We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

You count 'em.

Click for a closer view. 

Eastern Meadowlark

The Eastern Meadowlark is an often overlooked beauty.  Birders focus so much on the bright yellow underparts that they rarely notice the beautifully cryptic pattern of tan, browns, and black on the mantle of the bird.  Here's a view that let's you enjoy the fine grassland camouflage pattern.

Pectoral Sandpiper

This Pectoral Sandpiper on November 17 at Lacassine NWR in Cameron Parish was a little late.    

Hi, I'm a cool bird.

             This Golden-crowned Kinglet was part of a big push of winter birds that landed in Louisiana over the Halloween weekend.  Golden-crowneds are tiny birds: you might be able to hide one in your hand.  Somehow, these tiny flying creatures manage to make it all the way from the northern forests to the Gulf Coast.  Impressive abilities aside, these birds are really beautiful.    

Cameron Parish Birding, LOS Fall Weekend, 10/30/2010

            It was a pretty happy day-before-Halloween. Temps were very cool in the early morning, there was a light breeze all day, and mosquitoes were bearable. Best of all, it was a good moving day for birds, especially sparrows and winter warblers. Especially abundant were Savannah Sparrows, Palm, Pine, Orange-crowned,and Yellow-rumped Warblers (including one Audubon's Warbler).

            I birded with Mac Myers. We did pretty well, managing to relocate the Ferruginous Hawk (being harassed by a Marsh Hawk, bottom) that James Beck had reported a few days earlier, and also lucking onto a Burrowing Owl (middle) and a Sage Thrasher (top).

White-tailed Hawk, Cameron Parish, 10/10/10

Ruff

Any birder would have to admit that the Ruff is one of the coolest birds out there. They come in a variety of colors, they put on as flamboyant a show as any bird on Earth, and their social system is complex to the point of being indecipherable. Oh, yeah, and they sometimes stray to Louisiana, where they're on the Review List of rare species.

On February 20, 2010, while censusing birds for the Winter Bird Atlas, Steve Cardiff, Donna Dittmann, and I had the male Ruff above in the Thornwell quad. It stuck around for quite a few others to relocate it as well, by searching among the swarms of shorebirds.

One other cool fact about these birds is that males are called Ruffs and female Reeves, although I must admit I call them all Ruffs.

Canada Goose

Up until the second half of the 1900's (remember the 1900s?), the Canada Goose was a common visitor in Louisiana in the wintertime. Then, the Canada Geese stopped coming. It's commonly believed that an increase in habitat and food to the north of us caused the birds to simply not fly as far south as they used to.

Within a few years, different Canada Geese began to show up. Unlike the bigger Canadas that had once called Louisiana their winter home, these new Canadas were small geese, sometimes not much bigger than ducks. They clearly came from a different source.

Recently, these two groups of Canadas have also been determined to be different species altogether, despite their close resemblance in pattern. The smaller birds now have the species name Cackling Goose, while the larger ones get to keep the name Canada Goose. In Louisiana, Cackling Goose is now very common in winter. However, true, wild Canadas are now considered rare.

To complicate the matter a bit more, feral Canada Geese have built populations across the state. These geese are of the "Giant" race of the Canada Goose. Birders can't count them as wild birds because...well, because they're not wild.

On February 6, 2010, Dave Patton and I were scanning a flock of about 20,000 Snow Geese just north of Wright, Louisiana (home of the sign that lets travelers know, "If you lived in Wright you'd be home now.") when we chanced upon the goose above. It seemed intermediate in size between the wild little Cacklings that winter here and the feral Giant Canadas that nest nearby in Lake Arthur. Its bill was long and straight, not short and stubby like a Cackling. It appears to be a true, wild Canada.

List of Lists

I don't travel outside of Louisiana as much as I used to, and rarely just to bird. That's OK. My way of thinking about my Life List has evolved with age. I've accepted that anybody with a tank of gas or a wallet full of plastic can travel around the continent seeing the birds that are supposed to be there. More power to 'em, and sometimes I envy them, but luckily there's no shortage of exciting birds here.


I've become much more interested in the local birds and my local lists, and the challenge of finding surprises here.


Here is a quick, rough count of the many birding lists I do care about right now and the number of species on each:


My Louisiana state list--399

Cameron Parish list--357

Lafayette Parish--292

Vermilion Parish--284

SW LA--376  

Yard list--163