THE BIRDS OF SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA*
INTRODUCTION
While neither as wild nor as mysterious as when Audubon collected in the woods, swamps, and marshes of Southeastern Louisiana, and bought birds in the markets to paint, this area will rarely fail to reward the patient and careful student of birds. To be sure, the inroads of civilization are everywhere: the forests are second-growth and many have been cleared forever. The wetlands shrink each year because of drainage, saltwater intrusion and erosion, the effects of oil exploration , and subsidence of the Mississippi River delta, due in part to leveeing of the river. We know that the riches of Southeast Louisiana are not inexhaustible--nor are they anywhere. And yet, inexorably, as the seasons change anew, hordes of migratory birds push through the area, moving south in fall to winter here or carry on to Central America, returning again in spring, just as they did a century and a half, or a millenium ago. And the productivity of the coastal marshes and estuaries continues to be so great that visitors from the north or inland United States are often dumfounded by the numbers of herons and gulls, particularly, which characterize these coastal habitats.
It goes without saying that we know far more about the birds of the region than was known in Audubon's time, or even at the turn of the century, and we can record two or three times as many species in a day--say on a Christmas Count--as could have been counted then, without binoculars, telescopes, and modern transportation. And yet we know, or at least can guess (see, for example, the account below of the Lesser Golden Plover), that many of the species Audubon saw in abundance will never again be seen in such numbers. Sadly, a few species that were regular in the 19th century are extinct (or nearly so): Eskimo Curlew, Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet, and Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Bachman's Warbler, which may also be extinct, is another matter; it may never have been common anywhere). Some species have no doubt profitted by the disturbance of the natural landscape: starlings, house sparrows, and cattle egrets, unknown to Audubon, abound. But becasue of loss of habitat on their northern breeding grounds, the effects of pesticides everywhere, and the destruction of wintering habitat in Central and South America, many, if not most, migratory species are in declining numbers.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA BIRDING
And yet, with all of this being said, Southeast Louisiana offers a remarkable diversity of birds for an area with so little topographical relief. With open ocean, gulf beach, coastal marsh, pine flats and uplands, bottomland hardwood forest, and cypress-tupelo swamp--not to mention hundreds of square miles of cleared pine woods, fields, and brushy, waste habitat, a remarkable number of species breed, winter, or stop on their migratory passages. Much of this diversity is typical of coastal areas anywhere, and similarly typical of coastal locations is the liklihood that serious searching will yield a rare vagrant at almost any time. While the gulf coast does not quite match the potential of either the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, and the opportunity for finding birds new to the U.S. avifauna is certainly less than there or along the nation's southwestern border, the variety is nonetheless impressive. Furthermore, Louisiana's wetlands--fresh, brackish, and salt marsh--are the most extensive in the country, and a good part of that habitat is in southeast Louisiana. A significant fraction of North American waterfowl winter in Louisiana marshes and a large proportion of most species of herons nest in the coastal and near-coastal marshes (see the species accounts).
Since even before the time of Audubon, southeastern Louisiana has stimulated the imagination of ornithologists, naturalists, and a host of amateur students of birds. The records summarized in these pages include the names of Audubon, Bailey, Oberholser, Howell, Burleigh, and other intrepid observers from the early days of American ornithology. Not so well known are people like Allison, Beyer, Kohn, and Kopman, who first studied Louisiana birds in a systematic fashion in the early part of this century, and the journalist Stanley Clisby Arthur, who helped popularize Louisiana birds. From World War II into the 1970's the impetus came from George Lowery and Robert Newman and their students (Binford, Monroe, Gauthreaux, Able and others), and from the Louisiana Ornithological Society; most recently it has been Lowery's successor Van Remsen and the colleagues and students (especially Cardiff and Dittmann) he has attracted who have carried on these traditions, even though most of the field work by LSU has been in south-central and southwest Louisiana.
As is true across the southern united states, the winter bird population greatly exceeds the breeding population, both in total numbers and in numbers of species (Table I). Massive migratory movements bring wintering birds into the area between July and December, and send them on their northward return between February and May or early June. These movements, along with those of the spring and fall migrants which stop here only long enough to build up their fat reserves, either in anticipation of trans-gulf migration or subsequent to it, frequently bring with them strays from the east or west. These vagrants, often immature birds, provide much of the excitement for the seasoned birder whose interest is in what one might think of as "birding at the margins," the pursuit of rarities and extra-limital records.
Lying as it does on the central gulf coast, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, Southeast Louisiana is the first landfall for a significant fraction of the transgulf spring migrants whose breeding grounds lie in the northern United States and Canada; similarly, in fall southbound transients see no land for over 550 miles after crossing the Louisiana coast, so that many accumulate near the coast in preparation for the long transgulf flight. The hordes of transients which pass through the region during the brief, spectacular spring migration, and the more leisurely, but perhaps more interesting, fall migration, provide much of the excitment which brings birders to the coast each year between March and May in the spring and July and early November in fall. All-told, migration is taking place during at least eight months of the year, and, indeed, there is probably no month when no migrants are passing through Southeast Louisiana. During the peak of migration 25,000-80,000 birds cross each mile of coastline every day (Gauthreaux 1971) and several million migrants pass through Southeast Louisiana during a season.
It is a paradox that in good weather in the spring(warm, balmy, with south winds--known locally as "bluebird weather"), countless migrants reach the gulf coast but pass inland without landing, so that birding is often poor on the coast when migration is at its height. In bad weather, as when a cold front has penetrated south to the coast, especially if accompanied by rain, staggering numbers of migrants may be precipitated. In coastal or near-coastal localities such as Grand Isle or Venice, every tree and shrub will contain migrants, exhausted by the fight against unfavorable winds. In the fall bad weather will have a similar grounding effect, especially if it comes during the hours of peak nocturnal migration, though the concentrations will usually be smaller than in spring. On the other hand, day-to-day birding is often better in fall. One has to add, sadly, that if the concentrations of spring migrants I have just described are not a thing of the past, they seem to be less frequent, apparently the result of declining populations of these migrants. Whether the cause is destruction of wintering habitat in central America, as is commonly assumed, or fragmentation of breeding habitat in the U.S and Canada, the effects are clear.
During the height of spring migration there is probably not an hour of the day when migrants are not passing over Southeastern Louisiana, although the bulk of migration occurs between about 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. Under typical conditions transgulf migrants begin to arrive at the coast by early to mid-morning, the peak is reached between noon and 2 p.m., and by 6 p.m. the movement is essentially finished (Gauthreaux 1971). There is evidence that less than an hour after sunset the nocturnal flight from the coast begins, emptying the coastal woods of many of the birds which landed earlier in the day. This phenomenon, discovered by Hebrard (1968) and Gauthreaux, presumably does not occur when migrants, exhausted by the fight against unfavorable winds or rain, drop into the coastal woods. Field studies show that under these conditions, birds may feed for one to several days before continuing their northward trip.
Under unusual conditions, the timing of the transgulf flight may be very different ; on strong southerly winds the flight may begin to arrive before 6 a.m. and be essentially over by mid-afternoon, and few birds will land on the coast. With unfavorable conditions, when north winds or rain over the gulf delay the flight, the first migrants may arrive at noon or later and large numbers of migrants may be over the gulf at sunset. Under severe conditions, many simply do not make landfall (see the note in Am. Birds 47 (1993) 422, for example). Given normal conditions of light southerly winds, the flight time for most birds from Yucatan is probably 16-20 hours. Strong tailwinds may reduce this to as little as 10 hours and headwinds may prolong it to a length of 24 hours or more. As already noted, most of the birds do not land immediately in good weather, but continue inland for some distance, usually to the first extensive forests farther inland. Thus develops the "coastal hiatus", a strip of coastal and near coastal woods and marsh in which few migrants are found in good weather. New Orleans often appears to lie within the hiatus. Even in the forests in the vicinity of New Orleans and north of Lake Pontchartrain, where much of the transgulf flight is presumed to land, the density of transients in the absence of concentrating factors, may be only a few individuals per acre, a number easily overlooked.
In the fall, the nature of migration and the effects of weather do not differ markedly from that which is experienced well away from the coast. The number of migrants, swelled by birds of the year, is greater than in spring, a fact which is offset somewhat by the longer period of fall migration. Some pile-ups occur along the coast in fall, consisting of birds preparing to initiate the transgulf flight. Typically the largest movements in fall occur on north winds after the passage of a cool front, but whether large numbers of birds will be found in the field depends on whether there is rain or low ceiling; in many cases the good flying conditions simply empty the coastal woods . Of course a substantial portion of bird migration into and through Louisiana is circumgulf rather than transgulf. This explains, for example, why Prairie Warblers appear on the breeding ground in some numbers by late March but are rarely seen on the coast in spring migration. The same phenomenon also explains why Nashville Warblers are among the most common migrants in east Texas, but virtually absent in SE Louisiana.
It should be mentioned that while the picture given above is generrally consistent with what one sees in the field, and has been the object of radar studies by Gauthreax (1971), much of the evidence is circumstantial, and some of the conclusions inferential at best. The most exciting development in recent years is the advent of a study of use of oil platforms by migrating birds begun by Norman and Remsen and now led by Remsen and Russell. Critical insights into transgulf migration is certain to emerge from these studies, in addition to scores of important individual records.
Although one never entirely tires of the ebb and flow of migration, most of the 200+ species which are involved occur year after year, moving south to winter, north to breed locally, or simply pass through on the way to breeding or wintering grounds. Certainly as interesting are the far less predictable movements of vagrants, especially from the western U.S., which accompany the regular migratory movements, especially in fall. Sporadic and unpredictable in character, and controlled by factors very poorly understood, this influx is the source of much of the excitement to be found in late fall and winter birding in coastal Louisiana. Species typically participating in this wandering include White-winged Dove, Groove-billed Ani, Vermilion Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Bewick's Wren, and Bullock's Oriole. Others, such as Burrowing Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Yellow-headed Blackbird, and Black-headed Grosbeak are somewhat less frequently seen. A large number of other western species have occurred one to a few times, of which some are Say's Phoebe, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Sage Thrasher, Lucy's Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Macgillivray's Warbler, Painted Redstart, Western Tanager, and Lark Bunting. The most dramatic example of this "vagrancy" involves the seven species of western hummingbirds which have occurred in Southeast Louisiana, mostly at feeders in fall and winter. Although Rufous and Black-chinned Hummingbirds are now known to be quite regular, there are not less than 40 records of Buff-bellied Hummingbird, at least five records each of Allen's and Broad-tailed, and one record of Broad-billed Hummingbird. At least four records of Calliope Hummingbird have been obtained in the Norco-Reserve area, just at the up-river limit of the checklist area. It is well known that most of these western vagrants are birds of the year and it is surmised that these young birds, lacking migratory experience, radiate from their breeding grounds erratically, or move laterally to the east after reaching the gulf coast , or perhaps engage in "mirror-image" migration to the southeast instead of southwest, and thus reach the checklist area. Studies of vagrants made at LSU suggest that many suffer from some pathology that might have disrupted their orientation and navigation ability. These vagrants also occur farther to the east in coastal Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, though in smaller numbers. It has been suggested that the Mississippi River delta acts as a vagrant trap, inhibiting their eastward movement. It should be noted that several species, including White-winged Dove, Groove-billed Ani, and Buff-bellied Hummingbird actually breed mostly to the southwest of this area and must move northeast along the gulf coast to reach Southeast Louisiana.
Approximately 120 species breed in the area (Table I), a number which includes important numbers of herons, egrets, and ibis, which will be found breeding in heronries in the coastal marsh or in the bottomland hardwood swamps. Also typical of the gulf coastal states, but most especially of Louisiana, are nesting colonies of Laughing Gulls and Black Skimmers, plus seven species of terns: Gull-billed, Caspian, Royal, Sandwich, Forster's, Least, and Sooty. Several of these species nest only on the sand strand habitat of the barrier islands adjacent to the coastal marsh. The Sooty Tern is especially interesting; there has been a small colony on the Chandeleur Islands (typically Stake, Curlew, Errol Islands), apparently since the 1930's, with the number of nesting pairs probably never exceeding 30. American Oystercatchers breed on these islands as well, and on the shell-rimmed islands in the marsh. Most of the breeding Reddish Egrets in Louisiana are to be found in the same areas, in small colonies on the barrier islands and at the seaward edge of the coastal marsh such as Lonsome Island. For information on colonial breeding birds of Louisiana, including those which breed in the marsh and in the swamps, see Portnoy (1977).
The story of the Brown Pelican, the Louisiana state bird, is both tragic and encouraging. Formerly they bred all along the coast, from North Island to the Timbaliers, at least, in numbers approaching 80,000. Althoug the last nesting of native Brown Pelicans occurred in 1961, they were re-introduced from the Florida population in the 1970's, and are again common on the coast near Grand Isle, from at least the Timbaliers to Grand Isle and Grand Terre.
Although pelagic birding on the northern gulf coast is distinctly less rewarding than on either the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, it continues to fascinate the more adventuresome birder and always offers the possibility of an extraordinary sighting. At least 13 species of strictly pelagic birds, including Sooty Tern, which also breeds, have been recorded in Southeast Louisiana, and at least seven, perhaps eight or nine, can be considered regular: Wilson's Storm Petrel, Northern Gannet (winter), Audubon's Shearwater, Pomarine and Parasitic Jaeger, Bridled and Sooty Tern, and perhaps Masked and Brown Boobies. A pelagic trip in the late spring of 1990 yielded six of these species, including the second Long-tailed Jaeger for Louisiana.
Of particular note, especially to visitors from other parts of the country, are the species typical of the pine flats north of Lake Pontchartrain, including Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Bachman's Sparrow. In winter this habitat also will yield Henslow's Sparrow, and perhaps Leconte's. Other species typical of this habitat in breeding season are Wild Turkey, Eastern Wood Pewee, Eastern Bluebird, and Yellow-throated Vireo. Similarly interesting is the creek and river bottom swamp habitat north of Lake Pontchartrain, especially in the Pear River bottoms. Notable species are Anhinga, Swallow-tailed Kite, and Swainsonn's Warbler, plus such common birds as Acadian Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo, Parula, Swainson's, Hooded, and Prothonotary Warblers, American Redstart, and Summer Tanager. On the scrubby edges of such habitat one finds Yellow-breasted Chat and Painted and Indigo Buntings.
PHYSIOGRAPHY, BIOGEOGRAPHY
Although Southeast Louisiana is part of the Gulf Coastal Plain and shares many of its characteristics, especially with respect to climate, the physiography and ecology of the area is dominated by the fact that Southeast Louisiana encompasses much of the great alluvial plain of the lower Mississippi River delta. This alluvial plain, with little relief, dips slightly gulfward and approximates sea-level throughout the lower portion. Each deltaic stream is bordered by natural levees formed by the deposition of sediment during flood periods. Away from these alluvial ridges, where the lands fall below the mean water table, are found cypress-tupelo swamps and marsh in fresh water areas, but only marsh in more saline areas. These wetlands, which do not drain into main streams, but rather are catch basins for overflow and rainfall, are drained by sluggish, meandering bayous with little natural levee; Viosca (1933) has termed these "swamp drainage bayous".
In the Mississippi alluvial plain, which is part of the Southeastern Evergreen Forest region of Braun (1950), three kinds of bottomland forest may be recognized: swamp forest (cypress-tupelo), hardwood bottoms, and ridge bottoms. The swamp forest occupies land on which water stands throughout the year, except perhaps in midsummer. Its important trees are baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) , water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), swamp tupelo (N. biflora) , water or carolina ash (Fraxinus carolinensis), and swamp red maple (Acer rubrum). Hall and Penfound (1939) described cypress-tupelo and swamp tupelo forests in Southeastern Louisiana in detail. The hardwood bottoms are subject to frequent overflow and are usually covered with water through the late winter and spring. The forest is characterized by a rich and varied flora, some of the dominant species being sweet gum (Liquidamber styraciflua) , red maple, swamp chestnut oak (Quercus michauxii), water oak (Q. nigra) , overcup oak (Q. lyrata) , willow oak (Q. phellos), elm..., and sugarberry or hackberry (Celtis laevigata). The ridge bottoms, elevated a few feet or less above the general level of the bottoms are covered by water only during floods and contain some of the species of the hardwood bottoms along with a large number of oaks and hickories. Sweet gum is dominant and with it are oaks, shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), and pecan (Carya ....). The most extensive bottomland forest in Southeast Louisiana is in the flood plain of the Pearl River and the largest area of swamp forest is in the Pontchatoula Swamp at the northwest corner of Lake Pontchartrain.
The soils of the alluvial plain are charateristically alkaline; in the non-alluvial swamps and pinelands north of Lake Pontchartrain, on the northern edge of the alluvium, the soil, as in the gulf coastal plain as a whole, is acidic. The upland swamp forests are dominated by pond cypress (Taxodium ascendans), swamp tupelo, pond pine (Pinus serotina), and slash pine (P. elliottii). The better drained areas of the pine lands support a forest of longleaf pine (P. palustris) mixed with loblolly (P. taeda) or slash pine. A loblolly-shortleaf pine (P. taeda-P. echinata) association is also found just to the north of Lake Pontchartrain. The longleaf pine forest (the community largely responsible for the name "Southeastern Evergreen Forest") is a fire sub-climax forest, stabilized by recurring fires, although longleaf pine is less common than it once was. The pinelands of Southeatern Louisiana have been treated by Pessin (1933) and by Penfound and Watkins (1937). The other physiographic areas of the Florida Parishes, while for the most part not included in the area covered by this work, are of sufficient interest and near enough to deserve enumeration: hardwood uplands (northwest of Lake Maurepas), longleaf pine hills (found at the northern edge of the region in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes and extending northward into Mississippi), and mixed shortleaf and hardwood uplands (the Felicianas).
Also emphasizing the evergreen aspect of the southeastern forest are the maritime live oak forests in which live oak (Quercus virginiana) is pure or predominant but whose flora is still rather diverse. Viosca (1933) states that "live oaks, draped with spanish moss, are the dominant trees of the coastal ridges but give way as we proceed inland to a mixed forest consisting chiefly of live oak, water oak, red or sweek gum, elm, hackberry, magnolia, often with an understory of dwarf palmeto or switch cane or both." Penfound and Howard (1940) described an evergreen oak forest in the vicinity of New Orleans.
A small amount of beech-magnolia forest, a mesophytic hardwod association containing Ameriican beech (Fagus gradifolia) , a variety of oaks, and magnolia, is found on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain. The batture willow forests, occupying the land between the natural (or man-made) levee and the water of the larger streams in the area (in particular, the Mississippi River), are dominated by black willow (Salix nigra) , hackberry, and cottonwood (Populus deltoides).
The marshes of Southeastern Louisiana which are classified as fresh, brackish, intermediate, and saline, total over 4 million acres (6000 squre miles) and cover some 60% of the checklist area. The fresh marshes are characterized by broadleaf cattail (Typha latifolia), giant bulrush (Scirpus californicus), with maiden cane (Panicum hemitomon). bull tongue (Sagittaria sp.), wiregrass (Sparrtina patens), alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides), and sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) major consitituents in places. In the intermediate marsh, wiregrass and roseau cane (Phragmites australis) predominate; the most important species of the brackish marsh are wiregrass and saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), but a great variety of species are present. The coastal salt marshes are dominated by oystergrass (Spartina alterniflora), black rush (Juncus roemerianus), salicornia sp., and saltgrass, and show a much lower diversity than the brackish and intermediate marshed. Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) is often a feature of the salt marsh--when freezes have not suppressed it--and forms a salt water swamp. The classic works on the marshes of Southeastern Louisiana are Penfound and Hathaway (1938) and O"Neil (1949). The Vegetaitive Type Map of the Louisiana Coastal Marshes (Chabreck and Lanscombe, 1978) is a good source of information on the distribution of marsh types in Southeastern Louisiana.
CLIMATE
The climate of Southeastern Louisiana is semi-tropical and coastal, with high rainfall and humidity, warm summers and mild winters. The growing season is about 326 days. Severe frosts are uncommon and below Lake Pontchartrain are quite rare. At New Orleans the mean annual termperature is 69.5o, with a mean low of 59.8o and a mean high of 79.8o. The coldest month is January, with a mean of 55.5o (45.9-66.1), while the hottest is July, with a mean of 82.6o (72.9-91.9). The all-time temperature extremes at New Orleans have been 7o and 102o . North of the lake the extremes are somewhat more severe, with a high of 105o. Average annual rainfall is about 60 inches, distributed fairly uniformly throughout the year (see the climogram, below). The wettest month is July, with an average of 8.12 inches, and the driest is October, averaging 3.15 inches.
TOPOGRAPHY
With the exception of the extreme northern edge of the region, where the pine uplands begin, Southeastern Louisiana is essentially flat, sloping slightly toward the gulf at an average of about 2 feet per mile. Below the latitude of New Orleans few elevations exceed 5 feet and aside from the alluvial and stranded beach ridges, the level of the land approximates sea level. Only well north of Lake Pontchartrain, in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes, is there any significant relief, and a maximum elevation of 175 feet is reached just beyond the extreme northern boundary of the checklist area. The mean elevation is about 15 feet, although the average elevation of that part of the area exclusive of the two northernmost parishes is about one foot.
CHECKLIST AREA
Although we will not define the area covered by this account with great precision, in part becauses it is necessarily determined by cultural rather than biological considerations (parish boundaries, etc.), and because we shall be liberal in our interpretation of what southeastern Louisiana is, especially if it seems worthwhile to recount an important or interesting record, it is generally "Southeastern Louisiana," which might be regarded as the area which can be birded from New Orleans in one day. On the southwest, the natural boundary is Bayou Lafourche, or, what is virtually the same thing, the western edge of Lafourche Parish; northward the area includes St. John, Tangipahoa, and Washington Parishes, the latter abutting Mississippi, west to approximatlely 90 45' W. longitude. To the south we include, somewhat arbitrarily, those offshore waters accessible in a day-long pelagic trip from Venice or Grand Isle, i.e., to about 28 N. latitude, about 60-70 miles offshore. Thus defined, the area covered is about one by three degrees, or nearly 12,000 square miles, a third of which are offshore waters. Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne encompass another 1000 square miles of open water. All or part of nine Louisiana parishes are included, but of course the seasonal information has a much wider applicability. The Reserve-Laplace area is not given justice in this account, for the somewhat paradoxical reason that it is quite heavily birded and it is impractical to keep up with local records from that area. Where possible, important records are included.
CHARACTERISTIC BREEDING BIRDS OF VARIOUS HABITATS
In all, at least 428 species of birds have been recorded in Southeast Louisiana on one occasion or another, of which less than 70 are permanent residents; summer visitors swell this number to over 110 breeding species (Table I). In this section, we list characteristic breeding birds of several habitats typical of Southeastern Louisiana: hardwood bottoms and cypress swamp, pineflats, coastal marsh, fields and brush, residential and woodland, and sand strand. These lists are meant to characterize the birdlife of these habitats rather than to be exhaustive.
Hardwood Bootoms and Cypress-Tupelo Swamp
Anhinga
Yellow-crowned Hight Heron White-eyed Vireo
White Ibis Red-eyed Vireo
Wood Duck Parula Warbler
American Swallow-tailed Kite Yellow-throated Warbler
Wild Turkey Swainson's Warbler
Barred Owl Prothonotary Warbler
Pileated Woodpecker Kentucky Warbler
Acadian Flycatcher Hooded Warbler
Carolina Wren American Redstart
Carolina Chickadee Summer Tanager
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Pinewoods:
Red-headed Woodpecker Pine Warbler
Red-cockaded Woodpecker Prairie Warbler
Eastern Wood Pewee Blue Grosbeak
Brown-headed Nuthatch Bachman's Sparrow
Eastern Bluebird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Marsh:
Great Blue Heron Clapper Rail
Great Egret Purple Gallinule
Snowy Egret Common Moorhen
Cattle Egret American Coot
Tricolored Heron Willet
Green-backed Heron Black-necked Stilt
Little Blue Heron Forster's Tern
Black-crowned Night Heron Fish Crow
Least Bittern Marsh Wren
Glossy Ibis Common Yellowthroat
White-faced Ibis Red-winged Blackbird
White Ibis Boat-tailed Grackle
Mottled Duck Seaside Sparrow
King Rail
Fields and Brush:
Cattle Egret Eastern Meadowlark
Bobwhite Red-winged Blackbird
Mourning Dove Indigo Bunting
Loggerhead Shrike Painted Bunting
Common Yellowthroat Rufous-sided Towhee
Yellow-breasted Chat
Sand Stand:
American Oystercatcher Least Tern
Wilsonn's Plover Royal Tern
Laughing Gull Sandwich Tern
Gull-billed Tern Black Skimmer
Sooty Tern Common Nighthawk
Residential, woods:
Mississippi Kite Blue Jay
Red-shouldered Hawk Common Crow
Broad-winged Hawk Fish Crow
Kestrel Carolina Chickadee
Yellow-billed Cuckoo Tufted Titmouse
Barn Owl Carolina Wren
Screech Owl Northern Mockingbird
Great Horned Owl Brown Thrasher
Common Nighthawk American Robin
Chimney Swift Eastern Bluebird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Common Flicker European Starling
Red-bellied Woodpecker White-eyed Vireo
Hairy Woodpecker Summer Tanager
Downy Woodpecker Northern Cardinal
Eastern Kingbird Orchard Oriole
Great Crested Flycatcher Common Grackle
Purple Martin Brown-headed Cowbird
Rufous-sided Towhee
Table 1
SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE BIRDS OF SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA
Winter Visitors 132
Summer Visitors 40
Migrants 51
Permanent Residents 70
Casual or accidental in winter 51
Casual or accidental migrants 10
Non-breeding summer pelagics 7
Migrant pelagics 12
Introduced (recent) 1
Other accidentals 3
Indeterminate 1
Post-breeding vagrants 2
TOTAL 408 species
Hypothetical 12
At least 120 species are known to breed, or have bred, in the checklist area. Of the 408 species known to have occurred in Southeastern Louisiana, approximately 300 occur "regularly," attesting to the considerable diversity and richness of habitat available.
Table 2.
NEW ORLEANS CHRISTMAS COUNT TOTALS
1905-1993
Year Obs. Party Species Total Ind.
Hours
1947 1 12 50 880
1954 21 43 103 52,534
1955 21 81 113 57,674
1956 8 25 101 18,414
1957 12 40 104 13,487
1958 19 43 113 39,881
1959 11 41 113 29,061
1960 9 36 109 37,964
1961 7 38 104 17,467
1962 12 45 119 14,926
1966 15 45 124 17,212
Table 3
VENICE CHRISTMAS COUNTS 1964-1990
Year Obs. Party Species Totl. Ind.
Hours
1964 21 64 152 36,143
1965 12 32 128 20,791
*The above text and the following bibliography are very incomplete and in the process of elaboration and revision.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Able, K.P., A radar study of the altitude of nocturnal passerine migration, Bird-banding 41(4): 228-290 (1970).
_____, Fall migration in coastal Louisiana and the evolution of migration patterns in the gulf region, Wilson Bull. 84(3):231-242 (1972).
Alexander, W.B., Birds of the Ocean, 2nd ed., New York, Van Rees Press, 1954.
Allen, C.M., Grasses of Louisiana, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1975.
American Birds and Audbon Field Notes, Central-Southern Region, 1947-1991, various authors.
Arthur, Stanley Clisby, The Birds of Louisiana, Bull. La. Dept. of Conservation, 5: 1-80 (1918).
_____, The Birds of Louisiana, Bull. La. Dept. Conservation, 20:1-598 (1931).
Atwood, E.L., Recent interesting Louisiana records, Auk 60:453-455 (1943).
Audubon, John James, The Birds of America, New York, Dover, reprint of 1840 ed.
Bailey, A.M. Birds of the Louisiana gulf coast, Aud. Mag. 47: 166-172 (1945).
_____, and E.G. Wright, Birds of southern Louisiana, Wilson Bull. 43: 114-142 and 190- 192 (1931).
Bateman, Hugh A., Clapper Rail studies on Grand Terre Island, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, thesis, Louisiana State University, 1965.
Behre, Ellinor, Annotated list of the fauna of the Grand Isle region, 1928-1946, Occasional Papers of the Marine Laboratory, Louisiana State University, 6: 1-66 (1950).
Bent, A.C., Report of A.C. Bent on the Breton Is.and Reservation, Bird Lore 12: 280- 282 (1910).
_____, Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, New York, Dover, 1963. Reprint of the 1926 edition.
_____, Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns, New York, Dover,1986 reprint of the 1921 edition. While all of the Bent volumes contain references to occurrences in Southeastern Louisiana, this volume is especially interesting because of the numerous references to colonial nesting in coastal Louisiana, including historically interesting photographs.
Beyer, George E., The avifauna of Louisiana, with an Annotated List of the birds of the state, Proc. Louisiana Soc. Nat. Hist. for 1897-1899, 76-120 (1899).
_____, Andrew Allison, and H.H. Kopman, List of Birds of Louisiana, Auk 23: 1-15 (1906), 24: 314-321 (1907), 25: 173-180 and 439-448 (1908).
Bonck, J. and W.T. Penfound, Plant succession on abandoned farmland in the vicinity of New Orleans, Louisiana, Am. Mid. Nat. 33: 520-529 (1945).
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Braun, E.L., Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America, Toronot, BBlakiston, 1950.
Brockman,...Trees of North America, New York, Golden Press, 1968.
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_____, Louisiana Trees and Shrubs, Bull. La. Forestry Comm. 1: 1-262 (1945).
Bullis, H.R., Transgulf migration, spring 1952, Auk 71: 298-305 (1954).
_____, and F.C. Lincoln, A trans-gulf migration, Auk 69: 34-39 (1952).
Burleigh, T.D., The birdlife of the gulf coast region of Mississippi, Occas. Papers Mus. Zool., Louisiana State Unversity, 20: 324-490 (.....).
_____, A new Barn Swallow from the gulf coast of the United States, Occas. Papers Mus. Zool. Louisiana State University, 11: 179-183 (1942).
Chabreck, R.H., T. Joanen, and A.W. Palmisano, Vegetative Type Map of teh Louisiana Coastal Marshes, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Comm., Baton Rouge, 1968. Latest version is R.H. Chabreck and G. Linscombe, 1978.
Chabreck, R.H. Vegetation, water, and soil characteristics of the Louisiana coastal region, LSU Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull 664 (1972).
Clapp, R.B. and R.C. Banks, Marine Birds of the Southeastern United States and Gulf of Mexico, Part I, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, FWS/OBS-81-01, 1982.....
Conner, W.H. and J.W. Day, Productivity and composition of a baldcypress-water tupelo site and a bottomland hardwood site in a Louisiana swamp, Am. J. Bot. 64: 1354- 1364 (1976).
Duncan, C.D. and Havard, R.W., Pelagic birds of the northern Gulf of Mexico, Am. Birds 34: 122-132 (1980).
Eggler, W.A., Louisiana Coastal Marsh Ecology, LSU Coastal Studies Inst. Contract 61- 2, Report 14.
Eleuterius, L.N., The marshes of Mississippi, Castanea 37(3): 153-169 (1972).
_____, Tidal Marsh Plants of Mississippi, Mississippi Alabama Sea Grant Consortium Pub. No. MASGP-77-039...
_____, Tidal Marsh Plants, Pelican Press, Gretna, LA, 1990.
Ewan, J.A., A bibliography of Louisiana botany, Southwestern La. J. 7: 1-83 (1968).
Eyles, D.E. and J.L. Robertson, A Guide and Key to the Aquatic Plants of the Southeastern United States, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Circular 158. Reprint of Public Health Bulletin 286 (1944).
Fassett, N.C., A Manual of Aquatic Plants, U. of Wisconsin, Madison, 1957.
Fernald, M.L., Gray's Manual of Botany, New York, American Book Co., 1950.
Finch, D.W., W.C. Russell, and E.V. Thompson, Pelagic birds in the Gulf of Maine, Am. Birds 32: 140-155 (1978).
Fisk, H.N., Geological Investigations of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River, Miss. R. Comm., Vicksburg, 1944.
_____, E. McFarlan, C.R. Kolb, and L.J. Wilbert, Sedimentary framework of the modern Mississippi delta, J. Sedimentary Petrology 24: 76-99 (1954).
Fritts, Thomas H. and Robert P. Reynolds, Pilot Study of the Marine Mammals, Birds, and Turtles in OCS Areas of the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. F&WS, Office of Biological Services, FWS/OBS-81/36 (1981).
Gandy, D.E. and W.H. Turcotte, Catalogue of Mississippi Bird Records, Vol. 1, Miss. Game and Fish Comm., 1970.
Gauthreaux, Sidney A., A radar and direct visual study of passerine migration in Southern Louisiana, Auk 88: 343-365 (1971).
_____, Weather radar quantification of bird migration, Bioscience 20: 17-20 (1970).
_____, and K. P. Able, Wind and the direction of nocturnal songbird migration, Nature 228:: 476-477 (1970).
_____, Nocturnal songbird migration, Nature 230: 580 (1971).
Godfrey, W.E. The Birds of Canada, Natl. Mus. Can. Pub. No. 203, 1966.
Gosselin, M. and N. David, Field identification of Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri) in Eastern North America, Am. Birds 29: 1059-1066 (1975).
Gosselink, J.G., An Ecological Characterization Study of the Chenier Plain Ecosystem of Louisiana and Texas, Vol I, Narrative, U.S. F&WS FWS/OBS-78/9 (1979).
Gould, E. and J. Ewan, Phytogeographic and ecologic relationships of the flora of Breton Island, Louisiana, Tulane Stud. Zool.. Botany 19: 26-36 (1975).
Hall, T.J., An ecological study of the cypress-gum community in the Pearl River valley, Proc. La. Acad. Sci. 4 (1938).
_____, and W.T. Penfound, A phytosociological study of a cypress-gum swamp in Southeastern Louisiana, Am. Midl. Nat. 21: 378-399 (1939).
_____, A phytosociological study of a Nyssa biflora consocies in Southeastern Louisiana, Am. Midl. Nat. 22: 369-375 (1939).
Hamel, Paul and Sidney A. Gauthreaux, The field identification of Bachman's Warbler, Am. Birds 36: 235-240 (1982).
Hayman, Peter, John Marchant, and Tony Prater, Shorebirds, Houghton Mifflin, 1986.
Harrison, Peter, Seabirds, Houghton-Mifflin, 1983.
Harshenberger, J. W., Phytogeographic Survey of North America, New York, G. E. Stechert & Co., 1911.
Hebrard, J., The nightly initiation of passerine migration in spring: a direct visual study, Ibis 113: 8-18 (1971).
Hitchcock, A. S., Manual of the Grasses of the United States, USDA Misc. Pub. 200, 2nd Ed. revised by A. Chase, New York, Dover, 1951.
Hopkins, E. S., A visit to our bird islands, La. Conservation Review 2 (10): 18-23, 38-39 1932).
Hotchkiss, Neil, Common marsh plants of the United States and Canada, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Resource Pub. 93 (1970).
Howard, J. A. and W. T. Penfound, Vegetational studies in areas of sedimentation in the Bonnet Carre Floodway, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 69: 281-282 (1942).
Huguley, D. and L. N. Eleuterius, A floristic comparison of mainland and barrier island dunes in Mississippi, J. Miss. Acad. Sci. 21: 71-79 (1976).
Humm, H. J. Seagrasses of the northern gulf coast, Bull Mar. Sci. Gulf Caribb. 6: 305- 308 (1956).
Imhof, T. A., Alabama Birds, 2nd Ed., U. of Alabama Press, 1976.
King, K. A., E. L. Flickinger, and H. H. Hildebrand, The decline of Brown Pelicans on the Louisiana and Texzas Gulf Coast, Southwest Naturalist 21: 417-431 (1977).
King, W. B., Seabirds of the Tropical Pacific Ocean, Preliminary Smithsonian Identification Manual, U.S. Natl. Mus., Smithsonian Inst., Washington, D.C., 1967.
Kopman, H. H., List of the birds of Louisiana, Part VI, Auk 32: 15-29 (1915), Part VII, Auk 32: 183-194 (1915).
_____, Report of exploration of seabird colonies on the coast of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, made in the interests of the National Association of Audubon Societies, May 15, 1907 to June 21, 1907, Bird Lore 9: 233-240 (1907).
_____, Inspection of Breton Island Reservation, Louisiana, August 3, 1908, Bird Lore 10: 229-231 (1908).
_____, Inspection of East Timbalier Reservation, Louisiana, Bird Lore 10: 231 (1908).
_____, Wild Acres , New York, Dutton, 1946.
Lehman, Paul, The identification of Thayer's Gull in the Field, Birding 12: 198-210 (1980).
Lemaire, R. J., A preliminary annotated checklist of the vascular plants of the marshes and ncluded higher lands of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, Proc. La. Acad. Sci. 24: 56-70 (1961).
_____, A preliminary annotated checklist of the vascular plants of the Chandeleur and adjacent islands, St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes, Louisiana, Proc. La. Acad. Sci. 24: 116-122 (1961).
Le Page du Pratz, A. S., Histoire de la Louisiane, Paris, 1758.
Lloyd, F. E., and Tracy, S. M., The insular flora of Mississippi and Louisiana, Bull Torrey. Bot. Club. 28: 61-101 (1901).
Lowery, G. H., Jr., Louisiana Birds, 3rd Ed., Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 1974.
_____, Trans-gulf spring migration of birds and the coastal hiatus, Wilson Bull. 57: 92- 121 (1945).
_____, Evidence of trans-gulf migration, Auk 63: 175-211 (1946).
_____, A quantitative study of the nocturnal migration of birds, U. Kansas Publ. Mus. at. Hist. 3: 361-472 (1951).
_____, and R. J. Newman, The birds of the Gulf of Mexico, Fishery Bull. 89, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 55: 519-540 (1954).
_____, A continent-wide view of migration on four nights in October, Auk 83: 547-586 (1966).
McAtee, W. L., T. D. Burleigh, G. H. Lowery, Jr., and H. L. Stoddard, Eastward migration through the gulf states, Wilson Bull. 56: 152-160 (1944).
Martin, A. C., H. S. Sim, and A. L. Nelson, American Wildlife and Plants, New York, Dover, 1961.
Meanley, Brooke, Natural History of the King Rail, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, North American Fauna, No. 67, 1969.
_____, Swamps, Riverbottoms, and Canebrakes, Barre, MA, Barre Pubs., 1972.
_____, Natural History of the Swainson's Warbler, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, North American Fauna, No. 69, 1971.
Miller, G. and S. Jones, The vascular flora of Ship Island, Mississippi, Castanea 32: 84- 99 (1967).
Montz, G. D., A vegetational study of the Timbalier and Isle Derniers barrier islands, Louisiana, Proc. La. Acad. Sci. 40: 59-69 (1977).
Muenscher, W. C., Aquatic Plants of the United States, Ithaca, Comstock Publ., 1944.
Norman, D. and R. D. Purrington, The demise of the Brown Pelican in Louisiana, La. Ornith. Soc. News 55: 3-6 (1970).
Oberholser, H. C., The Bird Life of Louisiana, La. Dept. Cons. 28, 1938.
_____, The Bird Life of Texas, E. B. Kinkaid, ed., Austin, U. of Texas, 1974.
O'Neil, Ted, The Muskrat in the Louisiana Coastal Marshes, La. Dept. Wildlife and Fisheries, New Orleans, 1949.
Pessin, L. J. and T. D. Burleigh, Notes on the forest biology of Horn Island, Mississippi, Ecol. 22: 70-78 (1941).
Penfound, W. T., Southern swamps and marshes, Bot. Rev. 18: 313-336 (1952).
_____ and E. S. Hathaway, Plant communities in the marshlands, Ecol. Mon. 8: 1-56 ( (1938).
_____, and M. E. O'Neil, The vegetation of Cat Island, Mississippi, Ecol. 15: 1-16 (1934).
_____, and A. G. Watkins, Phytosociological studies in the pinelands of Southeastern Louisiana, Ecol. Mon. 8: 1-56 (1938).
Peterson, R. T., Field Guide to the Birds of Texas and Adjacent States, Boston, Houghton-Mifflin, 1960.
Portnoy, J. W., Nesting Colonies of Seabirds and Wading Birds--Coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, FWS/OBS-77/07 (1977).
Purrington, R. D., Nesting of the Sooty Tern in Louisiana, Auk 87: 159-160 (1970).
_____, The tern colony of Curlew Island, LA, Amer. Birds 42: 1238-40 (1988).
_____, Nesting of the cliff swallow in Louisiana, J. La. Ornith. 1: 24-26 (1988).
Putnam, J. A. and H. Bull, Trees of the Bottomlands of the Mississippi River DElta Region, Southern For. Exp. Stat. Occas. Papers 27, 1932.
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Richmond, E. A., The fauna and flora of Horn Island, Mississippi, Gulf Res. Reports 1: 59-106 (1962).
_____, A supplement to the fauna and flora of Horn Island, Mississippi, Gulf Res. Reports 2: 213-254 (1968).
Rowlett, R. A., Observation of marine birds and mammals in the northern Chesapeake Bight, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, FWS/OBS-80/04 (1980).
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Stevenson, Henry M., Jr., The relative magnitude of the trans-gulf and circum-gulf migration, Wilson Bull. 69: 39-77 (1957).
Stewart, R. E. and C. S. Robbins, Birds of Maryland and the District of Columbia, North American Avifauna, No. 62, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1958.
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Williams, S. G. Checklist of the Birds of the Upper Texas Coast, Houston Outdoor Nature Club, 1962.