A Real Christmas Bird Count in Metairie
Christmas morning I decided to do a little unofficial bird counting before most of my family woke up for the usual festivities. I didn’t go anywhere special, just made a loop through my Old Metairie neighborhood. My family swears there’s nothing to see out there, just House Sparrows, Blue Jays, and Mockingbirds; but they really aren’t paying attention. There’s a lot more when you look.
I have a regular three mile circle route that takes me up Homestead Ave. to Metairie Playground, around the playground, up the railroad tracks to the 17th Street Canal, down the Canal to where it meets the Canal Street canal; down Canal Street to the I-10 service road, and down the service road back to Homestead Ave. It takes about two hours to follow, and takes me through as varied a habitat as you can expect in suburbia.
One thing that always surprises me when I do this is how few other people are doing it too. Nobody in this town walks anywhere. Getting from the far end of the Lakeside Shopping Center parking lot to Dillard’s is considered a major hike. Yesterday I passed two joggers and no one else on the entire three-mile, two hour excursion. Yes, it was early on Christmas morning, but that’s about par for the course even on a beautiful Spring afternoon.
My goal was to find at least one species I had not previously seen in the neighborhood. That proved a little too unambitious since in the first half block between my parents’ house and Homer Street I found two: Ring-billed Gull and Yellow-rumped Warbler. I also ticked off some of the usuals: Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, and Northern Mockingbird.
Just past Homer, I found twelve roosting Cedar Waxwings. I checked out the feeders in the Morans’ yard, but it was windy and the small birds you usually see there were staying put in the trees and bushes. Continuing up Homestead I noticed that someone I don’t know has put out a Hummingbird feeder, a bird bath, and some fruit on their front porch. Nothing was feeding but I’ll have to keep an eye on it.
The long block of Homestead was pretty quiet, overall though. I did pick up a Ruby-crowned Kinglet at the very last house on the block right before I crossed Codifer. Continuing up Holly Drive and Magnolia to Metairie Playground, I heard my first American crows, as well as what proved to be a dozen American Goldfinches. I also found another Mockingbird and three House Sparrows, shockingly the only ones I’d see all morning. House Sparrows have seem very uncommon this trip. Perhaps Katrina hit them badly, though the European Starlings and Rock Pigeons seem as numerous as always. I’d tallied over 100 of each before the day was over.
Metairie Playground was muddy but empty. A few American Robins, some Blue Jays, 4 Mourning Doves, and quite a few crows. I did have one flock of about 30 White Ibis fly over. I also had five probable Fish Crows (or is it possible they were juvenile American crows at this time of year? I’m not sure I can tell the difference.)
After looping Metairie playground, I walked northeast along the railroad tracks. A Red-tailed Hawk was being mobbed by Blue Jays. A little further on near Country Day, I heard the distinct chuck-chuck of a Red-bellied Woodpecker that was flying a triangle between two trees and a telephone pole. Some bushes near the tracks held a couple of White-throated Sparrows and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
I crossed Metairie Road where I encountered my first large concentrations of European Starling and Rock Pigeons perched on a wire. Not very interesting so I moved on down the tracks to the pumping station on the 17th Street Canal. This is one of my favorite and perennially surprising locations in the neighborhood. Today over 50 gulls were lined up along the bank, mostly Ring-billed but also a few Herring Gulls and one Laughing Gull.
Brown Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants were actively fishing. A Great Egret and a Snowy Egret were hunting crustaceans in the mud. As I moved down the canal a Little Blue Heron flushed with the Snowy Egret. A couple of Mallards were also paddling around the canal, as was a lone Muscovy Duck. Muscovies have gotten a lot commoner in Jefferson in the last few years. As far as I know, they’re all domestic escapees or their descendants. However, this one had almost but not quite reverted to wild plumage.
I turned toward home along Canal Street. That canal (in Metairie there really is a canal on Canal Street) offered up a few more egrets and doves, as well as lots of pigeons and starlings. However, in the last block came the real surprise find of the day: a Belted Kingfisher. In New York they’re reasonably common around any freshwater, but in Louisiana I’d always associated this bird with the deep swamps. I never thought I’d find one in the suburbs.
I turned left onto the service road and headed for home. I added a few more robins and what not, but no new species. Total species count for the loop was 31:
| Muscovy Duck |
| Mallard |
| Brown Pelican |
| Double-crested Cormorant |
| Great Blue Heron |
| Great Egret |
| Snowy Egret |
| Little Blue Heron |
| Cattle Egret |
| White Ibis |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
| Laughing Gull |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Herring Gull |
| Rock Pigeon |
| Mourning Dove |
| Belted Kingfisher |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
| Blue Jay |
| American Crow |
| Fish Crow |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| American Robin |
| Northern Mockingbird |
| European Starling |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| White-throated Sparrow |
| Northern Cardinal |
| American Goldfinch |
| House Sparrow |
That’s about 25 more species than my family thinks live in their neighborhood; and I missed a few that I know are out here (Downy Woodpecker, House Finch, Bronzed Cowbird, and Monk Parakeet to name a few). The suburbs aren’t ideal habitat, and they’re probably getting worse as people build ever larger houses on ever smaller lots, eating into backyard space. However, they support more birds than you’d think.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:31 PM
We had 60 species here in SE Tennessee on Saturday. Thanks for posting your list! Plus, the photos are nice.