Kisatchie National Forest and Catahoula Hummingbird & Butterfly Garden, Grant Parish, 7/30/2017

 July 30, 2017. 6:53 am to 12:32 pm. Conditions: about 70 degrees to mid 80's F., pleasant and not very humid, sunny, light breeze started up after about the first hour. 

   A bluebird sky. Mild temperatures (well, okay, it felt nice for July). A nice long walk in the woods, birdsong ringing, capped off with a garden bursting with butterflies. Sounds nice, right? It was. Okay, I could have done with a little less breeze in the name of perfect bird and butterfly detecting conditions, and it did get a bit sweaty-icky as morning became midday, but still a very nice time out in nature.
   I started at the Catahoula Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden on Work Center Road, just south of highway 8 in the Kisatchie National Forest near Bentley in Grant Parish. From there, I walked the trail that surrounds the block of open grassy pine woods southwest of the garden. Specifically, I walked down the east side, going south, then cut across the woods off-trail north of the trail that bisects the woods,

then back on trail down the west side,

around the south end,

and back up the east side.

Total distance roughly a couple of miles. The final hour-and-a-half or so I spent back in the garden, doing my best to count the butterflies.

Welcome to the garden...

   This area of the National Forest is a great place to find both Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Bachman's Sparrow, both of which were seen and heard on this morning. Some of the RC Woodpeckers from the colony beside the garden were foraging around the nest/roost trees when I checked out that spot about 7:00 to 7:15 am.

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Two Bachman's Sparrows were heard singing in the open, grassy, block of pine woods SW of the garden (one heard in video below... along w/ Eastern Wood-Pewee).

 They're definitely easier to hear than to get a look at, but I lucked up while I was crossing the woods and spotted one taking a quick break from foraging, perching near the forest floor.

Bachman's Sparrow (the best I could do before it was gone)

An additional one was heard singing a couple of times from the denser pine woods across the road from the parking area as I was preparing to leave, for a count of 4 Bachman's Sparrows.
   Chipping Sparrows were singing in many places and a few were seen carrying food, presumably for their young.

Chipping Sparrow bringing home some grub

Eastern Wood-Pewees were numerous -- I doubt I was ever out of earshot of one the whole time I was out there. Besides the namesake whistled 'pee-a-wee' vocalization, some juveniles were giving their rougher call and pestering mom and dad for food.

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Unfortunately, no Northern Bobwhites this time, as there sometimes are. Complete bird list below, followed by accounts of other groups, including butterflies.
 
Birds:

Black Vulture -- 1
Turkey Vulture -- 3
Mississippi Kite -- 1
Red-tailed Hawk -- 1

Mourning Dove -- 5

Yellow-billed Cuckoo -- 1

Chimney Swift -- 2

Ruby-throated Hummingbird -- 4

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

Eastern Wood-Pewee -- 12
Eastern Kingbird -- 5

White-eyed Vireo -- 1

Blue Jay -- 3

Purple Martin -- 2

Carolina Chickadee -- 4
Tufted Titmouse -- 1

Chipping Sparrow

Brown-headed Nuthatch -- 8

Carolina Wren -- 7

Eastern Bluebird -- 5

Gray Catbird -- 1
Northern Mockingbird -- 4

Pine Warbler -- 14
Yellow-breasted Chat -- 3

Bachman's Sparrow -- 4
Chipping Sparrow -- 10
Eastern Towhee -- 2

Northern Cardinal -- 6
Blue Grosbeak -- 13
Indigo Bunting -- 5

Eastern Meadowlark -- 1

Eastern Meadowlark

   Out on the trail, I kept seeing White-tailed Deer tracks -- mostly of one or more fawns. Eventually, while coming up the east side, I spotted a fawn hoofing it across the far side of the grassy "meadow", disappearing into the strip of woods along the west side of Work Center Road.

White-tailed Deer fawn

I didn't see the tame deer that shows up at the garden, but a number of people stopped by to look for it while I was there.

   Wildflower diversity and abundance in the woods and meadow was modest (more on the day's wildflowers in upcoming wildflower post), but a few butterflies were seen out there, especially where there were Liatris to nectar on. Those include a worn little skipper that I think may be Little Glassywing. However, I've never i.d.ed that species before and this one was pretty worn, so that's a "tentative i.d." for the time being.

skipper sp., possibly Little Glassywing, nectaring on liatris

skipper sp., possibly Little Glassywing, nectaring on Liatris

I saw a good many Red-banded Hairstreaks, some flushed from the grass while crossing the woods.

Red-banded Hairstreak along the trail

Red-banded Hairstreak encountered in the woods

Pipevine Swallowtail encountered in the woods

While going through the woods I flushed three moth species: my suggested i.d.s are Green Cloverworm Moth, Black-bordered Lemon Moth, and Vetch Looper.

tentative i.d.: Green Cloverworm Moth

Black-bordered Lemon Moth

possibly Vetch Looper

   By the time I got back to the garden, however, butterflies were out in force, drawn to the oasis of flowers there. The garden is really bringing in the butterflies, all thanks to the volunteers who maintain the CH&BG!

   Long-tailed Skippers were numerous.

Long-tailed Skipper nectaring on Lantana

What a cool species!

Seriously, look at it!

Add caption

Before now I've only encountered them one here, one there; brief encounters in the wild and off they flutter. It was very nice to have so many hanging around in one area.

   There were also several more of the (tentative i.d.) Little Glassywings here as well.

skipper sp.

skipper sp.

If anyone confirm or correct the Little Glassywing/ "skipper sp." i.d.s, that would be appreciated! I'm still a novice at Lepidoptera i.d.
At least two, possibly all three, of Louisiana's Cloudywing species were present. Southern Cloudywing was obvious.

Southern Cloudywing

Southern Cloudywing

However, there were a few individuals that were either Northern or Confused, but I can't say for sure which. I'm leaning toward Northern. See pics below.

Cloudywing sp. -- either Northern or Confused Cloudywing

same individual from a different angle

Again, I just don't know -- Confused or Northern Cloudywing? I feel like it's probably Northern.

Cloudywing sp. -- Northern or Confused?

Complete list below...

Lepidoptera:

Butterflies:
The numbers are my best attempt at accurate count...
Silver-spotted Skipper -- 6 at garden

Silver-spotted Skipper

Long-tailed Skipper -- 8* (at garden; *8 tallied, but that's probably a significantly low count as it was hard to keep track as they went to and fro. Wouldn't be surprised if twice that many actually present among the flowerbeds.)

Long-tailed Skipper

Long-tailed Skipper

 

Long-tailed Skipper

Hoary Edge -- 2 at garden

Hoary Edge

Southern Cloudywing -- 3 (2 at woods/trail, 1 at garden)

Southern Cloudywing -- trail near southwest corner of the block of woods

Northern and/or Confused Cloudywing (see: photos in above section) -- 3 or more at garden, I'm not confident to say which species
Horace's Duskywing -- 6 at garden

tentative i.d.: Horace's Duskywing

Common/White Checkered-Skipper -- 1 at woods/trail
Clouded Skipper -- 1 at garden
Fiery Skipper -- 1 at garden

Fiery Skipper

Little Glassywing -- 4 (1 at woods/trail, approx. 3 at garden)

tentative i.d.: Little Glassywing

tentative i.d.: Little Glassywing

Dun Skipper -- approx. 4 at garden

Dun Skipper

Ocola Skipper -- 2 or so at garden

Ocola Skipper

Ocola Skipper

Ocola Skipper

unidentified brown skippers -- quite a few. Sometimes you just can't get a good look or snap a photo before they're off to who knows where.

Pipevine Swallowtail -- 8 (3 at woods/trail, 5 at garden)

Pipevine Swallowtail at the garden

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail -- 2 at garden

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Spicebush Swallowtail -- 2 at garden

Cloudless Sulphur -- 10 at garden

Cloudless Sulphur nectaring on Bleedingheart or Turk's Cap

Little Yellow -- 4 (2 at woods/trail, 2 at garden)

Little Yellow out along the trail

Red-banded Hairstreak -- at least 6 (at least 5 at woods/trail, 1 at garden)

Red-banded Hairstreak in the woods

Red-banded Hairstreak in the garden

Gulf Fritillary -- 1 at woods/trail,
Painted Lady -- 1 at garden

Painted Lady

Carolina Satyr -- 5 (2 at woods/trail, 3 at garden)

Moths:
tentative i.d.s......(see: pics in above section)
Green Cloverworm Moth -- 1
Black-bordered Lemon Moth -- 1
Vetch Looper -- 1

Ok, a few wildflower pics...

my first in-bloom Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) of the season

Blue Waterleaf (Hydrolea ovata, if I'm not mistaken) -- where the south part of the trail crosses a tiny gully head

Callirhoe species -- a good few seen in bloom in a couple of places along the trail

***************************************************************