I started the day by going to Pine City Natural Area to check out the Red-cockaded Woodpecker habitat. I wouldn’t turn down a RCW if I saw one but I knew it was late in the season and was not expecting it. I found the area and walked around. The area to the north of Highway 86 was quickly submerged so I didn’t get to go far there. I talked to Dennis who had seen 5 RCWs there 2 years ago and I think I located the habitat where he found them but it looked like private property so I didn’t go further.
On the way back I stopped at LPSP to walk the boardwalk. It was very noisy and if I knew my bird calls better I would have come home with more. Still being fairly earlier, it was dark inside the swamp. I got fleeting glimpses of birds but mostly I had to identify them by call.
Finally, I decided to go to Saul’s as an excuse to try out my new spotting scope, a Meade ETX-90. I’ve never seen Saul’s deader but the scope worked quite well and I did see two Ruddy Ducks (male & female) and two first of year Black Terns.
*=First of Year
Species seen or heard at Pine City NA:
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Indigo Bunting
- Red-winged Blackbird
- American Crow
- Yellow-breasted Chat
- Mourning Dove
- Common Yellowthroat
- Great Egret
- Canada Goose
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Northern Cardinal
- Blue Jay
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo
- Tufted Titmouse
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Little Blue Heron
Species seen or heard at Louisiana Purchase SP:
- Common Grackle
- Mourning Dove
- Prothonotary Warbler
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Blue Jay
- Acadian Flycatcher
- Northern Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo
- Carolina Wren
- Carolina Chickadee
- Indigo Bunting
Species seen or heard at Saul’s:
- Black Tern *
- European Starling
- Common Grackle
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Turkey Vulture
- Ruddy Duck
- American Crow
