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LABIRD-L for Thursday, February 1, 2001
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Subject: purple finch! in baton rouge
From: "Lewis G. Roussel" <speckking(AT)MINDSPRING.COM>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 9:12am
A female purple finch was on our platform feeder this morning (a life bird for
me). After seeing so many purple finch posting this winter I've been
scrutinizing every house finch I see lest I let one slip by. I didn't realize
how distinct it would be (the female at least). It was very brown compared to
house finch. Also, chunky and big headed. The striping on the head was so bold
that the bird suggested a small female rose-breasted grosbeak. My Peterson's
guide doesn't capture it well at all. Sibley's illustration was much better.
Lewis Roussel
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Re: purple finch! in baton rouge
From: Bill Fontenot <bbboy(AT)NATURESTATION.ORG>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 10:10am
At 10:11 AM 2/1/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>A female purple finch was on our platform feeder this morning (a life bird
for me). After seeing so many purple finch posting this winter I've been
scrutinizing every house finch I see lest I let one slip by. I didn't
realize how distinct it would be (the female at least). It was very brown
compared to house finch. Also, chunky and big headed. The striping on the
head was so bold that the bird suggested a small female rose-breasted
grosbeak.
excellent work, louis. you know, in the world of bird-observing, you've got
your "magic moment" material: those moments when all sorts of things come
together to produce an experience that you'll never ever forget; and then
you've got your "joy of birding" material: those moments of revealation,
when, by personal experience, you learn something about a bird (field i.d.
characteristics, foraging habits, etc.) which is not part & parcel to
conventional birding wisdom as depicted in popular magazines & field guides.
bill fontenot
acadiana park nature station
lafayette, la.
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: winter of the sparrow
From: Paul Dickson <Paul(AT)MORRISDICKSON.COM>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 10:17am
Labird: Last week I celebrated the year of the snake with my Chinese
friends but for birders in this region this must be called the "year of the
sparrow". The CBC's showed high but not record numbers of winter sparrows
but things have continued to reveal otherwise. I cannot remember a winter
with more Harris' sparrows. Just about any good sized flock of
White-Crowned Sparrows in Caddo or Red River Parish contains at least one
Harris'. This year's BCBCBC did tally a record count of this species.
Just north and west of Caddo Parish, American Tree Sparrows are being seen
regularly this winter in Texas, OK, and Ark. I counted 145 juncos in a two
hour bird walk this morning without really trying very hard. That is my
highest count of Juncos ever for a short birding trip and surpasses some
total counts for an entire CBC in this region. One huge flock contained 65.
I have seen some extraordinary mixed flocks of mostly Savannah Sparrows in
short growth Johnson grass hayfields. One flock that flew up in front of my
truck last week was the largest single cohesive sparrow flock that I have
ever seen. My guess at it was 350 birds in one mass. There were more birds
in the same field as well that were not in this one flock. I don't think
that there are record numbers White-throated, White-crowned, Swamp, Field,
or Chipping sparrows around but Song Sparrows seem to be very numerous as do
Vesper Sparrows. The others do seem to be higher than average numbers now.
This mid-winter period does see some wandering or range change due to food
supplies, weather, and other factors of which we are unaware. I posted some
weeks ago my observation of an invasion of Fox Sparrows shortly after the
arrival of icy weather. Consistent with the now much warmer weather of the
last few weeks, I am now seeing fewer Fox Sparrows at my Red River Parish
spot.
All in all, this is the best winter for seeing sparrows that I can remember.
One other noteworthy sighting this week was of a field containing
approximately 1000 mourning doves milling about in several huge flocks and
200 killdeer in one flock. They were there one day ( last Monday) and gone
the next. I drive by this field nearly every day as it is adjacent to my
land and I am sure of this one day only presence. Vagrancy of mid-winter I
suppose.
Paul Dickson
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Subject: recent s. central la. bird happenings
From: Bill Fontenot <bbboy(AT)NATURESTATION.ORG>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 10:36am
yesterday (31 jan), while doing bird survey work for dr. huner at the
ul-lafayette experimental farm near cade, la. (st. martin parish), i
encountered a large flock of blue-winged teal (ca. 300 individuals) which
almost certainly represented an early migrational unit. i was sitting in my
truck, windows rolled down, as the first light of the day etched in behind
the clouds. at that moment, i suddenly heard lots and lots of excited
"pipping" - sort of like a very large group of recently-hatched baby ducks
- from the far end (ca. 150 yards away) of the nearest crawfish pond. over
the next 15 minutes, the increasing light gradually revealed the flock's
identity (of course, prior to that, i was thinking of am. wigeon, or n.
pintail. . .not blue-winged teal. . .).
after marveling at this pure flock of BwTe, i heard lots of excited
quacking in the far pond. CROWDED into that little body of water was a
flock of ca. 1600 ring-necked ducks. could they have been northbound
migrants as well?
upon returning to the nature station that afternoon, i saw, for the first
time in my s. la. bird-observing career, a group of 3 brown creepers -
CALLING (like the "seet-seet" of a tufted titmouse, but MUCH
higher-pitched) to one another with their ultra-high-pitched voices.
bill fontenot
acadiana park nature station
lafayette, la.
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Re: winter of the sparrow
From: "Nancy L. Newfield" <colibri(AT)GS.VERIO.NET>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 10:49am
Paul,
At 10:21 AM 2/1/01 -0600, Paul Dickson wrote:
>Just north and west of Caddo Parish, American Tree Sparrows are being seen
>regularly this winter in Texas, OK, and Ark.
Perhaps if you laid down a trail of millet from some of the Arkansas and
Texas sites into Louisiana, we could turn Shreveport into the Sparrow Mecca
of Louisiana. I am packed and ready to drive up.
NLN
Nancy L. Newfield
Casa Colibr=ED=A9
Metairie, Louisiana USA =20
<colibri(AT)gs.verio.net>
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Subject: Re: winter of the sparrow
From: Paul Dickson <Paul(AT)MORRISDICKSON.COM>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 10:57am
Nancy: I didn't go further with the Am. Tree Sp. thing because I have said
it enough times this winter without producing but I really believe that they
are here to be found in Louisiana this winter. I have been looking but
really I don't have time to do a rigorous search along the Arkansas border.
If you map out the other sightings in Arkansas and Texas, they are just not
that far away. Latitude is not a barrier this year. There have to be some
along the northern border of the state. Someone just needs to spend an
entire weekend looking for them, camera around neck of course.
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy L. Newfield [mailto:colibri(AT)GS.VERIO.NET]
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 10:49 AM
To: LABIRD-L(AT)listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: winter of the sparrow
Paul,
At 10:21 AM 2/1/01 -0600, Paul Dickson wrote:
>Just north and west of Caddo Parish, American Tree Sparrows are being seen
>regularly this winter in Texas, OK, and Ark.
Perhaps if you laid down a trail of millet from some of the Arkansas and
Texas sites into Louisiana, we could turn Shreveport into the Sparrow Mecca
of Louisiana. I am packed and ready to drive up.
NLN
Nancy L. Newfield
Casa Colibri(c)
Metairie, Louisiana USA
<colibri(AT)gs.verio.net>
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Re: Lake Martin
From: Russ Allor <RAllor(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 9:09pm
In a message dated 1/31/01 7:16:53 PM Central Standard Time, tcz(AT)IAMERICA.NET
writes:
<< "Closure of rookery at Lake Martin (Lafayette-St. Martin)". Anyone know
anything about this?
what exactly is the proposal?
>>
I saw a notice somewhere about this. The intention is to close it to the
public during nesting and breeding season.
Russ Allor
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Robin Roost
From: David Muth <dmuth(AT)BELLSOUTH.NET>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 10:06pm
All:
Last Saturday (1/27) I was driving at dusk from Metairie into New Orleans
when I looked up at a light and noticed flocks of robins flying eastward, in
my general direction. I followed them, and found a large roost forming in
Lakeview one block west of Canal Blvd. and in the two blocks south of
Harrison Ave. Hundreds, if not thousands were involved, but i could not get
an accurate count from my vantage, because most had seemingly already
arrived. Nothing remarkable about the area they picked. The birds were
perched in everything from large leafless water oaks to dense live oaks, to
camelias to fences. I could not stay long enough to see if they all
eventually shifted to some more uniform substrate.
David Muth
New Orleans
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Subject: Grand Isle Jan. 20, 2001(better late than never)
From: David Muth <dmuth(AT)BELLSOUTH.NET>
Date: 1 Feb 2001 10:09pm
All:
A very late update on birds and trees at Grand Isle. 30-40 volunteers showed
up to plant nearly ten acres of live oaks, red mulberries, and hackberries
in the northwest corner of the Exxon Fields. Thanks to all, and maybe the
fates will be kinder this year, weather-wise.
Myrtle warblers--some of you may remember my estimate of perhaps 30,000
yellow-rumps at the state park before Xmas. On the 20th, we did not check
the wax myrtles at the park, but we did witness an astonishing sight in the
easternmost Exxon field (a short hop from the park): thousands of
yellow-rumps feeding on the mowed grass like savannah sparrows. Flocks
estimated to be as thick as 100-200 per acre, often mixed with pipits,
covered perhaps 50-100 acres (very loose estimates, but you get the drift).
In other words, thousands of yellow-rumps feeding in mowed grass. Quite
extraordinary--none of us (Purrington, Myers, Wallace, or I) had ever
witnessed anything on that scale.
We checked the woods: two chucks, one black-chinned hummingbird (at Landry
B&B), and a black-and-white warbler. NO WILSON'S!
At Fourchon there were good numbers of godwits and avocets, and a few piping
plovers on the beach.
I know I'm leaving something out...
David Muth
New Orleans
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