Birdwatching

Birds Of The Eastern United States

When I first began birdwatching in late winter of 2005, I soon realized that I already knew a lot of birds. These are either very numerous or very aggressive species who like being around people or buildings (many of these are particularly taken with our trash dumpsters!). These include European Starlings, House Sparrows, and House Finches, all of which are illegal aliens. Well, maybe not illegal, but they were all introduced in New York City about 150 years ago from Europe. The purpose was insect control. Two of those species have done quite well here, maybe too well. Starlings and House Sparrows number in the millions and are now present coast to coast from Northern Canada to Southern Mexico! The House Finch was slower to catch on and is the more pleasant (and shyer) of the group.

Native American birds that we all know about from day to day life are Mockingbirds, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, Pigeons, Blue Jays, Crows, Turkey Vultures, Robins, Swallows, Song Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds, and Red-headed Woodpeckers. In some areas we are used to seeing Catbirds, Seagulls, Killdeer (a Plover), Red-tailed Hawks, Egrets and Herons, Ducks, Canada Geese, and Ibises. Bald Eagles are well known, of course, but are not regularly sighted in most areas. You can probably think of more commonly sighted birds in your area.

But once you begin a birding hobby, you notice things that you didn't see before. There is another bird world, populated by less aggressive species. They are amongst us, even in cities is some cases, but are secretive and hard to spot. Some of them can only be found in forests, remote areas, marshes, or Wildlife Reserves. Also, small birds that come to your area only in the Spring and Summer can be hard to spot because the foliage is so thick. Hard if you are looking for them, almost impossible if you aren't. These include Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Nuthatches, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Water Thrushes, Vireos, Buntings, most Warblers, and most native Sparrows and Longspurs..

Other birds that are larger in size, but are found mostly in the wild, are Loggerhead Shrikes, Brown Thrashers, Wood Thrushes, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Yellow-breasted Chats, Orchid Orioles, Baltimore Orioles, Belted Kingfishers, Kingbirds, Meadowlarks, Flycatchers, and my favorite, Cedar Waxwings ( see my article titled "The Secret of the White Mulberry Tree on the Birding 2 page.)

If you live along the coast, or in a marshy area, you may be familiar many ducks, geese, egrets, herons, stilts, ibises, Roseate Spoonbills, and Osprey.The most common hawk in the Eastern US is the Red-tailed Hawk, and the Northern Harrier is numerous in the Fall and Winter, but there are many other species of hawks and falcons if you know where to find them. I especially like to spot American Kestrels, which are small falcons.

If you live in SE Texas or SW Louisiana, you can spot one of my favorite birds, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, in areas with overgrown fields or sugar cane fields. I've also seen Blue Grossbeaks in those areas.

I can't list all of the birds of the Eastern United State here, there are just too many of them! But I can direct you to a free site where you can enter your state and get an illustrated list of the birds you can expect to find there. Do a Google search for "what bird" or go to http://www.whatbird.com

Welcome to the HerLifeAtHome.com Birding Page! I'm going to tell you about some of the best birding areas that I have visited with directions on how to get there and exactly what to look for. My area of travel since taking up this pastime four years ago has been along the US Gulf Coast and East Coast. This is because I work nationwide construction and these are the areas that I have worked in during this period. For the most part, bird species that are found in the Eastern United States can be found anywhere in that region at some time of the year, with a few notable exceptions. Unfortunately, one of those exceptions is one of the most interesting birds that I've encountered, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Fortunately for me, it's area is East Texas and Southwest Louisiana, and I just happen to live south of Lake Charles.

I hope to soon offer input from my friend and colleague, Donna Besskin. This page will be constantly growing and changing, so come back often!

Southwest Louisiana

My home is in Southwest Louisiana, about 10 miles south of Lake Charles, and it just happens to be one of the best birdwatching areas in the nation. Most people don't seem to know this, and I never see anyone else birdwatching when I'm out there. Except in the Fall, when the Dove hunters are out in force, lol. There is an area of about 10 square miles to the east of Gulf Highway which is full of sugar cane fields and overgrown pastures with gravel roads. Other than hunting season, I have the place to myself, and I have added several birds to my life list there. These include the pictured Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and American Kestrel, as well as the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Grossbeak, Solitary Vireo, Orchid Oriole, And Northern Harrier. There are also numerous Mockingbirds, Kingbirds, Eastern Bluebirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common and Great-tailed Grackles, Cowbirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, Loggerhead Shrikes, and Cattle Egrets. Occasional sightings are Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Least Bitterns, White and White-faced Ibises, and Roseate Spoonbills.

To reach this area, take Louisiana Exit 36 (Cameron Chloe Exit) from I-10 and turn south at the stop sign. This is Highway 397. Continue south, crossing US

Hwy 90, and continue several miles to the next stop sign at Hwy 14. Continue straight across and you will be on Ward Line Road. Another 2 or 3 miles will put you at Freisen Rd, where you will take a right and pull over to the side right away. This section of road was gravel until last year, when some dummie decided to pave it. There's still no traffic, so don't worry. You should spot Scissor-tailed Flycatchers from that spot, but if not, just ease down the road (heading west) and look at every bird you see on the power lines on your right. Believe me, there's no telling what you will find up there!. Blue Grossbeaks are a possiblility, along with Doves, Red-winged Blackbirds, Meadowlarks, and Swallows. In the Fall and Winter, look up over the fields for Northern Harriers and on the wires for American Kestrels. After crossing Hwy 397, which dog-legs to the west, you will be on gravel. Just ease along and look for Loggerhead Shrikes, Downy Woodpeckers, Belted Kingfishers, and Kingbirds. I have even spotted Blue-gray Gnatcatchers upon occasion. Of course, you won't see all of these birds on one trip, but they are there if you're lucky. There are also hundreds of Mockingbirds, Cattle Egrets, and quite a few Cardinals. When you reach Corbina Rd, turn right (north) and go down to the end at Lincoln Rd. There is water in the area, and I've seen a large variety of birds there. Along the way, you should spot Meadowlarks to the left.

Next, retrace you path back to Ward Line Road and turn south. You will soon enter Cameron Parish. Just follow the main route, always south or east, and you will end up in the Cameron Wildlife Reserve. The waterway on the left side of the road will offer sightings of Great Egrets and Alligators. Pass by the Wildlife Reserve Office on the right, and look for the "Pintail Drive" on the left. This drive circles a section of the fresh water marsh. In the summer, you'll want to stay in your vehicle because the insects are fierce! But you can expect to see Black-necked Stilts, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Least Bitterns, White and Whitefaced Ibises, Mallards, Pintailed Ducks, Great-tailed Grackles, and if you're lucky, Roseate Spoonbills. However, things have not been as good there since Hurricane Rita.

In the fall and winter, you can see thousands of Snow Geese and more ducks, and the insects aren't as bad.

From there, you can continue south to Cameron, or what's left of it, to complete your day with sightings of White and Brown Pelicans. You can also buy fresh Gulf Shrimp just in from today's catch!

The Atchatfalaya

As you cross the longest continuous bridge in the world on I-10, which traverses the largest river basin in North America, take the Whiskey Bay exit and head north to the Atchatfalaya National Wildlife Reserve. The Atchatfalaya is a wilderness and you will find birds there that are hard to spot in urban areas. There is a array of Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chats, Hummingbirds, Woodpeckers, many species of Hawks and Waterfowl. The road is bumpy, so take it easy. Mississippi Kites abound, as do Ibises, Egrets, and Herons.

I have only been through this area in the Spring and Summer, so I hope I'll be updating this in the Fall and Winter. It all depends on my next construction assignment. If I'm not close enough to visit my home often, I'm sure I'll be somewhere interesting, so it should all work out.

Greenville South Carolina and the Secret of the White Mulberry Tree

Greenville, South Carolina is my favorite East Coast city. It is positioned in the Piedmont region, amongst lovely rolling hills of green meadows and Oak Forests. You can see the Foothills of the Smokey mountains to the north, and it's only about an hour's drive to Asheville, NC, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Even closer is Chimney Rock, which is a huge tourist and recreation area in itself. Greenville is one of those cities, similar to Mobile, Alabama, that is big enough to have everything but small enough that the traffic isn't bad. As long as you avoid a couple of key areas, you can get around town pretty easily.

The downtown area has been beautifully renovated, with sidewalk cafes, small specialty shops, and brick inlaid streets and walkways. Downtown Greenville also boasts of one of the prettiest city parks that I have ever seen, Falls Park. Built on the site of an old gristmill, on a hillside with a mountain stream running through the middle, it's predominant feature is the small waterfall which made the gristmill possible to begin with. And this leads us to the Secret of the White Mulberry.

I came to Greenville in late winter of 2006, about a year after I began birdwatching. I was working night shift, and though I'm never crazy about that, it worked out very well in Greenville and resulted in First Sightings of several bird species which would not have occurred at that time otherwise. I had been to Falls Park several times, and had already added a Wood Thrush, Eastern Meadowlark, and a Myrtle Warbler to my life list. (Interestingly, I had added the Brown Thrasher to my list at a Rest Stop on I-20 in Georgia on my way to Greenville, as well as a Chipping Sparrow). Anyway, I pulled into the parking area one day in early Spring, and saw immediately that there was a lot of activity centered on a particular tree near the entrance. There were Mockingbirds and House Sparrows flying in and out of that thing like crazy. As I had taken up Tree Identification along with Birdwatching, I grabbed my Tree Guide and identified it as a White Mulberry. Taking a closer look, I discovered the cause of all the excitement. White Mulberries ripen in the early Spring! This is sooner than other berries, so the birds were very happy about that.

As I watched, suddenly a flock of about 25 birds swooped down on the tree. I knew immediately that these weren't any birds that I knew! I observed them through my binoculars for a short time, absorbing all the details that I could, then looked them up in my Field Guide to Eastern Birds. I found that they were Cedar Waxwings! I had never heard of them before, and they are delightful. (Birds often don't hang around long, that's why you gather as many "field marks" as possible before reaching for the book). Cedar Waxwings are an unusual species of birds, and are very pretty. They are larger than a sparrow, but smaller than a Mockingbird. They are very social and can be observed passing a berry from one to the other until one is hungry enough to eat it! The name comes from the fact that their favorite fruit is that of the Eastern Red Cedar, so much so that they don't lay eggs until late Summer when that fruit ripens. Meanwhile, they eat whatever is in season, and the White Mulberry is in season in early Spring. So if you want to spot some Cedar Waxwings, find a White Mulberry or a Eastern Red Cedar and watch it.

That day I also added a Summer Tanager and a Rose-breasted Grossbeak to my life list, thanks to that White Mulberry!

Another bird that I added to my list in Greenville was a male Rufous-sided Towhee. Get this, I stopped a Burger King on the way to work in the late afternoon, and parked around back to eat my Whopper and fries. I saw a movement at the edge of the tree line, and identified the Towhee. Towhees are worm eaters and are usually seen on the ground. I have added several birds to my list by just being in the right place at the right time!

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