Leaving Memphis we headed north from Yazoo, and spent the night at a pretty basic hotel in Greenville, Mississippi. From there we looped back south a few miles to cross the Mississippi into Arkansas to head north. Our we planned two primary birding stops along the way in Arkansas. The first was at Lake Chicot State Park. Maybe more memorable than the park was driving for maybe 15 miles right along the west side of the with egrets, both Great and Snowy. In addition American White Pelicans were seen at most times, and it was a pretty
cool drive. eBird list was 35 species there in 1 ¾ hours.

We drove on to our second planned stop, Arkansas Post National Memorial, a nice historical site, with a good visitor’s center, history video, and a large grounds. It was afternoon birding, but with the high canopy trees it remained pretty active, with Yellow-throated and Prothonatary Warblers, our first of soon to be many Indigo Buntings, and really big alligators highlights.

From here we drove to Memphis, Tennessee. We had a nice room at the Staybridge Suites in East Memphis, quite a ways from Beale Street and downtown, but easy highway access and quiet. We liked Memphis overall, and found outdoor venues for music on both our second and third nights in the city. The first place was an outdoor venue with country music called The Grove at the Germantown PAC, where we had a picnic, beer, shade and good music. The next afternoon we went to a “Music on the Porch” event with lots of bands playing on neighborhood porches, and we walked around and listened, before heading downtown to Beale Street, to hear some music at a bar and have dinner at a Chess Club. We were impressed with the huge mansions in many neighborhoods, and the mature trees on many streets.

Birding around Memphis was excellent. On the first day we went to the T.O. Fuller State Park early and then on to Enslee Bottoms, keeping it to a half day of birding so we could check out the city music scene. The state park was fair, with nice forest, and moderately active birding. Prothonatary Warblers were all over the place, our first Eastern Phoebes of the trip showed, but I kept is to a little over an hour to leave lots of time for Enslee. I’m glad I did, as Enslee Bottoms is a special shorebird spot. I estimated 600 conservatively Lesser Yellowlegs, a few Greater Yellowlegs, and decent looks at Pectoral, Least, Solitary and Baird’s Sandpipers along with Black-necked Stilt and Killdeer. The tree line beside the open muddy spots had a few passerines, and I left quite a few sparrows unidentified.

The second day we birded the River Road access to Meeman Shelby State Park, a nice remaining hardwood bottomland spot recommended by prior guest Michael Todd. It was great. I listed 46 species, and know I left lots of unidentified warbler songs. Again, it is so odd having not been to the southeast much before, to see how extensive the wooded wetlands are overall. Standing water in vast forested areas is all over the place, but this area had more mature trees and was a bit drier. Still Prothonatary warblers were numerous, along with Northern Parula, Swainson’s, Tennessee, Hooded, Yellow-rumped, Yellow-throated, Kentucky, Blackpoll, and Palm Warblers and Common Yellowthroat. Indigo Buntings were everywhere, I saw my first Blue Grosbeak of the trip, and overall it was just top notch birding. ‘
We left Memphis across the Mississippi into Arkansas, and headed for the Wapanocca NWR. This was one of my favorite spots so far, in part maybe because we had lots of time to bird it, and in large part because of the birds. Dickcissel was abundant in the big weedy fields, as were Field Sparrows, both singing constantly. I have no idea how many Prothonatary Warblers we saw and heard. There seemed to be several birds singing almost the whole visit. The same wet woodlands seem to be prime Northern Parula habitat too, and they were singing everywhere too. We heard our first for-sure Yellow-billed Cuckoos here, and listed 53 species in a 4 ½ hour visit. We drove and wandered over much of the refuge roads.

Shortly after leaving Wapanocca Marian spotted a Greater Yellowlegs in a roadside flooded field, and on stopping it was packed with Pectoral Sandpipers. I listed 75, and think there were likely lots more than that. From here we drove north past most of Reelfoot NWR just into Kentucky to bird the Long Point Unit in the southwestern corner of Kentucky. Another state I’d not set foot in or birded, and Reelfoot is a massive NWR.
At the Long Point Unit maybe the coolest thing was a large mammal I’m pretty sure was a badger, and a massive flock of Black Vultures on the road likely by a carcass. There were lots of shorebirds, but views were distant and if it had not been our first hotspot of birding in Kentucky it would have been pretty dull.

We couldn’t find a place to stay in Kentucky in that area, so backtracked to Union City where the hotel we found as borderline, the meal at Applebys was disgusting, and the neighbors smoked and played music until 4 AM. I slept through it all, but Marian, not so well.
We headed back north right along the Mississippi River and birded our way along, stopping at 5 different places for eBird lists before making it to the first planned stop, Lake #9. Cool name I thought, but just a fun morning. Kentucky Warblers were singing in Kentucky, and I got nice looks at the Brownsville Cemetery. We finally both got great looks at Blue Grosbeak at Lake #9. Other stops with cool names were “Fish Pond- Roadside Viewing Only” and one of our favorite places was the Upper Bottom Road. We left Kentucky with a life list of 67 species, and generally a feel for this small corner of the state. Look at a map, and really only a tiny part of the state is along the Mississippi River. In some areas the terrain is really wild, with really deeply eroded ravines seemingly everywhere.

Last night we crossed the river again to stay in a nice place, the Holiday Inn Espress at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Today we started birding at the Cape Girardeau Nature Conservation Center, where it was cold! Our first chilly morning, about 48 degrees early, and the remarkable thing was an apparent migration of Swainson’s Thrushes. I saw about a dozen moving around the grounds, and we also had a pair of Northern Waterthrushes, Eastern Bluebirds at nest boxes, and enjoyed the walk.
From there we drove north, crossed the river back into Illinois and headed for a hotspot called Kidd Lake Marsh State Natural Area, which looked great on eBird, but seemed limited birding to me, just a couple of roads into a farmland beside a marsh. We managed 37 species, but not much special at all. We are getting more spoiled now though, with many of the eastern birds already seen well. A cool happening along the way though was a stop at what we called “Sharon’s Martin Hotel.” As we drove along Root’s Road in Randolph County I spotted what looked like a huge Purple Martin nest box array a ways off the road. We detoured off the road up a long driveway to the end, where a woman was painting her shed, and greeted us skeptically at first, but when we asked permission to check out her martin boxes, she beamed. She has over 100 pair of Purple Martins using a big set of boxes and plastic gords, and we had a nice chat and enjoyed the birds. Her home is partly underground to keep cool in summer and warm in winter, and she said she uses just one large propane tank a year, $500., to head the place for the whole year. The windows are just above ground level, so it looks like a half-house. Pretty cool. I eBirded 120 PUMA, but there were likely more. Definite filter smasher. We are at the Pear Tree Hotel in St. Louis now, and had a great dinner at a local brewery, best beet salad ever, and listened to the Mariners put up 7 runs in the 4th inning!
Tomorrow: I St. Louis Cardinals day game and some city park birding.

Ed, back again after four more really fun days of birding in Louisiana and this afternoon my first time in MS. Monday Marian and I got up early, and headed for Grand Isle, Louisiana. Prior to coming down here I had thought that Grand Isle was so destroyed by the hurricane last year that it was not accessible to birding. Communication with a local birder, Rebecca Grieser, via facebook messenger, gave me confidence that it was possible to access good birding areas, though the State Park is closed.

We enjoyed the drive down, the full moon giving way to a beautiful morning, and got to the Lafitte Woods Perserve, a nice swath of trees in the midst of a heavily built community that is a part of the Nature Conservancy programs. We found the parking area easily, and I was excited to see what might be there. In short the answer was not much. BirdCast had projected a very heavy migration on Sunday night, and I know that these birds if they stopped on the coast may not arrive until later in the day, but still I was hopeful. Birders over the weekend had been getting some warblers. I walked the whole area over a couple of hours, and saw exactly zero warblers. We did manage what seemed to be a family of Green Herons, both Baltimore and Orchard Orioles Gray Catbird, and a heard Scarlet Tanager, but I was wondering if I was just missing a lot, but another experienced birder confirmed, nada when we met after I’d been there an hour or so.

The biggest impression of Grand Isle though was just the incredible devastation from Hurricaine Ida. The other impression though was the number of new construction projects in rebuilding. The overall impression was of huge piles of demolished buildings side by side with newly completed construction and construction underway. The trails at the wooded area had been nicely cleared and were no problem at all. After talking with the other birder there we visited another patch of woods just past the supermarket on a road there, and managed to add Royal Tern, but no passerines of note. The Exxon Fields were better, with lots of Clapper Rails calling, and one that finally pranced across the edge of a pond a bit farther out toward the point. Blue-winged Teal were nice to see, and we finally came onto our first real shorebirds of the trip, with 9 species at a shallow marshy area, including 54 American Avocets, both dowichers, and fun sorting through all the shorebirds checking for anything different.

We tried again for migrants at the Lafitt woods before leaving in the afternoon, with no more luck than in the morning, and headed back north.

I planned to make one stop on the way to Baton Rouge, the planned stop for the night, at the Bonnet Carre Spillway. I wanted to stop there specifically because after just finishing a book on the history of the Mississippi River I had learned that it is a key flood control measure for New Orleans where some water of the river can be diverted into Lake Pontchartrain at times of extremely high water. It has been used only a relatively few times since it was built between 1929 ANDM 1931 after the great floods of 1927. It has 350 bays made up of huge 8×12” wooden “needles” that allow some minor seepage anytime the water levels reach the level of the structure. To the naked eye it looks like there are pretty significant gaps, so I suspect this “seepage” is not insignificant. Some or all of the bays can be raised by cranes on the top of the structure to allow water to divert into the lake. Behind the structure is a long lowlands where water can flow from the river into Lake Pontchartrain and then on into the gulf.

Anyway, we first birded the mudflats in front of the spillway finding several new shorebirds for the trip including a small flock of Stilt Sandpipers, at least 2 Greater Yellowlegs mixed with the more numerous Lesser Yellowlegs, a Solitary and a Spotted Sandpiper, several Pectoral Sandpipers, a Semipalmated Plover and lots of Least Sandpipers, Willits and Black-necked Stilts. In addition Bald Eagles, Least Terns, a Gull Billed Tern, and Herring and Ring-billed Gulls were all new for the trip. Then the area behind the spillway gates had large flocks of shorebirds, adding Western and Semi-palmated Sandpipers and Killdeer to the shorebird bonanza. I thought I had Upland Sandpiper hiding in the grass, but they turned out to be Lesser Yellowlegs standing oddly with their heads held really high, then after further thought still think it is an Upland. What do you think of this terrible photo.

The next morning we crossed the river and drove right alongside the river headed north on side roads with the only “hot birds” for me being several Mississippi Kites flying appropriately across the Mississippi River. We looked for a place for lunch, and lucked into the Audubon State Historical Site. I thought what more appropriate a place to have lunch and wander around hoping to finally find some warblers. It was a jackpot, with spectacular grounds on the Oakley Plantation where JJA spent a summer living and studying the birds. There are huge old trees, really nice grounds and trails through the forest. Finally we were able to actually see a warbler. Amazingly earlier on the trip I had heard just a few warblers, but literally had not laid eyes on a single one! Here things warmed up with many Northern Parula seemingluy singing from every huge tree. We never did get eyes on one here, but really fun looking. We did get great looks though at the boisterously singing Kentucky Warblers, Hooded Warblers and Wood Thrush that seemed everywhere. Prairie and Pine Warblers were also singing, and overall it was a really nice long lunch stop with great birds. We got to really study an Acadian Flycatcher that was calling and sitting on a prominent branch for a nice long study.

From here we headed to Natchez, leaving Louisiana and setting foot in Mississippi for the first time. We toured the oldest antebellum mansion in the south, the Auburn estate. It was old, and had some cool history, but really underwhelming. The organization maintaining it clearly was struggling to manage, and though it was somewhat interesting neither Marian nor I felt we needed to look at more mansions like this one.

We drove on to Vicksberg and spent the night there. In Vicksberg we started the day at the Vicksberg National Military Park, where we drove around the grounds checking out monunemts and birding. Highlights of the birding for sure was a singing and very cooperative Swainson’s Warbler. For me this was only the second time seeing this species. I missed my first chance in Texas on my first trip there with Ken when I was too slow getting our of the drivers seat and around the van to get a look, and then managed after a long time searching on my trip to the Dry Tortugas with Kay, when she missed the bird while taking a break from cold and miserable weather with most of the other birders on the tour. This was better by far.

In the afternoon after driving north a ways we spent several hours at the Yazoo NWR. It is a large refuge a bit east of the river, maybe 30 miles north of Vicksberg. It is a really cool place, with large areas of wooded wetlands, Prothonatary Warblers seemingly singing everywhere, along with nice looks at Northern Waterthrush, Painted Bunting and a total of 43 species for the afternoon.

Well, our long awaited trip to the Mississippi Flyway, starting in New Orleans has begun. Marian and I caught a Delta flight from Seatac, with a brief stop in Atlanta, a minor delay at Atlanta, so not getting to bed until about 1 PM Saturday morning. I tried to fill in a gray state on my eBird profile from the gate window in Atlanta, but nary a feathered creature to list.

After a short but good sleep at th Intercontinental Hotel in downtown New Orleans, we got a not as early as planned start Saturday, heading to Bayou Savage NWR, and beginning on the Ridge Trail boardwalk. Beginning at 8:52 AM the boardwalk was disappointingly slow, and we managed only 22 species in 80 minutes with essentially no migrants and few passerines to be found. It was a beautiful walk though, and a good look at a Swamp Sparrow, hearing a Fish Crow, and hearing several Clapper Rails was cool.

Marian took a break, as it was getting hot and I went across routh 90 to the Recovery One Road area. Here was more active, though I missed Barn Owls when the young woman coming out told me she had flushed three from the abandoned structure there. It was cool to spot a Sora as I chatted with her and get her on it with a scope, and hearing my first White-eyed Vireos was nice.

We drove around to the north of Lake Pontchartrain on Hwy 11, with a stop along the road to see a few waders and swallows, and then went to the pine forest area north of the lake.
At Big Branch Marsh NWR- Boy Scout Road boardwalk Red-headed Woodpeckers seemed all over the place. It took me a while to see one, but after finding the first one we saw a few more. We also got good looks at Brown-headed Nuthatch, and heard several Pine Warblers, but no Red-cockaded Woodpecker to be found by us in the afternoon. Another pretty place, and calling King and Clapper Rails was cool.
After a shower, we spent the late afternoon and early evening in the French Quarter, and Bourbon Street is pretty wild. The wardrobe of the day for most it seemed was a balloon wrapped to look like a penis that most of the young and many of the not-so-young women wore as a head ornament. The bands were good in a couple places we went, and we had a really nice dinner with curbside seating and excellent Mexican food.
Sleep felt good last night and we got up early this morning and headed for City Park Couturie Forest area. It is a specacular city park, with many trials, a nice wooded area, and seemed like it should have held any passing through migrants, but it was overall pretty quiet except for the Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, Brown Thrashers, Blue Jays, Great-crested Flycatchers and both grackles who kept me guessing most of the stop. Highlights were great looks at Brown Thrasher, Carolina Wren, both night herons flying by, hearing lots of Fish Crows, and just the beautiful area. Again, migrants have been tough to come by so far this trip.
After this we took a break from birding to visit a couple of cemeteries. New Orleans if famous for its above ground cemeteries, due to the high water table in the partly below sea level city. They were cool, and Eastern Bluebird and House Finch were added to our Louisiana life list there.
After this break, we decided not to visit the Confederate Civil War Museum, and headed back to Bayou Savage, this time to South Point. I didn’t realize it was a 2+ mile hike one way, and we were pretty hot and weary after the hike, but the birding was IMO the best yet on the trip. Both black ibis species were seen, along with great looks at Great-crested Flycatcher, Orhard Oriole, Eastern Kingbird, and a really cool long look at a pair of Purple Gallinules. Brown Pelicans, and a variety of common but first of the trip species were added too.
We have decided to head south tomorrow on our get-out-of-town day, leaving early to go to Grand Isle in hopes of a good migrant showing. The forecast is for a big flight tonight, and there are some areas open, so I’m hoping the 2 hours in the wrong direction on our Great River Road adventure pays off.

Marian and I broke away from Washington on a 3-week, 3-stop trip getting home just a few days ago. The first stop was really not much about birding, stopping for 3 nights in Nashville, TN to explore a new city and state, see some music, and just have fun. The good thing was that the city is pretty cool. The bad thing was the weather was really cold, meaning 19 degrees F on the middle day.
We got in fairly late and got to our hotel. We discovered a really good vegan place in walking distance from the hotel that we enjoyed. It was a black family owned soul food place.
The next day we got up and headed for an eBird Hotspot, Shelby Park and Bottoms, where we enjoyed a nice warm beautiful morning of birding. We didn’t get a car in Nashville, so got around by Uber/Lyft and it worked well overall. The park is nice, right on the Cumberland River which is a large river. Birding highlights were a nice flock of Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina and Winter Wrens, Red-bellied Woodpecker and just a nice warm morning.

That evening we went to the Grand Old Opry where a “Dancing with the Stars” show was playing and saw lots of crazy dancing in the famous venue.
The next day on waking it was really cold, 19F, and I walked up to Centenial Park, right near the hotel to see what I could find. A Ross’s Goose has been there all winter, and it was the closest I’ve seen this species. Bluejays, N. Mockingbirds, Tufted Titmouse, and a few other species were also seen.
I took Lyft to one other place, near Tennessee State University to a marsh hoping for a lot of waterfowl and managed a moderate list, but was not dressed for the weather, and had trouble getting a Lyft back, so was out way too long.
We stayed in The Villages with Bill and Carol for 6 days. The Villages are amazing, a 200,000+ person >55 community with golf-cart accessible everything. We had a nice visit, outdoor live music, good food, etc. but Marian caught a cold/asthmatic bronchitis which kept her down for most of the trip. She managed and it was great to see Bill and Carol.

I managed a little birding, 52 species for Florida for the stop, really all in The Villages. Best birds were Limpkin and other waders.

From Orlando, where Bill and Carol took us back to a hotel by the airport on Saturday night we flew the next morning direct to San Jose, Costa Rica. Reminder to self, never fly Spirit Airlines again. Old planes, extra charges for everything including pop, snacks, a carry on bag, etc. that are far more expensive than on other airlines. Just a poor overall experience. Direct flight though.
At the Hampton Inn and Suites by the airport we had a huge flock of Crimson-fronted Parakeets by the pool as the sun set. Jean and Alan picked us up the next morning and we were off to La Fortuna and Lake Arenal where we stayed at a fancy resort, Hotel Los Lagos. It had natural hot water pools, well maintained rooms and grounds, and we relaxed mostly. The first morning we got up to go birding with a guide for about 2+ hours at a nearby birding spot, Muelle. It was reasonably birdy, and the guide was just OK. Still we has 43 species, including Olive-crowned Yellowthroat, Cinnamon Woodpecker, and Black-cowled Oriole, all lifers. I suspect with a really top guide we could have had another 20+ species.

The next morning we went before first light to a natural thermal hot river and waterfall. I slipped, had what was a frightening but non-injury fall, but it was really cool. The rest of the trip was mostly hanging by the pools, eating at good vegan places, and visiting a lot. Overall a nice way to ease into Pura Vida life.
After 3 nights there we headed to what all of us felt was the coolest stop of the trip, Finca Luna Nueva. It is an agroforestry farm, with a good restaurant, wonderful grounds, and great staff. Tom ___, the owner had 3 meals with us, and we visited his home on adjacent property one night for wine and to see the Scarlet Macaws come in to roost. Wow on both the house and the Macaws.
Our last stop was a 3+ hour drive to Monteverde, in the cloud forest around the other side of Lake Arenal. It is not really far as the bird flies, but a long windy, uphill drive. We stayed at Hotel Montaña Monteverde, where the place was a bit run down, and the grounds not terribly birdy, a bit disappointing. They did arrange for a guide though, Jorge Marin, who goes by George of the Cloud Forest. He was very enjoyable and a competent guide. On our full day we visited Stella’s Bakery, the Monteverde preserve, and the San Luis area where his abuelos live and have a farm and preserve. Overall good birding, a nice time, and a really cool area. Birding was generally hard, with many birds high in the canopy, and wind was a constant struggle. Top species for me were Three-wattled Bellbird, Resplendent Quetzal, Costa Rica Warbler, and all the hummingbirds at the Hummingbird Gallery just outside the preserve.
The next day we visited Sky Adventures, where several very high and long hanging bridges were the highlight, and we saw more Quetzals and a few other birds.
On the last day, in the morning before heading for San Jose, Jorge took us to Curi-Cancha Refugio de Vida Silvestre where we got better looks at the bellbird, and a few other species while Jean and Marian rode a golf cart to get around steep trails. A fun time and I drove us in their car to San Jose for a late lunch and to the hotel.
The trip home was long but uneventful except for getting around LAX which was a battle. Still home on time and rested up finally now.