McDonald's sparrow though. I was following the Georgia bird-finder, and got to the first Lake Seminole site while still dark. Called in a Barred Owl with a tape. Flew right up to the truck and sat overhead. I waited for light and birded around there, and found some winter birds. The only other records I had for GA were along the coast in summer, so I had quite a few new state species as I wandered around to half a dozen stops at that lake. The day was gray and chilly. I also checked out a lot of fallow fields, especially peanut crops. Great places for American Pipits and Vesper Sparrows. Nothing surprising, but ended with 65 species for the day including from a stop at Eufala NWR on the Alabama border where I did a lot of walking levees. 25 sightings were new for the state and got me to 109 total.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

A DAY CROSSING ALABAMA

Feb 3,4, 2007

I went across the river and tried the Alabama side of the refuge, and then found a state park nearby. Lots of RVs and not too pricey technical sites, but they were the only choices. Just a big parking lot it seemed. But there were showers and I got into body maintenance. Incredible water supply, I guess from the lake near the park, steaming hot water like a waterfall, sybaritic, lingering, sleep inducing.

One of my goals besides birding is visiting National Park Service installations, and there are two in Tuskegee, one at the famous Institute and the other focused on the Air Corps training site that attracted Black fliers. The Institute was collegiate with grass and nice buildings, and the airfield was really interesting. It was around noon when I got out of there headed for Mississippi again, following a bird-finder for MS/AL combined. I forgot my bigger newer one, which may account for not much found. I did manage to find the Brown-headed Nuthatch that had eluded me on the coast. Mostly I was just getting in position for the next morning. For Alabama I started at 95 species and ended at 112 mostly from the coast.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

MISSISSIPPI AGAIN, AND HOME

Feb 4, 2007

I crossed into Mississippi around dark, and got frustrated by some campgrounds being closed, it being winter and nobody wanting to empty the empty trashcans, or something. I finally spotted a state park near Noxubee NWR and wandered back to the primitive area. It really was, no lights, no paving, no tables, no water, classic outhouse. But dark and quiet and empty, so it was OK.

Feb 5, 2007

Out early enough to get to Noxubee at first light. It was cold too, maybe 25F with wind. But the birding was good. I'd made a brief stop there once before, and had been impressed. I really wanted to find Red-cockaded Woodpeckers which they had. And this time I found them. There was also a great overlook for a nice pond and wetland that you reached across a high bridge. I'm an aficionado of blinds and such. This one was exceptional. So I got a good selection of ducks to go with the good selection of woodpeckers. Hiked several trails, one an upland that had recently been controlled burned, and another along a bottom-land creek. At 8am the visitor center was open, something new since my last visit, also top notch, with a ranger who gave me the name of a good local birder at the University (MSU) in Starkville.

I was watching some Great Blue Herons along the bank of large impoundment when one caught my eye. It seemed significantly lighter than the others, and reminded me of reading about Grey Herons, European, rarely vagrant. I took some pictures, but wasn't able to get close enough to get any really good images. Still I was jazzed. Called Jeff Wilson in Memphis and quizzed him, he didn't seem to think it was impossible, and encouraged me to call the local guy, Terry Schiefer, and see if he could get a look. We talked on the phone, he couldn't get away immediately, but he told me of several good birds in town. That's how I got a Rusty Blackbird and LeConte's Sparrow. Also stopped at fast food places to find a McDonald's Sparrow (House) which I had somehow managed to never see in MS. Ended the day with 47 species, eleven being new state tics. I was satisfied.

Decided it was time to get home and take care of some job stuff. North through Memphis without stopping, and then to Dagmar WMA near Brinkley, AR, in Ivory-bill country. The road was closed, I'm guessing high water, so I went down a side road atop an abandoned railway dike, and crashed at the end of that, right on Bayou de View.

Feb 6, 2007

Didn't head straight home, there were reports of good birds on Lake Maumelle, so I swung by there and found my Arkansas Red-throated Loon. Went down to Dardanelle dam and met Dan Smith. We found two new gulls also. Then since he hadn't been there we went back to Kenny Nichols place on Lake Dardanelle where endless good birds get found. We were looking for Clark's Grebe, but couldn't find it. Seemed like half of the gazillion waterfowl there were resting with heads tucked in, so it might have been there, but not so you'd know it. Looked for the Tufted Duck too, also no luck.

I went home. The mail was there. The fridge had defrosted, but no harm done. For the whole trip I'd found 185 new tics, surprisingly 5 in AR. Also broke 100 in three new states.