This year all my birding has been in the woods and open ground along the levee of the Ouachita river almost out the backdoor and is just catch as catch can. If I had the time I'd have spent this last weekend down in Cameron Parish haunting the Cheniere woods along the coast and scouting the oilfield roads in the marsh behind the Cameron courthouse. Birds arriving across the Gulf make their landfall on the chenieres which are composed of wind sculpted hackberry and liveoak and are crawing with insects to refuel the hungry migrants. On really good days you can see a dozen species of warblers in one tree at one time as well as any number of other types. The oilfield saltmarsh is a wading and shorebird paradise. Day lists approaching 200 aren't that uncommon.
White tail kites are rare in Louisiana with only the occasional bird showing up around Shreveport. Now the Swallowtail Kite makes up for it in the Atchafalyah basin. Green jays don't make it much beyond very southern Texas around Brownsville. The Scissor tailed Flycatcher does get here every year but not in the numbers of South Texas. Beautiful birds.
By next week the migration will largely have passed through on its way to visit you.
Jerry Liles
