October 31-November 4, 2024 with Dan Lane
Autumn in Cajun country can be variable: some years it's hot, like a continuation of summer, others, it's full of cold fronts bringing migrants down from the North on a conveyor belt of wind. This year, it was more the former. It had been another dry year overall, and although our tour began with what appeared to be a cold front, the winds following it were not from the North, but from the East, which does not usually result in much turnover in southbound migrants. We had to shift our schedule around to be sure we would make the best of the weather and birds, so we started in the pine woods in the western part of the state our first day. The second day, we ventured into the Rice Country, birding roadsides and fields in the morning, and then joining the rice harvest scene in the afternoon with our goal of seeing the mythical Yellow Rail. Later that afternoon, we visited Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge for waterfowl and a few other birds of interest. Finally, on Sunday, we visited the SW corner of Louisiana, Cameron Parish, birding beaches, cheniers, and marshland to see what was present. In all, we actually had some pretty good success with out main targets and some late migrants to boot! Our list was around 145 species, and we also had ample opportunity to try some of the local cuisine.
As one would expect, the bird that really burned a memory into the minds of the group was an amazing experience with a Yellow Rail on the ground! We could all gather around (with other participants of the Yellow Rails and Rice Festival) and get amazing views of a bird that had landed in the cut rice. Other things that folks voted to be favorite experiences were, the group itself (awww) and being able to ride on the rice combines. A few mammal experiences were memorable, such as the bottlenose dolphins in the Calcacieu River while we were in Cameron, and Raccoons that some folks spotted. Of course, other birds also made the cut, such as our views of a sleepy Barred Owl in the bottomland woods of Kisatchie National Forest, the oodles of both Black-bellied and Fulvous whistling-ducks and the Vermilion Flycatcher we enjoyed at Lacassine Pool, and several denizens of the salt marshes of the coast such as the two saltmarsh sparrows (Seaside and Nelson's) and several Clapper Rails that eventually gave us some good views. Finally, one of our final birds in Cameron was a White-winged Dove that we nearly drove by, but stopped to study its subtle beauty.
Thanks everyone for joining me for a weekend of birding in my adopted home state! I hope you got a feel for what Louisiana is about and understand why it is an excellent birding destination in the fall, winter, and spring, with migrants and wintering birds (waterfowl, waders, blackbirds, and small landbirds) providing plenty to look at!
Perhaps we will see one another again in the future somewhere in the field! Keep them binoculars near at hand meanwhile!
Laissez les bon oiseaux rouler!
Mammals:
Marsh Rice Rat (Oryzomys palustris)
Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Northern Raccoon (Procyon lotor)
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/289929
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/lou24TRIPLIST.pdf
Dan (the Barbet)