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.
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| Catahoula Lake Diversion Canal Road |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| Cutleaf Groundcherry |
Spotting this Celery Leaftier Moth just before leaving was a nice little goodbye.
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| 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.
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| 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/
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