Cameron Parish 08/05/2015

It was an interesting day on the coast today, if not for birds, then to see how the coast is shaping up with fall migration clearly underway.  On the way down, I saw a shut down shop called the STEP IN #1.  With the forecast for the mid 90s and considering the dead air of the recent drought, I was hoping that I wasn't going to the STEP IN #2.

My first stop was Holly Beach, which was in Back to School mode, with almost no human presence. Everything was typical of the season: Sanderlings and turnstones are setting up shop, juvenile terns are begging from parents that seem ready to cut the cord, and Snowy Plovers are arriving while Wilson's Plovers prepare to depart.

Juvenile and adult Least Tern.  Click for a closer look; the plumage of the juvenile is beautiful.

Wilson's Plover and Snowy Plover 

My next stop was at the Baton Rouge Audubon Society sanctuary at Peveto Woods. My visit was notable for several reasons, especially that there were very few deerflies, and the heat was bearably dry, with the slight wind making the shade feel very comfortable.  

I had a few fall migrants including 3 Black-and-white Warblers and a Least Flycatcher, as well as plenty of soon-to-depart species such as Orchard Oriole, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  

I was hoping to see the large vagrant moth known as the Black Witch today, and I was half-lucky in that regard.  I came upon one that had made its way here from who knows where only to end up in a "banana spider" web.  

Among other insect sightings, I watched a Queen butterfly wing through the sanctuary, stopping to lay an egg on a vine there.  I was unfortunately unable to focus the camera on her.  I was luckier with these two dragonflies which I have no idea about the ID of.

Later in the day I headed to Broussard and then Rutherford Beach. Both were showing larger scale reruns of what I'd seen on Holly Beach, but again, it was a beautiful day and a pleasure to enjoy it. One odd thing I did note was the near absence of Laughing Gulls.   

Driving north up the Rutherford Beach road, I began to see dead mullet in the roadside ditch, I suppose the result of low oxygen levels that summer heat can bring on.  As I neared the open marsh, I realized where all of the missing Laughing Gulls were. What looked like white water lilies blooming in the open expanses of water were actually thousands of belly-up mullet, and a horde of birds was on hand for the occasion.  I don't know if the gulls and herons were eating carcasses or fish that were being fitted for their carcasses, but there were hundreds of gulls, dozens of herons, and on the mud flat of a large drying pool, hundreds of shorebirds.  

I ended the day driving back on Chalkley and Fruge roads with the sun getting low and the edge of the heat dulled.  It was a beautiful day, rich with the promise of the coming months of migration. With school starting next week, I'll be a bit busy for the next nine months. Today was a great day out to say goodbye to summer.  

Checklist du jour @ http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24511510