Key to checklist
Species listed in black have been confirmed at WLWCA.
Species in gray could be expected based on “Birds of
Louisiana’s Rice-Growing Region” list. Please contact
LDWF if any species listed in gray are observed.
* = species on Review List of the Louisiana Bird Re-
cords Committee
(E) = extinct; (e) = formerly present but now extir-
pated in Louisiana; (Q) = status in question
(I) = established introduced population, or records
originate from established introduced population
H = Hypothetical (none currently so designated: LBRC
requires specimen/photo for acceptance of First State
Record)” – Dittmann, LBRC 2011
This list includes bird species documented to occur at
White Lake Conservation Area or species anticipated to
occur there (compiled through 15 September 2011).
Species list is adopted from official Louisiana State List
(Donna L. Dittmann, April 2011,
http://losbird.org/la_checklist_1104.pdf), using taxo-
nomic sequence of AOU’s Check-list of North American
Birds 7th edition [AOU 1998, updated through 52nd
Supplement (AOU 2011]. See also Vermilion Parish list
compiled by Rosemary Seidler, Louisiana Parish Check-
list Project:
http://birdstudygroup.org/chklst_project.html.
_____ Black-and-white Warbler
_____ Prothonotary Warbler
_____ Swainson's Warbler
_____ Tennessee Warbler
_____ Orange-crowned Warbler
_____ Nashville Warbler
_____ Mourning Warbler
_____ Kentucky Warbler
_____ Common Yellowthroat
_____ Hooded Warbler
_____ American Redstart
_____ Cerulean Warbler
_____ Northern Parula
_____ Magnolia Warbler
_____ Bay-breasted Warbler
_____ Blackburnian Warbler
_____ Yellow Warbler
_____ Chestnut-sided Warbler
_____ Blackpoll Warbler
_____ Palm Warbler
_____ Pine Warbler
_____ Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler
_____ Yellow-throated Warbler
_____ Prairie Warbler
_____ Black-throated Green Warbler
_____ Canada Warbler
_____ Wilson's Warbler
_____ Yellow-breasted Chat
_____ Eastern Towhee
_____ Chipping Sparrow
_____ Clay-colored Sparrow
_____ Field Sparrow
_____ Vesper Sparrow
_____ Lark Sparrow
_____ Savannah Sparrow
_____ Grasshopper Sparrow
_____ Henslow's Sparrow
_____ Le Conte's Sparrow
_____ Nelson's Sparrow
_____ Seaside Sparrow
_____ Fox Sparrow
_____ Song Sparrow
_____ Lincoln's Sparrow
_____ Swamp Sparrow
_____ White-throated Sparrow
_____ Harris's Sparrow
_____ White-crowned Sparrow
_____ Dark-eyed "Slate-colored" Junco
_____ Summer Tanager
_____ Scarlet Tanager
_____ Northern Cardinal
_____ Rose-breasted Grosbeak
_____ Blue Grosbeak
_____ Indigo Bunting
_____ Painted Bunting
_____ Dickcissel
_____ Bobolink
_____ Red-winged Blackbird
_____ Eastern Meadowlark
_____ Yellow-headed Blackbird
_____ Rusty Blackbird
_____ Brewer's Blackbird
_____ Common Grackle
_____ Boat-tailed Grackle
_____ Great-tailed Grackle
_____ Bronzed Cowbird
_____ Brown-headed Cowbird
_____ Orchard Oriole
_____ Baltimore Oriole
_____ Purple Finch
_____ House Finch
_____ Pine Siskin
_____ American Goldfinch
_____ House Sparrow (I)
Birds of White Lake Wetlands
Conservation Area Nature Trail
and Surrounding Areas
Cover photo courtesy of Kevin Leigh; all other photos cour-
tesy of Steve Smith
Additional Species or Notes:
Information About White Lake Wetlands Conservation
Area (WLWCA)
White Lake Birding and Nature Trail Observation Tower
located at the end of the trail. Photo Courtesy of LDWF
For more information on White Lake or additional
birding opportunities available at this and other
LDWF properties, please visit: www.wlf.la.gov
The conservation area is 70,965 acres, located
along the western boundary of Vermilion parish;
it is bounded on the south by White Lake the
northern boundary is 7.4 miles south of Gueydan
at the south end of Hwy. 91. Lafayette is 32 air
miles northeast and Lake Charles is 40 air miles
northwest. The southern boundary of White Lake
is 17.5 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. The
property averages 12 miles from east to west and
9 miles from north to south.
British Petroleum (BP) owned and managed what
was then called BP America Production White
Lake until July 8, 2002, when the company do-
nated the property to the state of Louisiana. On
Dec. 17, 2004, the state, BP, and White Lake
Preservation Inc. (a 501(c)3 corporation), signed
a Transition Agreement for the management of
the property by White Lake Preservation Inc.
_____ Red-headed Woodpecker
_____ Red-bellied Woodpecker
_____ Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
_____ Downy Woodpecker
_____ Hairy Woodpecker
_____ Northern "Yellow-shafted" Flicker
_____ Pileated Woodpecker
_____ Olive-sided Flycatcher
_____ Eastern Wood-Pewee
_____ Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
_____ Acadian Flycatcher
_____ Alder Flycatcher
_____ Least Flycatcher
_____ Eastern Phoebe
_____ Vermilion Flycatcher
_____ Ash-throated Flycatcher
_____ Great Crested Flycatcher
_____ Great Kiskadee
_____ Couch's/Tropical Kingbird
_____ Western Kingbird
_____ Eastern Kingbird
_____ Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
_____ Loggerhead Shrike
_____ White-eyed Vireo
_____ Yellow-throated Vireo
_____ Blue-headed Vireo
_____ Warbling Vireo
_____ Philadelphia Vireo
_____ Philadelphia Vireo
_____ Red-eyed Vireo
_____ Blue Jay
_____ American Crow
_____ Fish Crow
_____ Horned Lark
_____ Purple Martin
_____ Tree Swallow
_____ Northern Rough-winged Swallow
_____ Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
_____ Fulvous Whistling-Duck
_____ Greater White-fronted Goose
_____ Snow Goose
_____ Ross's Goose
_____ Cackling Goose
_____ Wood Duck
_____ Gadwall
_____ American Wigeon
_____ Mallard
_____ Mottled Duck
_____ Blue-winged Teal
_____ Cinnamon Teal *
_____ Northern Shoveler
_____ Northern Pintail
_____ Green-winged Teal
_____ Canvasback
_____ Redhead
_____ Ring-necked Duck
_____ Lesser Scaup
_____ Bufflehead
_____ Hooded Merganser
_____ Red-breasted Merganser
_____ Ruddy Duck
_____ Northern Bobwhite
_____ Common Loon
_____ Pied-billed Grebe
_____ Horned Grebe
_____ Eared Grebe
_____ Wood Stork
_____ Neotropic Cormorant
_____ Double-crested Cormorant
_____ Anhinga
_____ American White Pelican
_____ Brown Pelican
_____ American Bittern
_____ Least Bittern
_____ Bank Swallow
_____ Cliff Swallow
_____ Barn Swallow
_____ Carolina Chickadee
_____ Tufted Titmouse
_____ Red-breasted Nuthatch
_____ Brown Creeper
_____ Carolina Wren
_____ Bewick's Wren
_____ House Wren
_____ Winter Wren
_____ Sedge Wren
_____ Marsh Wren
_____ Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
_____ Golden-crowned Kinglet
_____ Ruby-crowned Kinglet
_____ Eastern Bluebird
_____ Veery
_____ Gray-cheeked Thrush
_____ Swainson's Thrush
_____ Hermit Thrush
_____ Wood Thrush
_____ American Robin
_____ Gray Catbird
_____ Northern Mockingbird
_____ Brown Thrasher
_____ European Starling (I)
_____ American Pipit
_____ Sprague's Pipit
_____ Cedar Waxwing
_____ Lapland Longspur
_____ Ovenbird
_____ Worm-eating Warbler
_____ Louisiana Waterthrush
_____ Northern Waterthrush
_____ Golden-winged Warbler
_____ Blue-winged Warbler
_____ Great Blue Heron
_____ Great Egret
_____ Snowy Egret
_____ Little Blue Heron
_____ Tricolored Heron
_____ Reddish Egret
_____ Cattle Egret
_____ Green Heron
_____ Black-crowned Night-Heron
_____ Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
_____ White Ibis
_____ Glossy Ibis
_____ White-faced Ibis
_____ Roseate Spoonbill
_____ Black Vulture
_____ Turkey Vulture
_____ Osprey
_____ Swallow-tailed Kite
_____ Mississippi Kite
_____ Bald Eagle
_____ Northern Harrier
_____ Sharp-shinned Hawk
_____ Cooper's Hawk
_____ Red-shouldered Hawk
_____ Broad-winged Hawk
_____ Red-tailed Hawk
_____ Crested Caracara
_____ American Kestrel
_____ Merlin
_____ Peregrine Falcon
_____ Yellow Rail
_____ Clapper Rail
_____ King Rail
_____ Virginia Rail
_____ Sora
_____ Purple Gallinule
_____ Common Gallinule
_____ American Coot
_____ Sandhill Crane
_____ Whooping Crane (e) *
_____ Black-bellied Plover
_____ American Golden-Plover
_____ Snowy Plover
_____ Wilson's Plover
_____ Semipalmated Plover
_____ Piping Plover
_____ Killdeer
_____ Black-necked Stilt
_____ American Avocet
_____ Spotted Sandpiper
_____ Solitary Sandpiper
_____ Greater Yellowlegs
_____ Willet
_____ Lesser Yellowlegs
_____ Upland Sandpiper
_____ Whimbrel
_____ Long-billed Curlew
_____ Hudsonian Godwit
_____ Marbled Godwit
_____ Sanderling
_____ Semipalmated Sandpiper
_____ Western Sandpiper
_____ Least Sandpiper
_____ White-rumped Sandpiper
_____ Baird's Sandpiper
_____ Pectoral Sandpiper
_____ Dunlin
_____ Stilt Sandpiper
_____ Buff-breasted Sandpiper
_____ Short-billed Dowitcher
_____ Long-billed Dowitcher
_____ Wilson’s Snipe
_____ American Woodcock
_____ Wilson's Phalarope
_____ Bonaparte's Gull
_____ Laughing Gull
_____ Franklin's Gull
_____ Ring-billed Gull
_____ Herring Gull
_____ Lesser Black-backed Gull
_____ Least Tern
_____ Gull-billed Tern
_____ Caspian Tern
_____ Black Tern
_____ Common Tern
_____ Forster's Tern
_____ Royal Tern
_____ Sandwich Tern
_____ Black Skimmer
_____ Eurasian Collared-Dove (I)
_____ White-winged Dove
_____ Mourning Dove
_____ Inca Dove
_____ Common Ground Dove
_____ Yellow-billed Cuckoo
_____ Black-billed Cuckoo
_____ Groove-billed Ani
_____ Barn Owl
_____ Eastern Screech-Owl
_____ Great Horned Owl
_____ Barred Owl
_____ Short-eared Owl
_____ Common Nighthawk
_____ Chuck-will's-widow
_____ Eastern Whip-poor-will
_____ Chimney Swift
_____ Buff-bellied Hummingbird
_____ Ruby-throated Hummingbird
_____ Black-chinned Hummingbird
_____ Rufous Hummingbird
_____ Belted Kingfisher