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| White-eyed Vireo, Snyder Road |
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| Habitat at south end of Snyder Road. |
With Spring finally here and the first few of what will be many Spring and Summer bird species having already arrived, it was about time to do the first of the season's trips to Snyder Road. Tom Pollock and I birded Snyder Road, from south to north, then made a short trip to Sparrow Street. Both roads cross Trout Creek, and Snyder especially offers some excellent opportunities for the roadside birder.
The area we were in is in central La Salle Parish, a few miles west of Jena. Though the roads go through private land and there are no opportunities for birding on foot away from the road, the roads themselves take one through diverse habitat and, for me, have always been good for birding and wildlife watching.
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| habitat along southern part of Snyder Road |
The woods immediately north of Hwy 8, along the south part of Snyder Road, are a mix of pine and hardwoods and pure hardwoods with, for the most part, fairly dense understory. There's a rich, ecologically promising feel to the place, especially around the little spring. We began by getting the usual sorts of birds. We also had a couple of Pine Siskins heard and glimpsed as a flyover, only i.d.-ed by their call. A nice surprise was a FOS Eastern Kingbird heard in flight over the trees. It seemed to be moving in an arch from and back towards the highway and the more kingbird-friendly pasture habitat on the other side.
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| woods south of Trout Creek |
As we traveled closer to the creek, we had a nice chance to photograph a White-eyed Vireo. Though very common and often heard, they are usually reluctant to come into the open for long, preferring the cover of briar patches and brushy areas. Thanks to audio playback, though, we managed to get some decent White-eyed Vireo pics under our belt.
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| White-eyed Vireo, Snyder Road |
A group of Broad-winged Hawks was spotted very high up and heading northeast. They disappeared over the trees and though we only counted three, they could have been the trailing edge of a larger kettle.
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| White-eyed Vireo, Snyder Road. |
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Trout Creek,
looking upstream from Snyder Road bridge. |
At the Trout Creek bridge we encountered a richer assortment of birds, though many were only heard. A Black-and-white Warbler was heard singing frequently on the north side of the creek, upstream (east) of the road. This is probably the bird that, last year, was routinely found at a point in its territory just north of here along the road. A Northern Parula was singing upstream as well. We saw an Orange-crowned Warbler that was making its way along the vegetation that hangs out over the creek. A Barred Owl was heard, and unexpectedly for this specific spot, Chipping Sparrows were seen in a large Loblolly Pine near the creek.
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| Trout Creek, looking downstream from Snyder Road bridge. |
From the bridge it was possible to observe some of the fish in the stream below. Using binoculars and focusing on the clearer, shallower area, I could see Striped Shiners quite clearly. Blackspotted or perhaps Blackstripe Topminnows were obvious without binoculars, and occasionally a sunfish, such as a colorful male Longear Sunfish or Dollar Sunfish would be glimpsed chasing this or that other fish from its little patch of the creek. As is so often the case at a creek crossing, someone had dumped 'the gut bucket'. In this case, it was a pile of filleted catfish carcasses.
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| In the lower right part of the image is either a Blackspotted Topminnow or Blackstripe Topminnow. |
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male Hooded Warbler
(Photo by Tom Pollock) |
Driving north we encountered the first of several Hooded Warblers that would be heard that day when we were alerted to its presence by its distinctive song. This one we also got to see, though mostly in fleeting glimpses. Tom managed to get some photos. These little yellow songbirds with an olive green back and wings and, in the male, a solid black hood that goes from crown to neck to throat, encircling its bright yellow face, will be one of the most commonly detected birds in the forest over the course of the spring and summer.
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| Snyder Rd. through pine woods |
Further along we spotted Wild Turkey tracks in the sandy road bed. They seemed to be of a single female that followed the course of the road for a little ways. These areas, where the road has a lot of soft sand along the sides, are excellent for looking for animal track. One might not see many mammal species on an outing like this, but their tracks in the sand let one know that they are around. White-tailed Deer, Nine-banded Armadillo, Coyote, and squirrel species were noted as we traveled down the road.
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| A series of Wild Turkey tracks |
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| close-up of a Wild Turkey track from Snyder Road |
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| cutover habitat along Snyder Road |
We had no luck when checking for an early Prairie Warbler or Indigo Bunting in the cutover section of the Snyder Road route. It was worth checking, though. Soon, these weedy and brushy areas will be busy with Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak and Prairie Warbler. For now, the frequently heard Eastern Towhee will do. In this area we also got a single Broad-winged Hawk, flying fairly low, and a Red-tailed Hawk that flew from along the road.
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| cutover habitat along Snyder Road |
We got Pine Warbler and Brown-headed Nuthatch in the area of pines approaching the Placid Oil facility, and we heard Northern Mockingbird and Chipping Sparrow singing at the park-like oil company yard.
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| Habitat near Placid Oil |
At the very north end of the road, where it meets Highway 500, we spotted at least three more Broad-Winged Hawks, again very high up and moving NE. If I hadn't have been watching some crows in flight with my binoculars, the hawks, which happened to appear in the background, would have been overlooked.
We had a little time to kill and decided to continue birding. I suggested a short trip to Sparrow Street, a rural road that connects the Goodpine community to Highway 8 a couple of miles to the south.
The road mostly runs through wooded/pine plantation habitat. At one stop first Tom, then I, heard what we feel confident was a Summer Tanager. These tanagers will be a common bird in the area in a couple of weeks, but for now most of them should be far to the south. Unfortunately we were unable to get it to respond to playback and failed to see the bird, so the veracity of the report (submitted on ebird) is pending. (Edit 4/7/15: with additional details, the observation was accepted into database).
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| A "click bug" (I don't know the correct name) on Sparrow Street at the Summer Tanager spot. |
Unfortunately, the woods as we get closer to the creek had been logged, and a nearly fresh cutover along the west side of the road offered little habitat for birds. In a couple of years, though, it should start to be in good form for buntings and some others. At one point we had three Red-eyed Vireos singing from three directions as we approached the down hill to the creek.
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| habitat along Sparrow Street |
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| Trout Creek at Sparrow Street Bridge |
The creek is the south fork of the upper part of Trout Creek, and fortunately there was a healthy corridor of hardwoods left standing along the stream course. I was also pleased to see that, apparently along with the new and improved bridge, that a sign had been erected pointing out Trout Creek's position as one of the Louisiana Natural and Scenic Rivers. A place it rightly deserves.
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| Trout Creek is part of the Louisiana Natural and Scenic River System. |
The birding ended at Highway 8. Overall, a productive trip, as we got some FOS, and confirmed the presence of others that we'd already found elsewhere. Hearing the singing of the warblers and vireos and knowing that this is just a prelude to the diverse assortment of neotropical songbirds that the month of April will bring to our neck of the woods, I found myself excited for the spring/summer birding season to come!
Complete lists of species from the two locations are below.
eBird location name: "Trout Creek (area of Snyder Road bridge)" (I'll probably change the awkward name to something more accurate and succinct, but its been that for a long time.)
Date: 3/31/2015
Time: 9:06 am to 11:50 am
Distance: approx. 4 miles
Conditions: mix of cloud and sun, mild, light breeze. Windier and sunnier towards end.
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 12
Accipiter sp. - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 7
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Morning Dove - 3
Barred Owl - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 4
Northern Flicker - 1
Eastern Kingbird - 1
White-eyed Vireo - 9
Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Blue Jay - 4
American Crow - 8
Barn Swallow - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 6
Tufted Titmouse - 7
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 1
Carolina Wren - 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 7
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 3
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Hooded Warbler - 5
Northern Parula - 1
Pine Warbler - 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 9
Eastern Towhee - 7
Chipping Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 13
Northern Cardinal - 17
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Pine Siskin - 2
American Goldfinch - x (heard as flyovers, not seen)
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| Red-eyed Vireo along Sparrow Street. He was a tough one to photograph! |
eBird location name: "Trout-Goodpine area" (I consider Sparrow Street to be part of this eBird personal location)
Date: 3/31/2015
Time: 11:58 am to 12:28 pm
Distance: approx. 2 miles
Conditions: Sunny, breezy, mild.
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
White-eyed Vireo - 8
Red-eyed Vireo - 3
American Crow - 1
Tufted Titmouse - 5
Carolina Wren - 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 1
Hooded Warbler - 4
Pine Warbler - 2
Eastern Towhee - 2
Chipping Sparrow - 1
Summer Tanager - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2
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