News

Monthly Meeting

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 7:00 PM

Program Speaker: Kimberly Albrecht

Topic: Tuten Park 

Kim Albrecht from the City of Lake Charles will give us an update on Tuten Park.  She will discuss the history of the park, damages from Hurricanes Laura and Rita, and restorations and additions to date. The city has reopened the park and has made extensive changes that highlight the various habitats that are available for wildlife, particularly birds.  New trails wind through the woods, brush, open fields, and marshy areas.  Tuten Park is a great local treasure and such a convenient place to bird! 

We look forward to Kimberly’s presentation!  

Monthly Field Trip -  Saturday April 13, 2024

David Booth will lead the trip to the West Side of Hwy 27.  We’ll hit the Sabine NWR, Holly Beach and Peveto Sanctuary.  Meet at the Whitney Bank at Ryan and college, ready to leave at 7:00AM.  Those west of the river can meet us at Stine’s parking lot in Sulphur around 7:20

Monthly Beginner's Bird Walk - Saturday, April 27, Sam Houston State Park 

Paul Zimmermann will lead the April Beginner’s Bird Walk at Sam Houston State Park.  Meet around the Pavilion at 7:30AM.  Should be some Spring Migrants hanging out at the Park.  See you there and bring a friend!  

Pass the word on to anyone you think might enjoy this walk.   Just show up! 

For more info, check with  David Booth at 337-526-0837,  dvid@boothenviromental.com

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Articles  from club Newsletter

The 2022 Lake Charles CBC Report

The Lake Charles Audubon Christmas Bird count was held on December 17, and we had more participants than recent years. Twenty-seven (27) people in ten (10) parties helped out in the nine (9) territories which make up the 15-mile diameter Christmas Bird Count area.

Helping us this year were: Gary Kratzer, Vicki Sensat, John Parker, Mary Tutwiler, Dale Hamilton, John Newman, Paul Zimmerman, Beth Kramer, Gordon Griggs, Deanna Griggs, James Smithers, Katie Barnes, David Booth, Ian Booth, Henry Schmutz, Jeannie Pousson, Patty Palmer, Lori Marinovich, Charlotte Chehotsky, Melissa Weaver, Charlie Lyons, Margret Babcock, Carrie Chrisco, Jonathon Lueck, and two rail draggers. Many thanks to you all for participating, especially those from Lafayette and Shreveport. Everyone made important contributions.

This year, the Audubon held a night rail banding survey inside the count circle. We thank Erik Johnson and Jonathon Lueck for making that happen. Because of that, we added a new species, Yellow Rail, to the count. In addition, there were several owls, sparrows and other species observed by this group.

We also added a boat route which covered 25 miles of the lower Calcasieu River, Turner Bay, Moss Lake, and parts of the Intracoastal Canal. Thanks to Ian Booth for donating the boat and fuel. We were able to pick up 10 Loons, American Avocets, Bonaparte’s Gull, Black-bellied Plover, about 75 Black Skimmers and other nice shorebirds. The top team of James Smithers and Katie Barnes had a total of 90 species. Each team made important contributions and most had exclusive scoops (birds not seen by any other team).

In all, we had record high of 128 bird species, up from 113 last year and better than our historical high of 119 in 2019. We also had a total number of individual birds estimated/counted as 7,205, up from 4,615 birds last year. Notable birds included three species of wintering hummingbirds at multiple locations, a Western Kingbird, 8 Bald Eagles and 10 Osprey as well as the 10 Common Loons.

We appreciate you all, thank you so much for your efforts and help with this count, the best we have ever done!

April Bird of the Month: Mac Guillvray’s Warbler

Want a life bird? For many of us one is available right now at Peveto Bird Sanctuary, the Mac Guillvray’s Warbler. This skulky bird was seen briefly by James Smithers a couple of weeks ago and then found and photographed by James on April 2, 2022.  It has been seen by at least four to five others since then and was reported by James this past weekend. It can be seen in the dense shrubbery on the east side of the parking lot. It has also been seen coming to the water dish which has three benches present. This is near, but not at the water drip.

The warbler is a real sly bird which hides in the dense bushes and appears occasionally. It can be heard chipping at times, which may give away its location to the careful birder. It is all yellow below and olive above. The male has a blue gray hood and chest. Its main features are the wide, white eye arcs. Note that these are arcs and not rings since they are incomplete.

While this bird breeds in the mountains of the western USA, it shows up in south Louisiana occasionally, mostly in Cameron Parish. It has been detected at the BRAS Peveto Bird Sanctuary more often than any other place in the state. It was found there over 28 times from 2010 to 2022. It has been recorded six additional times elsewhere in Cameron Parish from 1983 to 2014. Elsewhere the most recently one showed up near the I10 bridge over the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge. It is known to occur in City Park of New Orleans as well. It was recorded there from 2018 to 2019 with over 23 sightings in the dense tangle of the park.

So now is the time to see it. Bring a large bag of patience and maybe a lawn chair. Take your time but the wait is worth it. And think of all the other great migrants you might see in the meantime.

Rare Bird Sighting - September 20, 2021

A Pomarine Jaeger was sighted at Rutherford Beach in Cameron Parish on September 20, 2021 by Club member Charlotte Chehotsky. It stayed around for more than week, long enough for several birders to see it.  What a treat to see this rare visitor so close to home.

Pomarine Jaegers breed high in the Arctic, usually stays well offshore farther south, and very rare stray inland in any season.

<<Click Here to see pictures of this rare bird sighting>>

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Observation of Cassin’s Finch by Suzanne McFatter

May 2021

On Wednesday, April 21, 2021 a unique bird showed up at my home bird feeders here in northern Cameron Parish, Grand Lake, Louisiana. It turned out to be a Cassin’s Finch, which the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes as a “finch of the mountains of western North America” where they further describe “small flocks twitter and forage in the tall evergreen forests and in groves of quaking aspen”. They go on to describe many of the Cassin’s Finches as “remaining on their breeding grounds year-round” with some moving “south into the mountains of Mexico, returning to their breeding grounds by April or May”. Yes, this one was here on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, and I’m as shocked as anyone.

I’m an amateur bird watcher. I enjoy nature and photography, but I am not a professional or expert at either of those. My love of birds is an inheritance from my mother and my love of nature comes not only from my family but from the location of my birth, in the country, particularly beautiful Cameron Parish. I’ve improved my knowledge of birds through self-study and taking David Booth’s 2020 Beginner Birder E-Class online during the Covid-19 Quarantine.

Even with my amateur knowledge of birds, when I looked out my kitchen window on that day in April and saw this interesting bird my thoughts were that I had never seen this bird before, or had I? The little brown and white streaked bird that showed up at my feeder piqued my interest, but I was thinking that surely, she was the female version of the migratory species I had seen already. I’ve found that the best way for me to make a strong effort in identifying a bird is to photograph it. This way I can sit down and study the photos of it for as long as it takes me to come to the proper identification. I pulled out my camera (old and simple as it might be), the lighting was perfect, and I took as many shots as I could. My attempt was to get good shots of its beak, head, wing, and tail. I took my photos and began to examine them, but I still struggled to get a proper ID. In my continuing effort to ID it, I pulled up the Merlin Bird ID app on my phone and used the Photo ID function. Merlin gave me the following three suggestions as possible ID: "Pine Siskin, House Finch, and Purple Finch". I went to The Cornell Lab site (AllAboutBirds.org) to take a look at the female versions of these three species of birds. Merlin was right that these were very close in appearance and can be found in my area but to me things still didn't match up, including the beaks, wing stripes or bars, chest coloration, and tail shape.

On April 21, I took my photos and posted them on the Gulf Coast Bird Club Facebook page asking for ID assistance. No convincing responses came during the day, but that evening there was a sudden flurry of responses. This Facebook post received knowledgeable responses from John Dillon, Erik Johnson, Van Remsen, Donna Dittman, Daniel Lane, and Nick Ramsey, stating that they believed my photos showed a Cassin's Finch. It was also stated that this would be a first Cassin’s Finch officially recorded in Louisiana.

Wednesday, April 21 was the first day I sighted this Cassin's Finch female. She would return the next day Thursday, April 22. On the second day I took more photos and two videos. She spent even more time at the feeders on the second day. She ate strictly black oil sunflower seeds, not touching all other seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, etc. that I put out for the birds. She seemed to be on a mission to fuel up on that second day. Unfortunately, I was not able to get an audio recording.

David Booth asked for permission for himself and three other expert bird watchers to come to my home in hopes that they could see the finch. They came on the morning of Friday, April 23, sat in my yard, and watched for three hours (7:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m.). They recorded 38 other species of birds that morning, but the Cassin's Finch never appeared, which was heart-breaking. My bird feeders never have bird traffic as light as they did that morning. Within minutes after the bird watching visitors left my yard, a large number of birds came out of hiding. The Cassin’s Finch, however, did not show up and has not been seen since.

I was requested to complete a Louisiana Bird Records Committee Report Form and submit it to the Louisiana Bird Records Committee, at the Museum of Natural Science at LSU. After submitting the form, I received a conformation and thank you for reporting this incredible sighting and submitting thorough documentation. I was told by the receiver that he expects that this record will pass committee review easily and that subsequently we will have a new species to add to the state list. That is indeed very exciting.

Whatever strange circumstances of this year’s spring migration brought her here this year, it is my hope that she found her way safely home to the evergreens and aspens in the mountains of western North America. I would be happy if she returns again during another migration period and brings others with her. I know I would certainly welcome and feed them.

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       My Lifer Grasshopper Sparrow by David Booth

December 2020

This month, after many years of searching I was fortunate to find not one but two Grasshopper Sparrows. Others have found and photographed them in years past, even in Calcasieu Parish my home parish, but alas whenever I would go out and try to refind these birds I always came up empty handed. I even had a plan to drive up to the North West section of Louisiana where some breeding birds were known to have occurred but when I checked with John Dillon, I found out that this only occurred during very dry years and they would not be found this past summer.

So, this winter, knowing that they were likely here … somewhere, I kept on trying. It’s a bit like fishing, you find a likely spot, very grassy and where other sparrows are hanging out and then throw a ‘lure’. In this case I would play their recorded song and calls to entice them into view. These notes are very high pitched and hard for me to hear, even with the volume all the way up. I use a medium sized Bluetooth speaker I purchased from Wal-Mart. Now about that speaker, I have gone through at least a dozen of these little buggers. The first two were top drawer and cost about $60. I kept leaving them on the roof and taking off. Well, I learned that the $10 speaker from Walmart was a better option. Now I use a clothes pin on the key switch to remind me to pull the speaker in before I start the engine.

On this day, I stopped at several likely spots. I picked out a nice field with tall broom sage grass on one side and with very short grass on the other side. I played the recording for Grasshopper Sparrow. I got very excited when a flat-headed big beaked sparrow responded to the call and was working the grass stalks coming in closer and closer in response to the call. It sure looked like a potential Grasshopper Sparrow to me (having never seen one). But it didn’t seem to have the bold eye-ring the field guide was showing. Everything else seemed good. I debated with myself and the guide, until I realized that these birds were LeConte’s Sparrows. This is still a great bird and a close cousin to the Grasshopper. I was almost fooled. But got to see some nice LeConte’s, a rare event in itself.

Driving around some more, I had several no response stops. I went to the gulley on Tom Stegall Road SE of Lake Charles. There was some really nice grass on the North West side of the gulley, so I tried again. I played and played and played with no visible response. Giving up, I pulled in my speaker and leaned in to start the car engine and as an afterthought looked out the window to the rear. There was a suspect bird sitting on the wire just behind the car! With my binoculars, I could make out the flat head, big beak and WOW what an eye ring! It was a definite Grasshopper Sparrow. I grabbed the camera and started to shoot. “Warning no battery power left” was the response. What? How could that be? So I shot a couple of cell phone photos, which were insufficient. Then, a second Grasshopper hopped up to join the first! Unbelievable. I had perfect light and no camera battery. Oh! I can plug into the lighter, almost forgot about that, In a few minutes, I had enough charge to shoot the accompanying photos. Mission accomplished. A life bird, a new Calcasieu Parish List bird and a much needed 2020 bird as well.                                                

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Watch for the Flags and Bands by David Booth 

November 2017

 I have never noticed bands on birds in all the years I have been birding, until this year. Maybe it’s the camera. It sees all and tells few lies. This season, I found two banded individuals on the beach. One was a small Sanderling. Honestly, I never knew it was banded until I reviewed photos that night. It was cool. I could read the green colored flag and white letters “ELE” on the left leg and even one or two numbers “47” on the small, silver metal band on the right leg. These can be reported. When I did so, I found out that the Sanderling had been banded that May in Galveston. Maybe it went ‘home’ for the breeding season and then returned to Holly Beach. The report stated: Sanderling, dark green engraved flag, code ELE. This individual was first captured on May 2, 2017 on the Bolivar Peninsula of Goat Island. Its complete band number is 2701-47716. It has only one re-sight so far, the one you provided on September 4th. The second event was this past Saturday. While on Grand Isle in search of American Oystercatchers, I was fortunate to find a pair at the State Park fishing pier. This time the bright red flag was immediately obvious. However reading it was only feasible with the photograph. There it was “C2”. Maybe someone with sharp eyes could read these tags in the field, but it was much too difficult for me. I didn’t get to report this one, because I had posted this photo online, I was contacted by Jessica Schulz from Lafayette who informed me that this was one that she banded on November 7 in the very same vicinity (Fifi Island) …. in 2010! This was the first re-sighting which had occurred in seven years. Presumably, this is a resident bird which has been kicking around but not getting recorded. This one gets reported to the American Oystercatcher Working Group. In similar incidents, banded birds are found along the coast on many occasions, but I am wondering how many we miss because we are not looking at those little legs. Keep your eyes peeled. 

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