We pulled into Sabine Parish, Louisiana at 9:38 A.M. on May 6th, after we finished up at Boykin Springs, Texas. The remainder of our birding day would be spent in the western edge of this new state for the trip. It was also the first time any of us would visit or bird in Louisiana. The state of Louisiana has 64 different parishes, and Sabine's was the fist one that we would drive through. Due to widespread Catholicism in the state, the name parish comes in front of what we would refer to as a county. Forget Sabine County, it is called Sabine Parish. Seven minutes later, we would go from Sabine Parish to Vernon Parish. Louisiana is a state with heavy French and Cajun backgrounds. While birding in Louisiana, we had to make sure to "Laissez les bon temps rouler!". It's a common French phrase that is used in the state, especially around the holiday of Mardi Gras, but it simply means to "let the good times roll".
This would still be the beginning stretches of our tenth full day of the trip. We had come a long way, and there comes to a certain time of a trip when people start to lose their minds. Caleb lost his at a gas station when he made an odd purchase, but he did create a new sport in road trip basketball. It was pretty awesome, the basketball hoop was taped to a mirror and it could be folded down when we wanted to shoot hoops. We all lost our minds to when we participated in Caleb's new sport.
Our Louisiana lists began to grow as Josh relentlessly created incidental eBird checklists for almost every bird we saw while driving. Crows were commonly starting to line the highways. I needed Fish Crow as a life bird, which is a small crow of the southeast who is known for it's strange vocals that separate it from the common and familiar American Crow. While driving through the parishes, we saw what we knew were American Crows based on size, and then some that were smaller that we were unsure on. And then a few times we saw crows that we knew were Fish Crows based on size and structure. I put it down on my life list without hearing the distinctive vocals that I really wanted to hear. Oh well.
Our first stop where we would get out and bird in Louisiana came from Rapides Parish. It was an area with a lot of pine forest, and we would start the birding for this state in nearly an identical habitat to what we had just left Texas with at Boykin Springs. The location we visited fell within the Kisatchie National Forest, which is interestingly Louisiaina's only national forest. It's large size covers seven different parishes. We were just off of Highway 488 on a Forest Road 272.
As we drove along Forest Road 272, things got fun when we saw a familiar scene of managed forest and marked trees. We realized that we were in midst of another Red-cockaded Woodpecker territory, and we knew that we'd have another chance at getting looks at the species to upgrade from the looks we had in Texas. After getting out and walking along the southeastern forest of pine and deciduous trees with a shrubby understory, our first bird was an Eastern Towhee. This was a life bird for Josh and Caleb.
Just minutes into our search we heard the odd calls of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker coming from high points within the pine trees.
It didn't take us very long to see the calling woodpecker, and it gave us great views in comparison to the one in Texas. I'd write more on the bird, but I wrote enough about it on my previous post. I will say that I was thrilled with these Louisiana Red-cockadeds!
Something else that was really fun was tracking down one of several singing Prairie Warblers in the area. This was the first time that I got to see this species on it's breeding grounds.
Forest Road 272 was a place I enjoyed, and it had a good cast of birds in the forty minutes we spent there that also included Northern Bobwhite, Mississippi Kite, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Red-eyed and White-eyed Vireos, Blue Jay, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Ovenbird, Hooded Warbler, Pine Warbler, and Indigo Bunting. The good times rolled further when a pair of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers came in much closer and to within their colony. Forest service workers clearly made life easy for these Red-cockadeds. Josh, David, Caleb and I all took our many photographs of this endangered species. Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Not far from Forest Road 272, we went further east along Highway 488 (Twin Bridges Road) and dropped down into Castor Plunge Road. This road went along a swampy habitat that covered both sides of the way. The habitat was a shaded and lush deciduous woodland. Unfortunately, the activity was quiet as it was just after noon. Had we had been here early in the morning, it would've been a different story. The habitat was still fun to walk through and we did have mostly heard only highlights of Red-shouldered Hawk, Acadian Flycatcher, Black-and-white Warbler, Hooded Warbler, and Northern Parula.
"Caleb, you better not speed on deez roads or that Louisiana gris gris will get a hold of you". I'm sure some lady from the South would tell Caleb that if she could catch up with him. Gris gris is a term used for a punishment or war and is referred to a lot among Louisiana folks. It's some sort of Voodoo term. Caleb's speeding gets us to birding locations faster at times. But this time the gris gris did get him as a Louisiana police officer gave him a speeding ticket. Rumor also has it that Caleb grabbed a Gator by the tail. Whether true or not, rumors will be rumors...
We continued through Rapides Parish and through the parishes of Allen, Jefferson Davis, Calcasieu, and finally Cameron Parish. Some Cajun-Mexican restaurant that we stopped at for lunch along the route was incredible, and it had a Kentucky Warbler singing next door.
Right after getting into Cameron Parish, we went to a productive location that is called Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, a place where we thought we would have a really good chance for Anhinga. It was close to 4 P.M. by the time we had gotten to this location. To me, it reminded me of the loop drive we drove when we were at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, with the exception that it was a lot smaller than Anahuac. Halloween Pennant dragonfly anyone?
Cameron Prairie NWR was full of marsh and wetland habitats, and it had it's bird abundance and variety. Before we entered Cameron Prairie, we had 75 species already on our day for Louisiana between the two spots we got out and walked at as well as the dozens upon dozens of eBird incidental checklists and car birding. This location boosted us up to over a hundred with it's waterbird variety, and there were other awesome birds aside from waterbirds as well. Crested Caracara is always great to see.
As we started to make our way around a three mile loop of the refuge, thing got interesting when I spied a Nutria crossing the road. The Nutria is an aquatic rodent that is native to South America. It was introduced into the United States in the 1940's and rapidly increased to the point of being a major pest. These animals are often thought of as huge rats. Who knows, maybe they are.
An impressive number of the showy Purple Gallinules were present in the marshes and wetlands of Cameron Prairie. We tallied numbers of up to 23 of them.
A lot of the birding was right from the car, and a lot of birds were cooperative with the "car birding".
Least Bittern
Common Gallinule
White-faced Ibis
White Ibis
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Eastern Kingbird
At one point in the loop drive, we got distracted by a Nutria that was really close to the road and was in the middle of a grassy clearing between two sections of reeds and marsh.
Turns out the Nutria was a great distraction, and as we stopped to take a brief look at it, a freaking King Rail decided to emerge from the marsh and reeds and walk across the open clearing! From one marsh area to the next...
The King Rail is the largest rail in North America and apparently, it isn't as shy as other rails. King Rails mainly prefer freshwater marshes in their eastern United States range.
We had several heard only Kings on our trip, as well as a brief view of one that crossed a clearing at Anahuac. King Rails are very closely related to Clapper Rails, but the King is the King and is larger than the Clapper and is a lot brighter and has a lot more contrasting field marks. While King Rails like freshwater and brackish marshes, the Clapper Rail prefers salt marshes. There are places where the two marshes meet, and at times, the two species will hybridize. Habitat is often one of the best clues in the identification of these two closely related species, who some believe are con-specific.
The diet of the King Rail consists of mostly insects and crustaceans. It also eats fish, frogs, spiders, and the seeds of aquatic plants. Most foraging habits take place in shallow water close to thick marsh habitat. The King Rail was a great surprise for all of us, and I was stoked that I got to see and photograph one as well as I did and get to see it in the open for a respectable amount of time. Here's a few more pictures of the bird.
Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge produced close to fifty species in the hour of time that we spent there. Other highlights at Cameron included Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, Common Nighthawk, Stilt Sandpiper, Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers, Caspian and Forster's Terns, Little Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Orchard Oriole, and Boat-tailed Grackle.
From Cameron, we drove as far south as we could into southwestern Louisiana, all of which was in Cameron Parish. In southeastern Texas, the Gray Kingbird was a no-show for the day, which made us feel good about the decision that we had made. En route to the southern tip of Louisiana, we drove along many marshes, open water, and canals in hopes of finding Anhingas perched or even soaring overhead. Despite our searching, we went empty on the bird and it would go down as a miss for the trip. While Anhingas may be common in east Texas and west Louisiana at times during the year, by the time we were in the area the numbers seemed to have decreased and most of the birds probably went further east.
Our final stop for the day would be at a place called Holly Beach, a location that is productive for gulls, terns, shorebirds, and other waterbirds. I was hoping that a Magnificent Frigatebird would show up during our time there. Before Holly Beach, something fun that we got to do was take Cameron Ferry across a pass to get to the section of Holly Beach that we wanted to bird. Once we got there, we drove along Highway 82, which is Gulf Coast Highway to scout our birding route. When we had the area mapped out, we did the awesome thing of hiking along the beach while birding. It was awesome to take our time and bird along the Gulf of Mexico. Here is a series of photographs that I took of the birds and scenes from Holly Beach.
Ruddy Turnstone
Herring Gull
Laughing Gulls (above and next two pictures)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (above and next two pictures). This was one I really enjoyed seeing because it was my first adult of this species.
Lesser Black-backed Gull and Willet
Caspian Terns and Laughing Gull
Royal Tern
Royal and Caspian Terns
Caleb scanning the Gulf of Mexico
Dunlin
Dunlin running
Willet
Boat-tailed Grackle, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling
Ruddy Turnstone (Above and below)
Sanderlings (above and below)
Least Tern
Black-bellied Plover
American Avocet
Black Scoter out at sea
Ruddy Turnstone, American Avocet, Black-bellied Plover, Laughing Gull
Black Scoter and Ruddy Turnstone
Black Scoter
Ruddy Turnstone
Least Tern
Ruddy Turnstone
Laughing Gull
Flock of Common Terns with some Black Terns in midst
After Holly Beach, it was time to start heading towards the western side of Texas towards Guadalupe Mountain National Park to close our trip out. That'll be another story for another day. Our inaugural step into Louisiana gave us 129 different species. Birding in different states is not only fun for the hobby of birding, but it really increases our knowledge about bird distribution, habitats, and locations. Hopefully I'll be able to go further east into Louisiana someday. Laissez les bon temps rouler!
