04/09/2012, Cameron Parish

More White-winged Scoters yesterday on Holly Beach.  An adult male looked like the same bird as last Friday.

Here's a shot of the white-wing in the flock.  I'd torture you by asking you to find it, but I'm assuming the picture won't enlarge enough to give you a fair chance.  The white-wing is near the left edge of the flock, maybe the 4th or 5th bird or so.

There was also a nice solidly dark white-wing (aside for the white wings, of course) a little farther to the east.  In the morning, it was several hundred yards out, but by mid-afternoon, it or another just like it was in the surf just off the beach.

At Peveto Woods, I ran into good friends Mona and Paul Conzelmann; they had picked a good day for their first ever visit to the sanctuary.  The weather was great, and there were plenty of migrants around.  Dozens of Hooded Warblers livened up the woods, with about as many Worm-eating Warblers and Black-and-whites. Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks were in good numbers, and a few lingering winterers such as the White-crowned Sparrow below were still around.

Melvin Weber was there, also, and he had 17 warbler species at Peveto, as well as the oddest find of the day, a Spotted Towhee.  It's especially funny if it's the same female that has been there since last fall.  I say that because it's only been detected a few times in the interim, and not at all since last February.  Jay Huner was also in the woods, but I didn't get a chance to find out what all he had seen before he left.

Cameron Parish, 04/06/2012

Today was a pretty good day on the coast.  There weren't a lot of diving ducks along Holly Beach, but Mac Myers and I found a lot of scoters mixed in with a few hundred scaup.  The final count was 17 Surf Scoters and 1 male White-winged Scoter.

In Peveto Woods, action started pretty slow, but migrants started to arrive as the day progressed.  We ended up with over a dozen warbler species, and good numbers of thrushes, vireos, and buntings.

We also came across a Lesser Nighthawk that we were able to get good looks at.

Pomarine Jaegers

Some of the Pomarine Jaegers Dave Patton, Mac Myers, and I saw just off the Cameron Coast a couple of weekends ago.

Cinnamon Teal, 3/7/12

Another Cinnamon Teal today, south of Rayne in Acadia Parish.

Cinnamon Teal, 3/6/12

I passed by the old "Vincent Refuge," the full section on the SW corner of highways 699 and 35 today, and on the west side of the section, on W. Bell Road, had a drake Cinnamon Teal.  My guess is that this is the same bird reported by Erik Johnson last November near the same spot.  

I was pleased to discover lately that my phone camera takes pretty clear photos through binoculars and spotting scopes.  Below are a couple of shots taken with it through my spotting scope. 

2/22 redux

On Wednesday while driving near Bell City, I saw a White-tailed Hawk, pictured in the previous post, below.  I also saw it do something I hadn't seen a good-sized hawk do before.  In what seemed like the middle of a bout of preening, it jumped up off the ground and took off chasing a distant kestrel, easily overtaking it and then dodging and diving after it until it finally forced the kestrel to fumble whatever food item it had been carrying.  Here are some photos of the chase.  The White-tailed Hawk is the big bird that looks like it would never be able to maneuver with a little falcon.  The kestrel is the little bird that's probably wondering where in the world this strange hawk that it can't out-fly has come from.

02/22/12

White-tailed Hawk.  This individual is a bit of a
Red-tailed Hawk look-a-like.  

Say's Phoebe.  These birds seem to love fences, corrals,
and farm implements.

Pectoral Sandpiper.  My
first of year.  

Two More

Here are a couple of birds I couldn't resist taking pictures of the other day.  Not only did it strike me that they're beautiful birds, but they were posing as well, and that's a winning combination.  These are birds that aren't really considered knock-outs, but I couldn't get over how perfect they both looked.

Song Sparrow. A rare open look; these birds are
extroverts in summer, but skulkers in winter.  

Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  Probably under-appreciated
because they're so common, but anything
that can be so small and survive to become
so common deserves respect.  These beautiful birds
 are never far out of sight in winter.  

Moss Lake Quad
The day started out cold, dark, and windy, and the birds were playing hard to get.  Among the few passerines early was this Spotted Towhee.  The picture is pretty bad, but I did record some video of it calling.

One big surprise for me was a pair of Brown-headed Nuthatches.  I thought the nice stand of pines on the east side of the quad looked good enough for them, but I'd never seen this species south of I-10 before.

Fenton Quad
I was kind of shocked when I saw that the Fenton Quad hadn't even received 10 hours of coverage.  This area includes Turf Grass Road and Miller Oilfield Road among others, and is a favorite spot of many birders.

As I was scanning pipits on the turf field, I saw home hawks circling in the distance.  One was a Ferruginous Hawk.  It was pretty far, and even though it circled closer to Turf Grass Road, my pictures aren't very great.

On Miller Oilfield Road, I was hoping to kick up a Ground Dove.  Instead, a plump bird about the size of a Ground Dove flew up and landed in a roadside tree.  It was a Lark Bunting.

It flew down to the field on the south of the road, and to my left, I saw a bird hopping out of the brush onto the roadside.  This one was a Green-tailed Towhee.

What a bizarre winter, when someone can sit and watch a Lark Bunting feeding on one side of the road, and a Green-tailed Towhee 20 yards away on the other side.

A strange day made stranger by the water everywhere, and the birds taking advantage of it.  This yellowlegs was enjoying America's roads.

Lacassine Quad, 2 12 12

I like to drive the roads between the Lacassine exit off of I-10 and Highway 14.  Every time I go down to the coast that way, I pick a new combination of roads to travel.  Part of the fun is that the roads are mostly gravel and have very little traffic.  Part is that it beats traveling on a bird-less highway.  I don't know if I'd call it a birding destination, but this area is fun to bird.

However, today this quad was my destination.  I spent 10 chilly hours there gathering data for the winter bird atlas.  Here are some of the birds I photographed:

Grasshopper Sparrow:  Good winter for them.

Harris's Sparrows.  Birds 2 and 4 from left.    

Red-tailed Hawk.  

Vesper Sparrow.  Neat little sparrow with a bold eyering.  

White-crowned Sparrow.  Pretty dapper little bird.  

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Clay-colored Sparrow.  This was the first of 2 today.  

Same Clay-colored as above.  Getting warm in a sunny
windblock.

Clay-colored Sparrow.  Second of the day.