Hi everyone,



I just got back from a long road trip across the country and back, which included birding along the way (not the primary purpose of the trip) along the Gulf Coast and in the southwest.? Having not birded in those areas before, I picked up 46 new life birds?during the trip ?(obviously anything like that number won't happen again absent an international birding trip!)? Probably the most satisfying bird was?finding the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, which is?quite rare due to habitat issues, though there are active efforts in the southeast to manage habitat specifically for this species.? This species excavates nest holes in living pine trees and is a cooperative breeder .?



When I was researching birding possibilities while staying in Carrabelle Beach, FL, I found a nearby state park that had the species and showed up early one morning to try to find one.? Fortuitously, the regional park manager was on duty at the fee station and directed me to the area where their one active colony (a second colony had been wiped out in the last two major storms to go through the area) was located.? Nest trees are clearly marked, so in theory you can do your looking in an area where the birds have been recently active (although obviously this trip was not in breeding season).? As birding luck would have it, I spent a whole morning sitting and walking trails through the area where the colony supposedly was without any woodpeckers found except a sole Downy and one Red-bellied.? The next day before hitting the road I came back early in the morning ?and spent another two hours looking, again with no luck.? I figured that was probably it for my chances on this trip.



However, two stops on the trip later, I had two days near New Orleans and some more research showed that one of multiple national wildlife refuges on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain (Big Branch Marsh NWR) was actively being managed for Red-cockaded Woodpecker habitat.? So off I went an d was able to talk to a ranger there who directed me to two sites with active colonies - one right by a parking lot where '...you'll be sure to find them there.'? Two hours of looking in that spot yielded nothing, despite at least half a dozen marked nest trees.? The second site was a mile walk into the NWR along an access road gated and closed ?to public vehicles.? After the fruitless searches thus far, I came close to bagging the walk in, but opted to go ahead.? That one was a gold mine - at least six of the woodpeckers along with several warbler species, plus Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers were actively working a piece of woods right by the road.? Not only did I get great views for well over an hour, but was able to get some good pix with just a digicam.



The best picture is at http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?LID=&photoID=13497466&cat=38983 .? Notice on the lower woodpecker that its left leg is banded.?



Perhaps the other most satisfying find of the trip was a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow.? This is a 'common' species, but only within a very limited range and habitat, and is shy and secretive.? Walking along the edge of a patch of salt marsh, birding karma was cooperative in this case, as one flushed from almost underfoot and landed in a small bush about a foot off the ground with a clear view of the bird.? It sat still for almost five minutes of close binocular study, then disappeared back into the marsh.



Another highlight of the trip was?driving up Miller Canyon in southeast Arizona.? Close to the bottom of the canyon, we came across multiple Acorn Woodpeckers busily storing acorns in what appeared to be a fairly new granary tree literally right next to the road.? No scopes, or even binocs for that matter, were needed to watch the clownish-looking birds busily caching food.? Even though that tree had only a few storage holes drilled in it, the birds had clearly been active in that area before.? A nearby telephone pole was absolutely riddled with storage holes, and the company had tried to stop the process by wrapping the pole in wire mesh.? It wasn't clear whether than had been successful or not given the heavily- perforated nature of the pole.?



Ladder-backed Woodpeckers were easily found in several areas as well, though we missed finding an ?Arizona Woodpecker.?



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net