Louisiana-Texas Day 3

Quickie update. We birded in Sherborne WMA on the north side and had a great time. The forest was full of vireos: White-eyed, Yellow-throated, and Red-eyed Vireos. Hooded Warblers and Yellow-breasted Chats were vocal. And we saw several flocks of Indigo Buntings. The Painted Buntings that often move with Indigo Buntings were not seen, but were heard in several places. Acadian Flycatcher was a new trip species, too.

The bottomland swamp here is fantastic. It is a lovely place. The greatest highlight for me, however, was getting to see two species of kites in the same forest! Both Swallow-tailed and Mississippi Kites are here. It is always a delight to see them fly. They are very lightweight birds and are agile in the air.

We at a fabulous Cajun seafood lunch at Prejean’s’ north of Lafayette! After lunch we drove west toward Lake Charles with birding stops at a landfill and a sod farm and a Cave Swallow colony–all along I-10. At the landfill we found a beautiful Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. At the sod farm we found a Merlin sitting on its belly out in the short grass. It was a fun-filled day.

We had 84 species of birds on the day and bumped our Louisiana-Texas trip total to 143 and our year total to 325. Tomorrow the forecasters are calling for rain. This area of Louisiana has already seen some flooding (but not nearly so much as Houston).