Hey Louisiana birders,
We were busy working at a residence in the 300 Block of Briars Court at
1205 when the shrill "pee-peer" of Miss Kite overhead cut the stillness.
The birds were circling in large numbers headed north-northeast. I put the
tools down and began counting at 1206, snapping photos of the sky also. My
glasses weren't handy so the moving birds overhead were hard to make out.
However, I did luck up on a few shots with 30+ birds in view. The overall
count was 146 birds between 1206 and 1217, when the last few stragglers
moved over. However, a fairly close line of tall, bushy live oaks to the
east and northeast was no doubt blocking our view toward quite a few other
birds over the open, plowed fields adjacent Old Brownlee and beyond, as
they were noted from high aloft down to ~50' above the treetops, well
beyond the trees to the east. I did my best. It might be a minute before
photos are uploaded. We are busy as one-armed paper-hangers right now-
which is also a very good thing! (:
Although the birds were on the move and won't likely be there tomorrow, our
count was made near the northwest corner of Briars Court and Hawthorne
Drive. The entrance to the gated neighborhood (Devereaux Dr) is 2.52 miles
north on Benton Rd (La hwy 3) from I-220- on the east side of Benton Rd. I
used to bird the area semi-frequently back in the day, occasionally finding
things like Sprague's Pipit and Horned Lark between there and Old Brownlee
Rd nearby. Although the neighborhood is still fairly open and somewhat
lacking in good cover, it still produces a fairly good movement of assorted
land bird migrant all the way from warblers to raptors, from time to time.
Good kite-watching!
Terry
