Category: Birding

Kenny Nichols suggested this place for this time of year. It was a little further afield than I wanted to go but when I woke up an hour early I decided to go for it. I got on the road by 5:45 and arrived there at 7:38. Upon my first good glimpse of the lake, I saw 5 species of heron/egret so I suspected I was in for a good morning and I was. I started at a little side road on the east side of the lake. This spot has no boat launch and I was the only one there though I could see other cars where there was a launch and several boats on the lake. I was almost immediately greeted by Common Moorhen and many Purple Gallinules. I thought I heard a Sora and later heard him again for sure. There were many Great Egrets and Little Blue Herons with lesser numbers of Great Blue and Green Herons and Snowy Egrets. After a bit I looked at approaching egrets and realized they were a group of White Ibises, luckily I looked when I did as I never saw them again. I also heard a Least Bittern there and at another place. I checked out other approaches and saw more of the same but this one first spot gave me all the coolest birds of the day. In all, I picked up 5 first of year birds here plus another (Cattle Egret) as I passed through Evening Shade. I also saw two Nutria and a Coyote as I left.

My best images of the day can be found here.

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* = First of Year

Species seen or heard:

• Purple Gallinule *
• Common Moorhen *
• White Ibis *
• Least Bittern *
• Sora *
• American Crow
• Blue Jay
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Green Heron
• Little Blue Heron
• Great Blue Heron
• Red-winged Blackbird
• White-eyed Vireo
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Orchard Oriole
• Common Yellowthroat
• Prothonotary Warbler
• Swainson’s Warbler
• Fish Crow
• Barn Swallow
• Common Grackle
• Anhinga
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Northern Mockingbird
• Tufted Titmouse
• Mourning Dove
• Turkey Vulture
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Eastern Kingbird
• Killdeer
• Northern Cardinal

I went to Cook’s Landing this morning and when I found the River Trail and Pfeifer Loop Trail both still closed due to water I decided to cross the Big Dam Bridge to bird Murray Park a bit. In all I was there about 2.5 hours and walked about 5.6 miles. It was a beautiful sunny day and I got some good pictures of a Least Tern and an Orchard Oriole.

Later in the day, I returned to the River Trail, between Cook’s Landing and Burns Park to look for a Painted Bunting reported by Craig Provost. I found right where Craig saw him the day before.

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Species seen or heard at Cook’s Landing:

• Red-winged Blackbird
• Barn Swallow
• Common Grackle
• Northern Mockingbird
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Blue Jay
• Canada Goose
• House Sparrow
• Green Heron
• House Finch
• Mallard
• Least tern
• Indigo Bunting
• Baltimore Oriole
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• American Crow
• European Starling
• Blue-winged Teal
• Rock Pigeon
• Northern Cardinal
• Carolina Chickadee
• Tufted Titmouse
• Northern Flicker
• Purple Martin
• Chimney Swift
• Killdeer
• Belted Kingfisher
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Species seen or heard at Murray Park:

• Cliff Swallow
• Rock Pigeon
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Purple Martin
• Barn Swallow
• Indigo Bunting
• Northern Cardinal
• Northern Mockingbird
• White-eyed Vireo
• American Crow
• Common Grackle
• Mississippi Kite
• Orchard Oriole
• European Starling
• Blue Jay
• Belted Kingfisher
• Northern Cardinal
• Yellow-breasted Chat
• Eastern Phoebe
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren

Species seen or heard on the River Trail:

• Painted Bunting
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Dickcissel
• Turkey Vulture
• Orchard Oriole
• Baltimore Oriole
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Eastern Phoebe
• Yellow-breasted Chat
• American Crow
• Northern Mockingbird
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Northern Cardinal
• Indigo Bunting
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Tufted Titmouse
• Red-eyed Vireo
• American Robin
• Blue Grosbeak

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.

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*=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