Caddo Lake Birding weekend - Friday, Saturday and Sunday (February 22 to 24, 2019)
The Fort Worth Audubon had organized a birding weekend to this north east corner of Texas which is pretty well away from everything and has just small towns around the Caddo Lake Wildlife Refuge. I managed to get a cancellation and would share a three bedroom big trailer house with two bathrooms. The resort had all kinds of accommodation; motel rooms, cozy cabins and trailer homes. The third lady had to cancel, so we instead took a trailer home with only one bathroom. It was roomy and even had its own washer and dryer. It was a house. Both my friend and I agreed it was simple but clean. Across from us were huge bays with steel roof that had huge trailers parked for the season (year round here) Since we arrived on a Friday, there were people visiting their huge trailers with push outs and patios etc. Later on we were told one of the trailer homes was sold and would be towed away and more of these steel covered bays would be put in.
We left early afternoon Friday as it was drizzly. If it had been sunny we would have left early to get in some canoeing or kayaking at the resort. We had about a 3 hour drive. We stopped for supper in Jefferson, Texas at the Knights Inn. The food was good. Fresh Catfish and hush puppies and friend green tomatoes! It was delicious! The decor was something from old England as you can see from the photo. Even the Mona Lisa was there. The town could have been a set for a 50's movie. Here is an old car parked in front of the restaurant.
We continued on to the Caddo Lake Resort. Now the word "resort" is a relative term here. This was all bare bones resort, clean but old. This was in the middle of no where and it was a well worn place. There were blue birds around and a Caroline Wren the next morning. We arrived in the dark so it was an adventure just finding our trailer. We were told, just go in and the key was on the counter. But which trailer was it, here by the resort restaurant/coffee shop or across the street? This took some time to figure out. We did not want to try doors of trailers as these could be occupied.
We finally found ours and got in brought in our things and it was 40 degrees F inside. We blasted the maximum heat to warm up everything as even the beds were real chilly. I slept fine once I went to bed but I had brought a heating pad with me.
Tomorrow was an all day birding day.
Saturday morning came and it was raining!! We met up with the group at the refuge visitor center where the guides explained a bit of the history of the refuge and showed us the area and the different habitats. It was raining so we were using our time to learn. It cleared up and we went out on the parade area (former base of sorts) to scan for Le Conte's Sparrow and whatever else. We spent some time birding here and it started raining and we had to run to the vehicles and drive back to the center. We waited the deluge of rain until it pretty well stopped. No worries we took the time to take a washroom break. When we came out it was sunny and warm, just like that! Weather seemed to change quickly here. It was nice and warm the rest of the day. We went back to the parade to cut across the square to see if we could scare anything up. Of course we did but the birds were so fast we never got a good look at the sparrows.
We visited various places and the birds were quiet. We did see the Brown headed Nuthatches which are always very nice to see. We had about 30 species for the day. We also stopped at the lake and marshes and open air areas. We stopped at former manufacturing places on the refuge which used to belong to the defense department where TNT was made for missiles and other ordinances for World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. About 3,000 people used to work here for the manufacture of weapons. It was a good place as it was so isolated and if something exploded then it was away from any town or city. Much of the structures are still there as they are three feet thick walls and ceilings. Concrete lasts a long time. But it is all abandoned. There was a smashing machine that broke the outside of nuclear missiles and the Russians came over to witness the destruction and in turn, Americans traveled to see the Russian ordinances destroyed. This was when the cold war ended and an agreement was signed to limit the number of nuclear weapons held by Russian and the US.
We scanned the lake which is really interesting looking and there was waterfowl way down the lake but no one had a scope to ID the birds.
Lunch was an outdoor picnic under a pavilion and it was a perfect afternoon. We continued birding until dusk and we returned to the parade to see the American Woodcock do their spring display flight to entice the females to mate. This flight and beeping call is done from dusk to darkness and we did see two males fly up and display. We could hear this go one longer but it got dark pretty quick and the sunset was spectacular.
From here we went on to the Riverbend Restaurant where we got a private room to dine for the 11 of us. We had said farewell to our guide after we left the park. It was a long day for her and a work day guiding us around. We dined well here. There were green fried tomatoes again. I had had pickled ones on my plate the evening before with my meal. There were corn pups served instead of bread buns and these were delicious. I order Fresh grilled catfish here and it was perfect. Many of us had the catfish and another popular dish was shrimp with grits. This is a very nice restaurant on Caddo Lake with a nice screened in patio. The bugs are bad in the summertime we figure. We did not have any bugs at this time of year. So it was after 9 when we finally got back to our trailer. It was cozy warm and we turned down the heat and we each got organized with stuff.
Sunday morning was bright and warm. We started the day just birding the grounds. We had a boat ride on Caddo Lake booked for 10 am from the resort's marina dock. The group split up to go in two pontoon boats. All the trees on the lake are Cypress Trees with knees. According to our boat captain, the Cypress trees' leave turn fire red in October and many tourists come then to see the fall colour. He showed us a photo of the lake at that time and it looks spectacular. There is also Spanish hanging down from all these trees. So it is very difficult to spot anything in the three. Once can hear the birds but nothing can be seen. We did see some lovely, in breeding plumage Great Egrets in several places. Also there are many alligators in this lake. There were lots of fishermen on the lake when we were on our boat trip. We did see a Bald Eagle fly over but the highlight for me was about 150 American White Pelicans flying in the thermals and they would catch the sun and there would be that brief flash of silver white pearls in the sky. Really spectacular. While we did not see many birds we did learn a lot from our boat captain. He takes people out for a tour every day all year round. The water was very calm as there are alley ways of Cypress trees everywhere, similar to Mangrove alley ways in the water. We were also wondering how one did not get lost in this lake. We did some shoreline cottages but not that many. Most of the lake was on unoccupied.
My friend and I then packed up, spoke to the owner of the resort and his wife and also toured several trailers. Just to see what they had. We also went into one of my other friend's cozy cottage which was a really nice suite. We drove on to find a place for lunch. The place our boat captain recommended was The Lighthouse but we could not find it. We then settled for a Mexican place. The food was also delicious and for myself I requested "no heat".
We had a lovely drive back home and we were back by 5:30 pm. We saw a couple of Red tailed Hawks on the ride home and possibly a Red shouldered Hawk also. There are American Crows here and Fish Crows and since there is a size overlap, one has to listen to the calls and if there is a real nasel-type crow sound it is the Fish Crow. We did hear both birds several times on the weekend.
Sunset Saturday evening before the Woodcock displaying
Our trailer accommodations
Sunday Morning at the marina dock
On the pontoon boat
Cypress trees with Spanish Moss everywhere!
One of the boat ramps at the Star Ranch location
We left early afternoon Friday as it was drizzly. If it had been sunny we would have left early to get in some canoeing or kayaking at the resort. We had about a 3 hour drive. We stopped for supper in Jefferson, Texas at the Knights Inn. The food was good. Fresh Catfish and hush puppies and friend green tomatoes! It was delicious! The decor was something from old England as you can see from the photo. Even the Mona Lisa was there. The town could have been a set for a 50's movie. Here is an old car parked in front of the restaurant.
We continued on to the Caddo Lake Resort. Now the word "resort" is a relative term here. This was all bare bones resort, clean but old. This was in the middle of no where and it was a well worn place. There were blue birds around and a Caroline Wren the next morning. We arrived in the dark so it was an adventure just finding our trailer. We were told, just go in and the key was on the counter. But which trailer was it, here by the resort restaurant/coffee shop or across the street? This took some time to figure out. We did not want to try doors of trailers as these could be occupied.
We finally found ours and got in brought in our things and it was 40 degrees F inside. We blasted the maximum heat to warm up everything as even the beds were real chilly. I slept fine once I went to bed but I had brought a heating pad with me.
Tomorrow was an all day birding day.
Saturday morning came and it was raining!! We met up with the group at the refuge visitor center where the guides explained a bit of the history of the refuge and showed us the area and the different habitats. It was raining so we were using our time to learn. It cleared up and we went out on the parade area (former base of sorts) to scan for Le Conte's Sparrow and whatever else. We spent some time birding here and it started raining and we had to run to the vehicles and drive back to the center. We waited the deluge of rain until it pretty well stopped. No worries we took the time to take a washroom break. When we came out it was sunny and warm, just like that! Weather seemed to change quickly here. It was nice and warm the rest of the day. We went back to the parade to cut across the square to see if we could scare anything up. Of course we did but the birds were so fast we never got a good look at the sparrows.
We visited various places and the birds were quiet. We did see the Brown headed Nuthatches which are always very nice to see. We had about 30 species for the day. We also stopped at the lake and marshes and open air areas. We stopped at former manufacturing places on the refuge which used to belong to the defense department where TNT was made for missiles and other ordinances for World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. About 3,000 people used to work here for the manufacture of weapons. It was a good place as it was so isolated and if something exploded then it was away from any town or city. Much of the structures are still there as they are three feet thick walls and ceilings. Concrete lasts a long time. But it is all abandoned. There was a smashing machine that broke the outside of nuclear missiles and the Russians came over to witness the destruction and in turn, Americans traveled to see the Russian ordinances destroyed. This was when the cold war ended and an agreement was signed to limit the number of nuclear weapons held by Russian and the US.
We scanned the lake which is really interesting looking and there was waterfowl way down the lake but no one had a scope to ID the birds.
Lunch was an outdoor picnic under a pavilion and it was a perfect afternoon. We continued birding until dusk and we returned to the parade to see the American Woodcock do their spring display flight to entice the females to mate. This flight and beeping call is done from dusk to darkness and we did see two males fly up and display. We could hear this go one longer but it got dark pretty quick and the sunset was spectacular.
From here we went on to the Riverbend Restaurant where we got a private room to dine for the 11 of us. We had said farewell to our guide after we left the park. It was a long day for her and a work day guiding us around. We dined well here. There were green fried tomatoes again. I had had pickled ones on my plate the evening before with my meal. There were corn pups served instead of bread buns and these were delicious. I order Fresh grilled catfish here and it was perfect. Many of us had the catfish and another popular dish was shrimp with grits. This is a very nice restaurant on Caddo Lake with a nice screened in patio. The bugs are bad in the summertime we figure. We did not have any bugs at this time of year. So it was after 9 when we finally got back to our trailer. It was cozy warm and we turned down the heat and we each got organized with stuff.
Sunday morning was bright and warm. We started the day just birding the grounds. We had a boat ride on Caddo Lake booked for 10 am from the resort's marina dock. The group split up to go in two pontoon boats. All the trees on the lake are Cypress Trees with knees. According to our boat captain, the Cypress trees' leave turn fire red in October and many tourists come then to see the fall colour. He showed us a photo of the lake at that time and it looks spectacular. There is also Spanish hanging down from all these trees. So it is very difficult to spot anything in the three. Once can hear the birds but nothing can be seen. We did see some lovely, in breeding plumage Great Egrets in several places. Also there are many alligators in this lake. There were lots of fishermen on the lake when we were on our boat trip. We did see a Bald Eagle fly over but the highlight for me was about 150 American White Pelicans flying in the thermals and they would catch the sun and there would be that brief flash of silver white pearls in the sky. Really spectacular. While we did not see many birds we did learn a lot from our boat captain. He takes people out for a tour every day all year round. The water was very calm as there are alley ways of Cypress trees everywhere, similar to Mangrove alley ways in the water. We were also wondering how one did not get lost in this lake. We did some shoreline cottages but not that many. Most of the lake was on unoccupied.
My friend and I then packed up, spoke to the owner of the resort and his wife and also toured several trailers. Just to see what they had. We also went into one of my other friend's cozy cottage which was a really nice suite. We drove on to find a place for lunch. The place our boat captain recommended was The Lighthouse but we could not find it. We then settled for a Mexican place. The food was also delicious and for myself I requested "no heat".
We had a lovely drive back home and we were back by 5:30 pm. We saw a couple of Red tailed Hawks on the ride home and possibly a Red shouldered Hawk also. There are American Crows here and Fish Crows and since there is a size overlap, one has to listen to the calls and if there is a real nasel-type crow sound it is the Fish Crow. We did hear both birds several times on the weekend.
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