Photos - Page 8

 BIRDING AT CADDO LAKE, April 3, 2004

 Alan & Allana Swain

On Saturday, 3 April 2004 we participated in a birding tour of the Caddo Lake area arranged by the NETFO (Northeast Texas Field Ornithologists) club. Dorothy and Bob Metzler were our guides. NETFO members attending were Dorothy and Bob plus David Weaver, Harve Truskett, Wanda Bosmans, John Sheffield, Andy Riley, True Mann, and Tom Walker. Robert Truss came up from the Nacogdoches Audubon Society. Alan & Allana Swain were from the Tyler Audubon Society.

The participants met at the Big Pines Lodge on Pine Island Rd at 0830. The weather there and during the birding jaunt was unusually good. For us it was a 72.3 mile trip from our home near the Univ. of Texas Health Center at Tyler. We left home at 0615 and got to Big Pines Lodge at 0733, so we had some early birding.

After birding at the Big Pines Lodge we carpooled to the lake house of Dorothy and Bob. Fantastic place for birds as it has a birding platform on a lake with many cypress trees. It reminded us of some areas in Florida. On this trip we saw or heard many good birds. Strange to say, we did not see a Starling or a Mourning Dove. But David spotted a House Sparrow to keep our snob count under control.

Around noon we stopped for lunch at Dawn’s Caddo Crossing. Food was good, especially the grilled catfish. We had to then return to Tyler, but some of the group birded in the afternoon. 

The birds listed below for each location were seen or heard by at least one member of our group. An (H) after the name of a bird species indicates that the bird was not seen but identified by call or song. The group identified a total of 55 different species from 8:30-11:30 AM: 

   Pied-billed Grebe

   Double-crested Cormorant

   Great Blue Heron

   Great Egret

   Little Blue Heron

   Black Vulture (5 at deer carcass)

   Turkey Vulture

   Wood Duck

   Mallard (maybe tame)

   Blue-winged Teal

   Cooper’s Hawk

   Red-shouldered Hawk

   Broad-winged Hawk (2)

   Inca Dove

   Ruby-throated Hummingbird

   Belted Kingfisher

   Red-headed Woodpecker

   Red-bellied Woodpecker

   Downy Woodpecker (H)

   Hairy Woodpecker

   Pileated Woodpecker

   Eastern Phoebe

   American Crow (by call)

   Fish Crow (by calls)

   Blue Jay (H)

   White-eyed Vireo

   Yellow-throated Vireo (H)

   Red-eyed Vireo (H)

   Cedar Waxwing (12)

   Eastern Bluebird

   Gray Catbird

   Northern Mockingbird

   Brown-headed Nuthatch (H)

   Carolina Wren

   Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

   Purple Martin

   Barn Swallow

   Ruby-crowned Kinglet (H)

   Carolina Chickadee

   Tufted Titmouse (H)

   House Sparrow

   Goldfinch, American (H)

   Northern Parula

   Yellow Warbler (H)

   Yellow-rumped Warbler

   Yellow-throated Warbler

   Pine Warbler

   Black & White Warbler (H)

   Prothonotary Warbler (H)

   Hooded Warbler (H)

   White-throated Sparrow

   Eastern Towhee (H)

   Summer Tanager (H)

   Northern Cardinal

   Red-winged Blackbird

David Weaver reported four additional species which he heard or saw along Plant Road before meeting the group: 

   Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (4)

   Hooded Merganser

   Barred Owl

   Nashville Warbler

Harve, Tom, Wanda and Dorothy picked up two more species in the afternoon along the Uncertain City Park nature trail: 

   White-breasted Nuthatch

   Hermit Thrush

Total:  61 species