ovenbird43
Well-known member
Just back from a week on Grand Isle, an island on the coast of Louisiana that protects some of the best remaining oak chenier habitat. The visit was for work but timing and conditions were great for spring migrants, with a strong front bringing north winds the first day I was there, and another system later in the week with north winds.
I arrived last Saturday afternoon (April 14), hoping to beat the storms but still having to drive through a major deluge in New Orleans, my cell phone repeatedly blasting severe weather alerts at me. Things were still calm when I arrived at Grand Isle, and a colleague and I set out to squeeze in some birding before the rain. The neighborhood trees were alive with birds, constant buzzy flight calls from the many Indigo Buntings around, with a good number of Orchard Orioles, a few Baltimore Orioles, and Summer Tanagers. A first-of-season Common Nighthawk darted by in the strong winds. We then drove to the so-called Exxon Fields, seeing a group of 10 or so Roseate Spoonbills right in the road, and a small assortment of shorebirds, nothing rare but including Black-necked Stilt. Then the storms hit and we returned to our rental house.
The next morning we poked around the backyard for a few minutes before leaving for the day's work, finding a nice assortment of warblers - Cerulean, Black-and-white, Hooded (many coming right out into the lawn), Tennessee, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, and Ovenbird, plus Acadian Flycatcher, Wood and Swainson's Thrushes, Summer Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and more - all as we just stood there!
Our work involved putting up protective fencing for beach-nesting birds at Elmer's Island, so we were out on the beach all day - busy with work but still able to see a couple of Upland Sandpipers fly in from the Gulf to rest on the beach, a few tuckered Barn Swallows doing the same, and an occasional flyby warbler or bunting. Other shorebirds included Semipalmated Sandpiper(FOY), Red Knot, Piping Plover, and Wilson's Plover.
In the late afternoon we visited the Gilleta tract of Lafitte Woods, positively hopping with birds. The mulberries attracted hundreds of catbirds, tanagers, orioles, buntings (Indigo plus a couple Painted), grosbeaks, and vireos. We found 13 species of warblers, including Worm-eating, Kentucky, Cerulean, Prothonotary, and Blackburnian. We walked through a section of neighborhood with some mulberries, and in one yard we saw Tennessee and Worm-eating Warblers foraging right on the ground, and a Hooded Warbler dancing around on a truck parked underneath the stilted house. A single tree held a riot of colors, Summer Tanager, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, and Orchard Oriole all sitting out in the evening sun.
Things were a bit slower the rest of the week, until the second frontal system knocked down a new cohort of birds on April 20th - this time a big influx of Scarlet Tanagers, with a few later migrants including Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Bay-breasted and Yellow Warblers, and Veery and Gray-cheeked Thrush. One evening I lucked into a stunning male Cape May Warbler, uncommon this far west. Birds were generally confiding, for example a male Bay-breasted Warbler approached to within arm's reach of me once, and many foraged in unexpected manners - Black-and-white Warbler hopping around on the ground, Hooded Warblers out on the lawn and darted up in the air to catch insects.
Grand Isle is also a very welcoming community, many residents have signs encouraging birders to visit their yards, people inviting others to use their porches or chairs. I know some years will be better than others in terms of fallout, but I would sure like to this an annual visit from now on. I have a few photos to post later and maybe I'll work up a trip list.
I arrived last Saturday afternoon (April 14), hoping to beat the storms but still having to drive through a major deluge in New Orleans, my cell phone repeatedly blasting severe weather alerts at me. Things were still calm when I arrived at Grand Isle, and a colleague and I set out to squeeze in some birding before the rain. The neighborhood trees were alive with birds, constant buzzy flight calls from the many Indigo Buntings around, with a good number of Orchard Orioles, a few Baltimore Orioles, and Summer Tanagers. A first-of-season Common Nighthawk darted by in the strong winds. We then drove to the so-called Exxon Fields, seeing a group of 10 or so Roseate Spoonbills right in the road, and a small assortment of shorebirds, nothing rare but including Black-necked Stilt. Then the storms hit and we returned to our rental house.
The next morning we poked around the backyard for a few minutes before leaving for the day's work, finding a nice assortment of warblers - Cerulean, Black-and-white, Hooded (many coming right out into the lawn), Tennessee, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, and Ovenbird, plus Acadian Flycatcher, Wood and Swainson's Thrushes, Summer Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and more - all as we just stood there!
Our work involved putting up protective fencing for beach-nesting birds at Elmer's Island, so we were out on the beach all day - busy with work but still able to see a couple of Upland Sandpipers fly in from the Gulf to rest on the beach, a few tuckered Barn Swallows doing the same, and an occasional flyby warbler or bunting. Other shorebirds included Semipalmated Sandpiper(FOY), Red Knot, Piping Plover, and Wilson's Plover.
In the late afternoon we visited the Gilleta tract of Lafitte Woods, positively hopping with birds. The mulberries attracted hundreds of catbirds, tanagers, orioles, buntings (Indigo plus a couple Painted), grosbeaks, and vireos. We found 13 species of warblers, including Worm-eating, Kentucky, Cerulean, Prothonotary, and Blackburnian. We walked through a section of neighborhood with some mulberries, and in one yard we saw Tennessee and Worm-eating Warblers foraging right on the ground, and a Hooded Warbler dancing around on a truck parked underneath the stilted house. A single tree held a riot of colors, Summer Tanager, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, and Orchard Oriole all sitting out in the evening sun.
Things were a bit slower the rest of the week, until the second frontal system knocked down a new cohort of birds on April 20th - this time a big influx of Scarlet Tanagers, with a few later migrants including Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Bay-breasted and Yellow Warblers, and Veery and Gray-cheeked Thrush. One evening I lucked into a stunning male Cape May Warbler, uncommon this far west. Birds were generally confiding, for example a male Bay-breasted Warbler approached to within arm's reach of me once, and many foraged in unexpected manners - Black-and-white Warbler hopping around on the ground, Hooded Warblers out on the lawn and darted up in the air to catch insects.
Grand Isle is also a very welcoming community, many residents have signs encouraging birders to visit their yards, people inviting others to use their porches or chairs. I know some years will be better than others in terms of fallout, but I would sure like to this an annual visit from now on. I have a few photos to post later and maybe I'll work up a trip list.
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