Early this morning I spent 50 minutes walking the edge of the batture in Harahan, from Elaine St to the closed Colonial Club property and back. Gray skies, tough light, but lots of songbird activity. I stayed on the edge, although lots of small trails looked like tempting avenues to probe into these riparian woods.
Not surprisingly, Yellow-rumped Warblers were chipping everywhere, accompanied (as they usually are) by Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Orange-crowned Warblers. I saw five or so Downy Woodpeckers, and there was a healthy scattering of Cardinals, some singing.
Perhaps the most interesting sight was an unusual feeding assemblage of blackbirds (15 Red-winged, 2 Brown-headed Cowbird) and four Northern Flickers on the levee grass. This is a large number of flickers for one spot, and I don't recall them associating with blackbird flocks. A few sparrows (which spooked before they were identified) and a couple Yellow-rumped Warblers joined in. Twenty five yards beyond was a Red-shouldered Hawk- also on the grass! All this action was by the entrance to the Kirby facility.
Other mentionables:
1 (other) Red-shouldered Hawk- allowed ridiculously close approach
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
4 Eastern Phoebe
1 White-eyed Vireo (singing c. across from Elaine)
1 American Robin
1 Brown Thrasher (singing by Kirby)
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
2 Palm Warbler
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
notably absent: Carolina Wren (though one was singing across the levee in a residential yard)
Good birding,
Peter
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