Snow Geese Under Half-Moon near Mire, LA
(Photo by Denny Culbert)
Throughout the U.S., Canada, and parts of the Carribean, Christmas Bird Counts (CBC) have been run for over a century. Google “Christmas Bird Count” for historical details. Each year, the CBC season runs from December 18 - January 4. Well over 2,000 counts are run each season, including over 20 within the state of Louisiana.
Tallying every bird seen/heard Throughout the Day
is the worst part of a CBC
(photo by Denny Culbert)
Individual count organizers select one day within the season to run a given count. Basically, 15 mile-diameter “count circles” are strategically selected, in which count compilers attempt to include as diverse of a line-up of different habitat types as possible. Then, participants are recruited, and the count circle is divided up in accordance with the number of observers participating. From pre-dawn to post-dusk, participants count every bird that they see and/or hear. At the end of the day, particpants meet to compare notes, and the count list is compiled.
Chris Brantley, Patti Hollard, Walker Wilson, Heather Mancuso
Working a Rice Field in Niblett (southwestern Jeff Davis Parish)
The “Lac-Thorn” CBC was held on December 18 this year – a dry, cold, windy affair. Weatherwise, you never know what you'll get at a CBC. Last year, Lac-Thorn was so wet we couldn't even make it to Bayou Lacassine – the western terminus of our “Niblett” area, a complex of rice fields, pocket-marshes, and wooded canals, bayous, lakes, and small woodlots located northwest of the intersection of LA 14 and LA 99 in extreme southwestern Jeff Davis parish.
Ditto for this year's Lafayette CBC held on December 28 – dry, cold, and breezy. Birding all bundled up and eyes watering from frigid winds is a challenge in itself. Our area in the Lafayette circle is way up on the northwestern edge, above I-10 around the rural communities of Mire, Vatican, and Ossun. Like our “Niblett” area at Lac-Thorn, the Mire/Vatican/Ossun landscape is primarily flat and open, but dominated by cattle pastures and only pocked with rice-fields and wooded ponds.
Coming in for a dawn Landing at Mire Crawfish Ponds
28F, Sick East Wind.....Brrrrrrrrrr
Patti's already got her hat on
Bill Vermillion Attempts to Stay Warm, Working the Mire Crawfish Ponds
(photo by Denny Culbert)
An Open-country Bird, the Killdeer can Take it Wet or Dry
(photo by Denny Culbert)
A Tree Swallow Plies the Frigid Air Above a Mire Crawfish Pond
What in the World can he be Finding to Eat in 28F Weather?!!???
(photo by Denny Culbert)
In both circles, it was so dry this year that most of the rice fields were waterless; so we were at an immediate disadvantage regarding waterfowl, rails, shorebirds, and other water birds. Fortunately, a few fields remained "pumped up" for crawfish production. On both counts, the wind was so steady and chilly that most of the songbirds were laying low for much of the day.
Bless Their Lil' Hearts...Regardless of Weather Conditions,
You Can Always Count on Counting Chickadees.
They Wouldn't Miss a CBC for the World....
(photo by Denny Culbert)
It wasn't until after lunch that the sun began to peek through the clouds, allowing a few warblers, sparrows, and others to slip up on exposed perches to catch a few rays. Still, the action was heavy, if not always fast and furious. We stayed pretty busy all day long at both places.
Good Things Come to Those who Work their Butts Off
We found this rare Ash-throated Flycatcher at a Very
Secluded wooded Lake near Mire, LA
(photo by Denny Culbert)
Patti Holland and Bill Fontenot Eye an Unidentified Hawk
In Low Light A Thousand or so Yards Away....Ah, Dawn.....
Dawn is the crucial time for a CBC. Participants need to find a dawn-watch site that is as elevated (definitely a relative term here in south Lousiana) as possible, and that allows for the widest field-of-view. The dawn-watch site should also be located in or at least adjacent to as diverse a variety of habitats as possible, with “big water” being the most important ingredient. For me, as I'm sure is true for other experienced CBC participants, a successful dawn-watch (generally 6:30-9:00 a.m.) accounts for well over half of the total bird species listed for the day.
White Ibis, Cruisin' for Crawfish at Mire
(photo by Denny Culbert)
Ducks, geese, herons, egrets, ibis, hawks, blackbirds, and other groups are commuting from roosting sites to feeding sites (or vice-versa) at this time. And once the sun rises, sparrows and other songbirds climb up to exposed perches to dry off their plumage, and soak up some warmth.
Here Comes the Sun, Little Darlin'....
A Swamp Sparrow Shaking off Dew at Mire
(photo by Denny Culbert)
Each dawn-watch holds its own surprises. Just after dawn but prior to actual sunrise this year at Lac-Thorn, our Niblett group was treated to a close-up show featuring a female-type Peregrine Falcon riding a stiff northerly breeze only several feet above a rice field, playfully harassing three Great Egrets who were attempting to get a little breakfast in at a protected corner of the field.
Returning from a Successful "Owl Roost Run" in Niblett
After dawn-watch, it's a matter of hunting and pecking, seeking out pockets of good-looking habitat that have the best potential for holding birds. This hunt and peck operation continues through the day.
A "Pocket Marsh" at Niblett
Patti Holland and Molly Richard Scour an Isolated Lake in Niblett
Their efforts were Rewarded with a Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Neotrop Cormorant, and Anhinga
By mid-afternoon, the group begins to inventory potential sites for dusk-watch. As with the dawn-watch, a good dusk-watch spot needs to be elevated, and possess wide-open vista-like views – again, preferably adjacent to water. A successful dusk-watch can add several last-minute species that are generally not found at any other time, including selected duck, sandpiper, and owl species, Black-crowned Night-heron, Woodcock, and the like.
Dusk at Niblett
Molly "Taco Sister" Richard, Bill Fontenot, Patti Holland
(photo by Chris Brantley)
Niblett Dusk-watch Worked to Perfection, Nabbing
Six Black-crowned Night Herons and Two Short-eared Owls
This year, funky weather conditons resulted in far fewer individual birds counted; plus total misses of numerous species which we ordinarly would tally without much trouble. Still, we did a respectable job at both counts, amassing a species list of 77 at Lafayette and 114(!) at Lac-Thorn. I've gotta say, the Niblett area of Lac-Thorn is about as birdy as it gets in Louisiana – not only from a species diversity perspective, but also from a sheer “biomass” perspective – like hundreds of gulls, tens of thousands of geese, and hundreds of thousands of blackbirds. Consider that our 114 species from the Niblett area alone tops the entire count circle totals from of the majority of CBCs held in the U.S. and Canada each year. Louisiana Christmas Bird Counters are a fortunate lot.
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