Louisiana Birders,
Best/ most unusual bird today was the Brown-headed Nuthatch at
headquarters unit, which was super crazy! Other than that, it was extremely
slow in comparison to 04/19, with much fewer small migrants. White-throated
Sparrow numbers were way lower but still flagged- as were Ruby-crowned
Kinglet numbers. The counts were careful and conservative.
The B-h Nuthatch was an extreme oddity for this locality and way off
territory or habitat type. Poor iPhone recording included. Looked down from
chasing the nuthatch to see that I was almost on top of a 300+ lb wild hog
boar- the real deal/ looked pure Russian or whatever type the wild ones
here are- when I sandwiched it between a water hole, levee and fence along
the parkway. I stood my ground as it came at me, veering off at the last
second, over the levee, thencatapulting itself rapidly through a
barbed-wire fence, disappearing in the weeds headed north. It was amazing
to see such a huge animal go through the fence. It visibly yanked him back
quite violently as he was going through on the other side, though I only
found a small patch of reddish/brown basal hair and several long, thick
black strands which he'd lost.
Here's that list-
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29127025
Went south after that, scouting for a "big day" of sorts planned for Ronnie
and I tomorrow. Sure hope the activity levels and diversity are better
tomorrow. Even locals were notably low today. Found the 8 White-faced Ibis
and 12 American Avocet on remaining sandbar slivers out beyond Clark's-
AMAV also flagged. Blacky Snyder junior says it's likely that I was just in
a recent daily path of the large boar, rather than being charged. He agrees
I would have been in major trouble had it really meant business. I agree.
The area along the fence where it went through was plowed up/ wallowed
quite a bit. Here's the Clark's Marina area list. The actual marina is long
gone-
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29127579
Good birding to those at LOS/ Cameron and elsewhere this weekend! ((:
Terry
