See Jane Bird. Bird, Jane, Bird.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Arctic birding

OK, arctic birding may be a bit of an exaggeration. I'm sure our friends to the north would snicker at our discomfort at getting out in sub-freezing temperatures. But for those of us who are used to more temperate climes, 23 degrees is just plain COLD! The steady, biting wind didn't help either. But we piled on the layers and braved the elements in the interest of the hobby and the science. The mission was the Louisiana Winter Bird Atlas and the areas visited today were the west side of the Mississippi River in the Port Allen area, then up to False River near New Roads, then on to the Morganza Spillway. Landbirds were in short supply, mainly because there are not a lot of accessible woodsy areas to visit in these quads. Our best land birds were undoubtedly the large group of Horned Larks in a tilled field. No pictures, sad to day, they were just too far in the distance. Water birds were a bit easier to find. There was a great group of Buffleheads and Horned Grebes up at False River. Morganza Spillway had great gaggles of gulls and terns (and some geese as well :-)) The good news was that we estimated over 10,000 ducks on the lake at the Spillway...the bad news is that we could barely see them as they were at the very back part of the lake with no land access. The plan is to go back with a boat or permission to access the area so the ducks can be accounted for in the WBA.

One less Fox Squirrel at Old River

American Pipit

Lindsay searches for chilly landbirds

While Van tries to lure them out ...or tick them off...

Poor little raccoon was so cold and hungry he couldn't sleep

Interesting ice shelves -- not something we see a lot around here

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Raptor no more

Dead raptor discovered on the bank of the Capitol Lakes in Baton Rouge. Moment of fear that it might be one of the Peregrine Falcons...but I believe it to be a juvenile Cooper's Hawk that was often seen in this area. What does a bird of prey fall victim to? Due to the extensive decomposition, it's impossible to tell if there were wounds. It might have starved...and frankly, given the number of house sparrows in the immediate vicinity, if that's the case, it's probably better that this bird was removed from the gene pool!

Back of bird

With ruler for size reference

Closeup of head

Talon clutching leaves

Front of bird

Closer view of tail

Crowley Christmas Bird Count

It was a cold and blustery day, but Melanie Driscoll, Amy Shutt, Van Remsen and I braved the elements and counted birds in Vermilion parish in southwest Louisiana earlier this week. We had a total of over 90 species of birds, but it was a darn good thing that Van knew where to go because I doubt we'd have done that well without him. He's had this CBC territory for a number of years and even though he's seen significant decline in the habitat and numbers, he knew just where to go to find the different species. There were huge numbers of some birds...Red-winged Blackbirds, for example. Just after dawn they were streaming north in huge endless flocks. We watched as thousands and thousands...and thousands of birds went by. At one point, Melanie used a pole as a fixed point to estimate birds passing by and came up with a number of 400,000 in 20 minutes. Van's final estimate of 750,000 is probably very conservative. Other very large groups were White-faced and White Ibis...thousands of each. Snow Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese were plentiful. Landbirds were more difficult to find -- the woodlots that would hold passerines are in short supply in this largely agricultural area.

The Director of Bird Conservation checks out the Ibis

Yes, Dr. Remsen, the sign applies to you, too

My lifer Eastern Screech Owl

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Flycatcher found on the Baton Rouge Christmas Bird Count

Flycatcher found during the Baton Rouge Christmas Bird count today. Located in the willow growth between the levee and the Miss. River just south of the casino closest to the Capitol. Photos taken through tangle of branches in late afternoon. Larger photos were cropped but otherwise unretouched.

It's probably an Ash-throated Flycatcher, which is good for the area and good to have on the count...but if someone wants to make it into something more exotic,that's fine with me :-)