Honey Brake ecotourism workshop, a bit of birding on the way there and back

   On 12/16/15 I attended an ecotourism workshop held at Honey Brake's facilities out in the wild and scenic rural southern Catahoula Parish. Various landowners, tourism officials, nature enthusiasts, and others were invited to learn about and discuss the subject of promoting and expanding ecotourism opportunities in the "Delta" region of northeastern Louisiana and adjacent areas. ...Of course I also took the time to do a little birding along the way.

Catahoula Lake Diversion Canal Road

some of the habitat along Diversion Canal Levee Road

   Catahoula Lake Diversion Canal Road (becomes Diversion Canal Levee Road in Catahoula Parish) parallels the north side of the diversion canal and runs from northwest to southeast across the Dewey W. Wills WMA and alongside private farmland and WRP areas. The wide shoulders of the road/levee mean that there's room for grassland birds as well as forest and wetland species and there are pines growing on the levee in some areas. I drove it from Hwy 28 in the west to Honey Brake in the east, with occasional stops to look and listen from the truck.

Diversion Canal Levee Road

   This particular morning was foggy and soggy and the birds weren't especially active. I did pick up a fair number of the expected species - your Northern Cardinals and Chipping Sparrows and Great Blue Herons and so forth - but nothing noteworthy until spotting a Cattle Egret with the cows grazing near the water outflow structure where waters from Honey Bayou and connected waterways empty into the canal. Of course Cattle Egrets are a very common summer bird in the area, but they can be relatively uncommon and hard to find in this region of the state during winter.

the Cattle Egret

   The workshop itself was held at Honey Brake's conference center, which is situated beside the levee road. The impressive lodge, cabins, and summer camp are located down a private road on the north shore of Larto Lake, and we'd visit them later in the day. Honey Brake is looking at the option of adding ecotourism activities such as birding to their outdoor experience business, which centers on hunting.
   Representatives from Audubon Louisiana, LSU AgCenter, National Resource Conservation Service, Louisiana Delta Adventures, and of course Honey Brake itself were on hand to give presentations aimed at helping landowners understand how to promote better wildlife habitat on their property and some of the legal and financial aspects of venturing into agritourism and ecotourism, as well as how attendees can help promote the region's outdoor recreation opportunities.
   The idea is exciting. There's a lot that the region has to offer that goes unadvertised or is often simply unrecognized as being a boon. Hopefully multiple landowners and outfits in this area will successfully expand into ecotourism.

Catahoula Lake Diversion Canal, looking W/NW from Larto Bridge Road

   An afternoon group tour of some of the property by UTV caravan gave everyone a chance to see firsthand what kind of habitats and wildlife-viewing opportunities there are at Honey Brake. Among the highlights were a juvenile Bald Eagle, which flew over the path not long into our tour, an impressive flock of American White Pelicans, and lots and lots of ducks - Mallards, mostly, with Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, and Ruddy Duck, among others.

flock of American White Pelicans on the Honey Brake tour
 (sorry for the crooked image, photo snapped from moving vehicle)

   Back at the lodge, Forster's Terns patrolled Larto Lake and lots of the little woodland mixed flock birds (chickadees, titmice, kinglets, etc.) were busy in the hardwoods. Other wildlife included a large American Alligator basking on the bank of Honey Bayou, and Cajun Chorus Frogs could be heard a few times.
   Wildflowers that I noticed include Halberdleaf Rosemallow growing here and there around the impoundments where the ducks were, and this really nice Cutleaf Groundcherry at the edge of a road on the HB Lodge grounds.

Cutleaf Groundcherry

Spotting this Celery Leaftier Moth just before leaving was a nice little goodbye.


Celery Leaftier Moth

   The location, I think, has a lot of potential for birding tours, and things like "nature walks".  Depending on the time of year and factors such as water level, a wide variety of animal and plant species might be observed while walking or riding the paths and roads or perhaps canoeing the waterways. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for ecotourism in this region of the state, and at this location in particular.

view from Catahoula Lake rec. area

   When I arrived back out at Hwy 28 there was still time for some birding before dark. So, I went on across the highway to the Catahoula Lake Recreation Area. The rec area, and the roughly one mile of the road leading to it, were pretty much dead. Very little bird activity was noticed, and from what I could see from the high levee at the rec area, there weren't any rafts of ducks on the near part of Catahoula Lake, and no gulls and only a couple of Great Blue Herons were around the spillway on the canal. Hey, you can't blame a birder for trying!

http://www.louisianadeltaadventures.com/
https://www.honeybrake.com/
http://la.audubon.org/
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/la/home/
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/
  

Catahoula NWR 12/10/15 and 12/14/15

Spider Lilly, Catahoula NWR HQ Unit, 12/14/2015

   I've delayed the wildflower posts mentioned in the previous entry (will have those up starting this Friday or Saturday, have enjoyed working on them) and I will have what should prove to be a rather interesting and different entry posted this coming Thursday, but for now I thought I'd relate what was present - and what was unaccounted for - during two more recent trips to Catahoula NWR Headquarters Unit.
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HQ Unit, 12/10/15:

Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge Road, aka "the refuge loop"

   The 10th was an unusually foggy morning (not conducive to watching birds, or anything really!). During a short 1 hr. and 10 min. visit to the refuge I recorded only 24 bird species with the continuing trend of this fall's unseasonably low numbers of ducks being of note. Over all, there just wasn't much bird activity, though one can still appreciate just being outdoors.

Duck Lake in the fog

   I heard Spring Peeper calling. These frogs are among the select few frogs that are normally heard vocalizing during the winter months when temps are too low to elicit such activity from most of our Anurans.
   Perhaps due to the recent unseasonably warm weather or perhaps I'm getting better at spotting flowers (probably the former), I noticed a couple of unexpected plants in bloom. Some beautiful Spider Lilly - a species common to see here in the spring - were blooming at the edge of the roadside ditch by the refuge entrance.

Spider Lilly, 12/10/15

Spider Lilly (full plant)

I noticed one (though there were probably more) Swamp Leatherflower blooming along the refuge loop. Small numbers of Halberdleaf Rosemallow and Symphyotrichum also retained blooms.

Swamp Leatherflower

The bird list for that trip follows:

7:07 am - 8:17 am
one mile by vehicle w/ numerous stops, stand around at north end of Duck Lake. Water level: 37.1 feet.

Wood Duck - 5
Mallard - 20

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron - 3

Belted Kingfisher - 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 2

Eastern Phoebe - 3

Blue Jay - 2
American Crow - 3

Carolina Chickadee - 6

Carolina Wren - 2

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 6

American Pipit - 1

Cedar Waxwing - 14

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3

Dark-eyed Junco - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 5
Savannah Sparrow - 2

Northern Cardinal - 6

Red-winged Blackbird - 4

American Goldfinch - 60
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HQ Unit, 12/14/15:


view from NE corner of Duck Lake

   This visit proved to be better birding than the previous one. Also, I drove the entire 9-mile refuge loop, getting a fuller picture of what's present on the unit right now.
  Bad news first: duck numbers and diversity continue to be disappointingly low. Also on a glum note: the effects of relatively frequent mowing of the roadsides on the refuge are apparent as there are far fewer individuals and species of sparrows and other "skulkers" at such locations as the levee/roadsides at the north end of Duck Lake than there were a few years ago when there were weeds left standing for the winter.
   But now the good news: after last year's really low numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers in this region (based on my observations) it is indeed nice to be hearing and seeing normal numbers of Yellow-rumpeds this fall. I tallied 49 that morning and surely would have had more if I had taken my time and made more and longer stops. A couple of Winter Wrens made for a sweet FOS species for the day as well.

American Robin, one of the many "songbirds" seen along the refuge loop that morning

 

female Northern Harrier

   Maybe the most enjoyable observation was the several minutes that I spent watching an impressive female Northern Harrier at pretty close range. In fact, we were both interested in watching the same group of White-throated Sparrows, it seems. After a few minutes (she patrolled low over the grass a few times, perched in a bush for a few minutes, called a few times, took flight and made a few more passes over the now-hidden sparrows, including a couple of dry dives into the grass) she flew off empty-taloned and I drove off with a few photos and some video. This was at the east boundary of the refuge, with the harrier hunting the weedy field just yards off the refuge. (Here's a link to the video, which I posted on flickr. File size was too big for the blog.)

American Alligator

   As for herps, I did hear Spring Peeper a few times that morning, but the American Alligator was a nice surprise. It was a chilly 57 degrees f., and the gator was basking beside a roadside ditch that had flooded from the previous day's rainfall event. This was well away from the lake or other of the larger or more permanent waterways.

American Alligator (is its eye injured?)

   A few wildflowers noted include Spider Lilly and Swamp Leatherflower - both species also found on the previous trip - and Blue Mistflower.

Spider Lilly

Swamp Leatherflower

  

Blue Mistflower, looking soggy after the rain of the previous day and night

Complete bird list from the trip is below.

6:59 am - 9:17 am
birded driving 9 miles w/ frequent stops. Water level marker at Duck Lake showed 37.4 feet.

Greater White-fronted Goose - 10
Wood Duck - 2
Gadwall - 29
Mallard - 35
Ring-necked Duck - 2
duck species - 9

Pied-billed Grebe - 2

Double-crested Cormorant - 3
Anhinga - 2

Great Blue Heron - 3

Turkey Vulture - 1
Northern Harrier - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 3

Belted Kingfisher - 2

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 12
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 4
Northern Flicker - 9
Pileated Woodpecker - 5

Eastern Phoebe - 10

Blue Jay - 2
American Crow -  20

Carolina Chickadee - 25
Tufted Titmouse - 12

Winter Wren - 2
Carolina Wren - 5

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 15

Hermit Thrush - 1
American Robin - 4

Orange-crowned Warbler - 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)- 49

Chipping Sparrow - 7
White-throated Sparrow - 22
Savannah Sparrow - 3
Song Sparrow - 1
Eastern Towhee - 2

Northern Cardinal - 27

Red-winged Blackbird - 3

American Goldfinch - x (Group of approx. 30 seen, multiple flyovers heard but not seen w/ accurate count hard to make.)

Cowpen Bayou