Breeding Warblers of East Texas, Trip report for 1-3 May 2004 (by Jesse
Fagan)
Leaders:
Jesse Fagan and Randy Pinkston.
Highlights
The start of this years TOS Breeding Warbler Trip was ominous as the skies
darkened and the rain came down. Within a short period on Saturday the rainfall
amounts totaled close to 4 inches. This almost completely wiped out our first
day of birding; our group only managed a few hours in the late afternoon.
However, our determined group and leaders decided that we would attempt to see
ALL 14 breeding warblers in ONE day on Sunday. Had this ever been attempted?!
And what lunatic would attempt such a feat?!
This entire trip was about battling the elements: heavy rainfall, trees
blocking roads, muddy roads, flooded roads, and cooler temperatures than normal.
Somehow, through the perseverance of this group and their great attitude, we
managed to see (and very well!) all the 14 breeding warblers of East Texas on
territory (IN A SINGLE DAY!!) with the added bonus of great, scope looks at
Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Bachman's Sparrow. This was truly a birding
marathon. Highlights included close and intimate looks at singing Worm-eating
and Swainson's Warbler, scope-filling views of Bachman's Sparrow, and Bobolinks
foraging in the fields at Alazan Bayou WMA. In total, we saw 23 species of
warbler.
This was a great trip and I hope that you can join us again next year. Thanks
to a great group for their hard work.
Trip Summary and Daily Itinerary:
It is a testament to this group that we actually managed to
see all 14 breeding warblers in ONE day. The leaders certainly didn’t plan it
this way. We were forced into this situation by a Noah-like Flood that dumped a
remarkable 3.74 inches in a roughly 9-hour period on Saturday. We started the
day under heavy clouds at St. Rest Road and barely managed to make it back to
the hotel as the deluge started. Several attempts to get out during the day
proved futile and the rain didn’t quit until Saturday afternoon. We salvaged
the day with a nice walk through the SFA Experimental Forest. However, this
would be only the first of many curve balls that Mother Nature threw our way
(see below in the Daily Itinerary).
The wash-out on Saturday meant that we were forced into a
situation of seeing all the breeding warblers on Sunday. I had never dreamed of
this when I designed the trip. The distances involved in accomplishing this
feat can be great and that is why we use two full-days to see all the species.
However, this group was determined and I was very proud of everyone as we
finished up the evening in the Angelina N.F. We had a fantastic day and
certainly one that I will remember for a long time. Not many people have seen
all the breeding warblers of East Texas on territory and fewer (any? who is
crazy enough to attempt it?) have seen them all in one day. In total, we saw 23
species of warbler. Thanks to the group and Randy for all their hard work.
1 May 2004: Rain. Rain. Did I mention rain? We only
managed to get out for a few hours in the afternoon, but the birding was very
productive. We had a “hat-trick”; seeing Veery, Gray-cheeked Thrush, and
Swainson’s Thrush feeding on holly berries. A few of us got decent looks at a
Worm-eating Warbler as it worked a dead-leaf cluster. The highlight was
finishing the day watching Bobolinks as a cold north-wind blew misty rain in our
face. I mentioned rain, right? At this point, we had only tallied 7 warbler
species.
2 May 2004: We left early circa 6:00 AM for the Davy
Crockett N.F. We had a full plate and Randy and I knew the difficulty of the
task ahead. Our first stop was for American Redstart in the Neches River
bottoms. As we began to drop into the bottoms on the muddy forest service road
we encountered a medium-sized tree that had fallen across the road.
Unfortunately, when I picked up my binoculars that morning I forgot to bring the
chainsaw. Luckily, the walk from this point to the bottoms was only about a
quarter mile and with the cooler temperatures it was rather pleasant. No bugs!
After seeing the redstart, we made a stop for Worm-eating Warbler. As soon as
we got out of the car I heard one singing. We had amazing looks at this bird,
but the Swainson’s Warbler (whose territory is nearby) was less cooperative and
we continued on without this bird. Just as our caravan neared the lowest part
of our drive through the Davy Crockett the entire forest began to disappear
under water. The entire bottoms were flooded and the road was no more!
The intense rainfall had swelled the river way beyond normal levels and even
deer were moving around and much more conspicuous. We turned around and as we
neared the area where we had missed the Swainson’s Warbler I heard from the car
the distinctive “Sweet-Sweet-Sweet-Sisterville!” Within minutes we were looking
at a singing Swainson’s Warbler that was no more than 8 feet from us. We left
the Davy Crockett on a birding high. We drove to Nacogdoches and over the next
several hours found Prairie Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, and Yellow-throated
Warbler. A local site for Louisiana Waterthrush failed to turn up a bird.
After a quick break at the hotel we dashed south to Boykin Springs in the
Angelina National Forest. Along the riparian area near the campground we found
a bobbing Louisiana Waterthrush. This completed our sweep of the breeding
warblers. We finished the evening by finding Red-cockaded Woodpecker and
Bachman’s Sparrow, both Pineywood’s specialties and nice bonuses for our
hard-working group. We didn’t get back into Nacogdoches until around 8:30 PM.
3 May 2004: Another pleasant and cool morning. We
birded half-day at Pecan Park. This migrant trap can be very birdy at this time
of year, but, unfortunately, was rather slow. We worked the grove and edges
several times and picked up a few new species. Highlights included a Blackpoll
Warbler, Philadelphia and Warbling Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Baltimore
Orioles.
Trip Key:
mig— obvious migrant (either by habitat and location or non-breeder)
DC—Davy Crockett N.F.
A—Angelina N.F.
SR—Saint’s Rest Rd.
SE—SFA Experimental Forest and Alazan Bayou WMA.
P—Pecan Park in Nacogdoches City
a—seen in a variety of habitats and in most locations traveled.
h—heard only
Species List:
The taxonomic order follows that of the A.O.U. and their
Checklist of North American Birds w/ 44th supplement (2003).
The species common name is given followed by a rough
estimate of # seen (for most species), location, and possibly a brief
description. Those species in bold are regionally noteworthy and/or
group favorites. The breeding warblers of East Texas are all bold and
underlined.
1) Wood Duck (3, DC)
2) Anhinga (1 male over large swamp along St. Rest Rd.)
3) Great Blue Heron (5, SE, SR)
4) Great Egret (5, SE, DC)
5) Cattle Egret (55, DC)
6) Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (12, SE, DC)
7) Black Vulture
8) Turkey Vulture
9) Bald Eagle (1 nice adult male that perched for us near a nest site
in the Angelina N.F.)
10) Accipiter sp. (1 large accipiter glimpsed high overhead in
the Davy Crockett N.F. Most likely female Coopers.)
11) Red-shouldered Hawk (6; including a single adult feeding two young on a
nest in Pecan Park)
12) Broad-winged Hawk (3; including a well-studied young bird along St. Rest
Rd.)
13) Red-tailed Hawk (5, DC, SE)
14) American Kestrel (1, A)
15) Peregrine Falcon (1 mig; spotted by Randy well overhead and moving
northeast. Good bird for area)
16) Killdeer (1)
17) Solitary Sandpiper (1; seen only by Randy on return from Davy Crockett
N.F.)
18) Rock Pigeon
19) Eurasian Collared-Dove (5; now becoming common in Nacogdoches city)
20) Mourning Dove
21) Yellow-billed Cuckoo (7, SE, DC, P)
22) Barred Owl (2; one studied well in the morning at Davy Crockett
N.F. and another heard “hooting” along La Nana Creek in town)
23) Common Nighthawk (1; seen at dusk near Lufkin)
24) Chimney Swift
25) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (2, SE)
26) Belted Kingfisher (1, A-h)
27) Red-headed Woodpecker (6, SE, DC-h)
28) Red-bellied Woodpecker
29) Downy Woodpecker
30) Red-cockaded Woodpecker (6; briefly glimpsed by a few in the Davy
Crockett N.F. we caught up with several in the Angelina N.F. Great studies and
scope looks were had by all.)
31) Pileated Woodpecker (6; more often heard than seen)
32) Eastern Wood-Pewee (common and heard often, SE, DC, A, P, a. We had good
studies of singles in Pecan Park.)
33) Acadian Flycatcher (very common by voice in wet, bottomland forest of the
Davy Crockett and along St. Rest Rd.)
34) Least Flycatcher (1 mig at Pecan Park)
35) Great Crested Flycatcher (a)
36) Eastern Kingbird (a number along fences and in town, but several foraging
w/ the Bobolinks at Alazan WMA)
37) Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
38) Yellow-throated Vireo (5, including a breeding(?) pair studied nicely in
Pecan Park)
39) Warbling Vireo (2; one singing near the parking lot of Pecan Park was
nice)
40) Philadelphia Vireo (2, DC, P)
41) Red-eyed Vireo (abundant in upland and bottomland forests)
42) Blue Jay (common and one bringing toilet paper to a nest in Pecan Park
was funny)
43) American Crow
44) Purple Martin
45) Barn Swallow
46) Carolina Chickadee
47) Tufted Titmouse
48) White-breasted Nuthatch (1 in Pecan Park where they have bred in the
past)
49) Brown-headed Nuthatch (we had good studies of these little
“rubber-duckies” in the Davy Crockett and later at Angelina N.F.)
50) Carolina Wren
51) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
52) Eastern Bluebird (we watched several adults feeding young in Pecan Park)
53) Veery (nice looks at a bird foraging near several American Hollies
at the SFA Experimental Forest)
54) Gray-cheeked Thrush (1 seen in the SFA Experimental Forest)
55) Swainson’s Thrush (2, SE, P)
56) Wood Thrush (2, SE, P)
57) Northern Mockingbird
58) Brown Thrasher (finally caught up with this local breeder singing in
Pecan Park)
59) European Starling
60) Cedar Waxwing (very common in several locales including in Pecan Park
where they strip the mulberry trees)
61) Tennessee Warbler (42+; numerous in Pecan Park and easily the dominant
mig. Nice to hear their “start your engines” song)
62) Nashville Warbler (2 migs in Pecan Park)
63) Northern Parula (22+, SR, DC, P)
64) Yellow Warbler (4 migs in Pecan Park)
65) Chestnut-sided Warbler (1, DC)
66) Magnolia Warbler (3, DC, P; very surprising not to have encountered this
bird more. To add insult to injury we had a drab, 1st-year female(?)
in the park)
67) Black-throated Green Warbler (5+, DC, P; we had several opportunities to
study this bird and its song)
68) Blackburnian Warbler (1 seen in the Davy Crockett N.F.)
69) Yellow-throated Warbler (6, SR, DC; I think a group
favorite and one we finally had good looks at along St. Rest Rd. Heard often)
70) Pine Warbler (81+, a; abundant in its preferred habitat of
upland pine forest. We had one obvious mig in the park)
71) Prairie Warbler (3, near SR; nice, semi-cooperative birds
in young re-growth pine in south Nacogdoches county.)
72) Blackpoll Warbler (1; very good bird for East Texas and seen well
by the group in Pecan Park)
73) Black-and-white Warbler (6; we found a pair in the Davy
Crockett N.F. that were cooperative and allowed good looks)
74) American Redstart (3+; fairly good looks at breeding birds
in the Davy Crockett N.F. and it was great hearing their short, weak and
high-pitched song. 1 male mig was seen in Pecan Park)
75) Prothonotary Warbler (10; scope-crippling looks at a
singing male along St. Rest Rd. Definitely a group favorite)
76) Worm-eating Warbler (2; darn-tooting and a wonderful
singing male on territory in the Davy Crockett N.F. One of my favorites and I
think the group enjoyed it also ;) A mig was seen in the SFA Experimental Forest
)
77) Swainson’s Warbler (1; darn-tooting and an amazing bird
that sang only 7 feet from us and gave us all looks “to die for” Wow.)
78) Louisiana Waterthrush (1; finally caught up with this bird
at a traditional site at Boykin Springs. Not easy at this time of year)
79) Kentucky Warbler (20+, a; truly common and encountered in
numerous areas of mainly upland thick, second-growth. One singing in the
bottoms of the Davy Crockett N.F. had a very interesting and different song.)
80) Common Yellowthroat (4; singing males seen in marshy area
of Davy Crockett N.F.)
81) Hooded Warbler (15, a; common breeding bird in a variety of
habitats)
82) Wilson’s Warber (1; frustrating looks at a single male in Pecan Park)
83) Yellow-breasted Chat (6, SE, DC; heard often, but great
scope looks at a bird perched on a power line at the entrance to the
experimental forest)
84) Summer Tanager
85) Bachman’s Sparrow (5; scope filling views of 2 individuals in the
Angelina N.F. Several others heard. One may have been a hybrid Bachman’s X
singing mouse.)
86) Northern Cardinal (a)
87) Rose-breasted Grosbeak (3; including 2 males studied well at Pecan
Park)
88) Blue Grosbeak (2, SE, P-mig)
89) Indigo Bunting
90) Painted Bunting (4; nice looks at a bathing bird in a mud puddle
at Alazan WMA)
91) Dickcissel (almost abundant in grasses near campground of Alazan WMA.
Very vocal)
92) Bobolink (11; definitely a group favorite and a highlight of the
trip. Very uncommon in East Texas, but Alazan has been the best place in year’s
past to find this bird)
93) Red-winged Blackbird
94) Common Grackle
95) Brown-headed Cowbird
96) Orchard Oriole (SE, P)
97) Baltimore Oriole (3; incl. two males soaking the morning rays at the top
of a bare tree in Pecan Park)
98) House Finch (2, P)
99) House Sparrow
This web site is designed by Bert Frenz.
Revised: September 29, 2004.