birds – Louisiana Master Naturalists

A day spent birding…

is always a good day. And we saw a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon), a male perched on a wire over a pond. As one of my counting companions noted, seeing a Kingfisher always makes it a good day!

Saturday, December 20, was the Audubon Christmas Bird Count at D’Arbonne NWR. My counting partner and the expert of our team was Certified Naturalist Roselie Overby, who astounds me with her ability to identify birds by their call.

She was already standing in the parking lot listening and jotting down bird names when I pulled in a few minutes late. Day was still dawning and it was cold. By early afternoon after a short lunch break, we were shedding the layers we had needed that morning.

The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) was a second highlight of the day. We spotted it in a small wooded area between houses and it did not immediately fly away when we pulled to the side of the road. It seemed to be interested in something on the ground we could not see. But it sure knew how to make life hard for the photographer! Finally, it turned its head just right for one decent click.

Likewise, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) knew just exactly how to foil the photographer by staying behind a branch. But it too turned its head just right for a split second!

Overall, it was a glorious day to be out birding, but results were mixed. Roselie and I counted 35 species. Not bad, but not particularly good either. We’ve had as many as 40 previous years.

More noticeably, the numbers of individual birds were down. For example, we saw exactly 3 Dark-eye Juncos (Junco hyemalis), a typically plentiful bird. Roselie counted a few White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) she heard but did not see, but we neither saw nor heard any of the several other species we expected to see.

At the end of the day, we joined another 5 or 6 teams of counters at Heartwood Natural Area to “call the count.” The tentative total number of species was 91, and that’s a pretty good number. The bird of the day was a Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus), a new species for this count. Yay!

In spite of the good number of species, all of the teams reported numbers of individual birds to be down. One count does not a trend make, of course. But it certainly is in keeping with national and global trends, and cause for concern. Most humans profess to love birds. We must match our love with decisive conservation action.

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Explore the Wild Side: Basic Field Skills

Ever wondered what a naturalist actually does? Or maybe you’re ready to take the next step and become a certified Master Naturalist yourself. Either way, we’ve got just the thing for you.

On Saturday, July 19, join us for the third installment in our 5th series of Certification Workshops—Basic Field Skills—a day designed to inspire, inform, and equip curious minds of all kinds. Whether you’re new to the world of naturalism or already knee-deep in field guides and bird calls, this workshop is your chance to connect with like-minded explorers and deepen your understanding of the natural world.

📍 Where?

Photo Courtesy of St. Thomas on the Bayou homepage

We’ll be gathering at St. Thomas’ on the Bayou Episcopal Church in Monroe (3706 Bon Aire Dr), in the cozy and conveniently located Canterbury Room. Doors open at 9:00 a.m.

📝 What’s on the Agenda?
Here’s what your day of discovery will look like:

9:00–10:15 a.m. – The Art & Practice of Nature Journaling with Kim Paxton
Learn how to observe and record the wonders around you, transforming your experiences into lasting reflections.

10:30–11:45 a.m. – Observing for Citizen Science with Bette Kauffman
Get hands-on with platforms like iNaturalist and eBird and discover how your observations can contribute to real scientific research.

🌳 Whether you’re chasing certification or just want to see what all the buzz is about, we’d love to have you join us. Bring your curiosity, your questions, and some bug spray and water, and your walking shoes. Bring a notebook or journal – you’ll want to put your new skills to use. A camera or cell phone will be useful in gathering pictures and using the apps.

Let nature teach you something new this July. See you on the path!

Workshop Adventures

Birds, Birds, Birds

What a great day! Dr. Terri Maness walked us through 23 orders of birds that occur in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, then some ways of identifying birds.

*While my group was standing on the boardwalk out on the lake, a flock of maybe 20 American White Pelicans (*Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) glided onto the water. *This was my biggest surprise. I have seen White Pelicans before but never at BBLNWR.*

She also showed us 3millionbirds.org’s video about the huge decline of birds since the 1970s, which identifies several sad and shocking truths about why it’s happening, from loss of habitat to cats, both pets and feral, that roam freely outside.

*This little Golden-crowned Kinglet* (Regulus satrapa) *appears to be scowling at me. I think it is just the bandit mask it wears that makes it look that way!*

Then we added some layers against a somewhat cold but sunny day and went out to count birds. Terri gave us a scoring system: 5 points for an order, 2 points for a family and one point for a species. Two teams then walked off in opposite directions from the Conservation Learning Center at Black Bayou Lake NWR.

At the end of the afternoon, one team had accumulated more points than the other, but… it was a totally friendly competition and it really didn’t matter. We all learned and had a great time!