Snyder Road (La Salle Parish) -- 3/25/2018

Snyder Road from near south end

   Traditionally, Snyder Road (located between the communities of Eden and Searcy, west of Jena, in La Salle Parish) has been a regular and favorite birding route of mine. However, a dead cow of all things, having been dumped beside the road, changed that on one not-so-fine day in early April, 2017. Needless to say, I didn't want to take the truck around that (let alone be on foot in that particular area!) and in leaving plenty of time for the pile-o-bovine to return to the earth, I fell into the habit of birding other routes instead and so neglected Snyder Rd for nearly a year. Eager, however, to get back out there in time to witness the surprising richness of this location in early spring, I returned there on March 25, 2018.
   The plaguing mosquitoes aside, it was a wonderful morning. Warblers and vireos and other birds were full of song, several butterfly species were stirring despite the cloudy conditions, and a portion of the wonderful assortment of flowering plants that exist along this route were showing off their spring finery. First Of Season bird species for me included Hooded Warbler and Red-eyed Vireo.
   I could probably add Worm-eating Warbler to that list, as well. The problem is that the date is a bit early -- early enough, at least, to trigger eBird's filter, and to have surprised me a bit when I heard it sing -- and having only heard the bird, whose song is similar to the definitely present Pine Warbler (and Chipping Sparrow, but the habitat where the bird was heard is entirely unsuited to that sp.) and having gotten only very poor quality audio as evidence, I'll at best include it on the list with a big fat asterisk. I am personally confident that what I was hearing was Worm-eating Warbler, and it did respond to audio that I was playing to get a real-time comparison, but the bird didn't come into view and believing that it's generally better to err on caution's side, I'll not contend that it definitely was a Worm-eating. Despite being quite familiar with this species and being a pretty decent ear-birder, I have been mistaken concerning Pine vs Worm-eating Warbler song too many times before! That said, Snyder Road is one of the most reliable places I know of to find breeding season Worm-eating Warblers, so once the species has definitely arrived in the area, there should be some at this location.
   Ah, birding, ...but I'm rambling. Below is the bird list for that morning. Following that are comments and photos concerning other flora and fauna observed during this visit.
But first, some habitat shots:

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presumed Worm-eating Warbler was at this spot, as well as Louisiana Waterthrush, Hooded Warbler, White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos, etc...

The spring-water gully mentioned in text.

Snyder Rd crosses Trout Creek

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Birds:
   7:25 am - 2 hours, 46 minutes
   4.1 miles -- I birded by vehicle, with numerous stops, the length of Snyder Road, from LA-8 in the south to LA-500 in the north, plus the same on 0.4 mile Choctaw Cemetery Road, a side road of Snyder Rd. I got out on foot along the road in a few spots. Woods are posted, stick to the road.
   68 - 73 degrees Fahrenheit; cloudy (tried to drizzle a few times; patches of sun from time to time); wind started out calm, on-and-off light breeze developing

Great Blue Heron - 1 - flyover
Turkey Vulture - 2
Mourning Dove - 4
Barred Owl - 1 - calling at Trout Creek
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 4
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 4
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
White-eyed Vireo - 14 - singing
Red-eyed Vireo - 3 - singing
Blue Jay - 13
American Crow - 9
Carolina Chickadee - 11
Tufted Titmouse - 5
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 1
Carolina Wren - 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 13 - some singing
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 12 - many were singing
Eastern Bluebird - 1
Brown Thrasher - 2 - singing
*Worm-eating Warbler (?) - 1
Louisiana Waterthrush - 3

The first video was taken where the road crosses a tiny spring-water gully between LA-8 and Trout Creek (the gully flows into a small spring-water creek - a tributary of Trout Creek - just east of the road.). The two birds were vocalizing back and forth and the one from east side of road crosses to west side during this video.  At one point, well after the video ends, the two were seen tangling in a brief mid-air dogfight over the road, one apparently driving the other back to east side.

Below is a very brief video of LAWA song (same spot as above video). The video begins and ends with Carolina Wren song. 

 Black-and-White Warbler - 2 - singing (one heard in video below)

Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Hooded Warbler - 17 - Fifteen were singing (one of those males seen) and two calling
Northern Parula - 1 - singing near Trout Creek
Pine Warbler - 12 - lots of singing
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 6
Chipping Sparrow - 1 - singing at Placid Oil facility grounds -- a park-like setting with open short grass ground and tall pines -- near north end of road
White-throated Sparrow - 2
Eastern Towhee - 3
Northern Cardinal - 26
Brown-headed Cowbird -3
American Goldfinch - 1 - heard flyover

   In the coming weeks, one will be able to add Swainson's, Kentucky, and Prairie Warblers to the roll of warblers setting up breeding territories along this route. Some years I also find Yellow-throated Warbler here, as well, and surely there are Common Yellowthroats skulking about here somewhere that went undetected. Prothonotary Warblers typically can be detected around Trout Creek in migration, but may breed along the stream as well. 

Butterflies included Duskywing sp. (likely Juvenal's Duskywing) - 4, Spicebush Swallowtail - 2, Lady sp. - 1, Carolina Satyr - 4.

As far as herps go, I heard Green (Bronze) Frog, Cope's Gray Treefrog. Little Brown Skink was seen. 

Wildflowers:
Here are just a few of the flowers.
   Somehow I've apparently gone all these years without really noticing Snowbells (Styrax sp.).

Snowbell blossom

I wasn't sure what these beautiful white flowers were when I first noticed several of the plants near the first little gully along the route. The plant is a small tree or spindly large shrub. They typically grow in wet woods or near streams (https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=STAM4 & https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=STGR4). The second place I saw them was where Snyder Road crosses the small creek just north of Placid Oil, before reaching the houses near the north end of the road.

Snowbells

Since then, I have also seen several of these plants in bloom along a creek in the the Sicily Island Hills on 3/27 (blog entry about that outing is forthcoming).
   I'm not sure what species of Styrax I've been seeing. 

   Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), with their candy-colored flowers, is easily one of my favorite spring-blooming wildflowers. They can be common along parts of this route.

Coral Honeysuckle

Coral Honeysuckle

   There were two or three types of violets (Viola sp.).

violet sp. (Viola sororia?? V. affinis??)

Red Buckeye were blooming (Aesculus pavia), as well as some yellow asters. More than one species of hawthorn (Crataegus) was in bloom, as were one or more sp. of Vaccinium (huckleberry, blueberry).

A WORD OF WARNING for those who may be considering birding this location: The road conditions on Snyder can be unpredictable. Some places that had been rough in the past have been repaired to good effect in the past few years. Other stretches of road - primarily some areas in roughly the middle 2 miles as well as the area around Trout Creek - are prone to becoming very soft after rains and very rutted from trucks that use this road. Some of these locations used to be ok, but now seem to positively melt into mush when wet. I went on a day when it hadn't rained in a few days and so, though it was rough in spots (beware deep ruts!), it was, at least, generally firm.
   Also, as alluded to above, big trucks from oil/gas company use this narrow road, so use caution when driving or choosing parking spot.
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So long as melt-y roads and cows can be avoided, I look forward to birding this route plenty of times as the spring and summer progresses.

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Sicily Island Hills & Harrisonburg, 3/17/2018: Butterflies, Birds, and More...

a pond in the Sicily Island Hills

Related Posts: Here's a link to one that includes a visit to Sicily Island Hills and other Catahoula Parish locations on March 27 -- http://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/04/hills-and-high-water-catahoula-parish.html
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   Craig Marks -- the guy who literally wrote the book on Louisiana butterflies -- organized a group outing to go in search of Yucca Giant-Skippers (Megathymus yuccae) in the Sicily Island Hills, located in northern Catahoula Parish. These skippers had been reported from multiple locations in the J.C. "Sonny" Gilbert State Wildlife Management Area (WMA) (better known as Sicily Island Hills WMA). The Yucca Giant-Skipper has proven hard to find in Louisiana, so a chance at observing and documenting this skipper would be of interest to Bayou State butterflyers. Well, I'll spoil the ending now: we were unsuccessful in finding any Yucca Giant-Skippers, but it was an interesting and otherwise productive day in the field.
   For more info on the Yucca Giant-Skipper, check out: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Megathymus-yuccae & https://bugguide.net/node/view/3738.

   We planned to meet at the WMA at 10:30 am, which meant that I had plenty of time to do some birding along the way. Besides some casual attempts and incidental stuff along the roads through La Salle and Catahoula Parishes, I made two serious stops, both at Harrisonburg, across the river from downtown. 
   Curious about swallows colonizing the new LA-8 bridge over the Ouachita River at Harrisonburg, I went down the old LA-8 spur on the east side of the river, which runs beside the new route and bridge, on their north side. Stopping shortly before the blockade, just past a side road that turns toward the bridge on the left, I found a decent spot to watch and listen - not too close to houses, with a weedy field on one side, trees on the other, the bridge pretty close, and the river not too far ahead.  Three Barn Swallows were apparent from the start. Eventually, I drove down the side road that goes under the bridge. I turned around when it became apparent that it leads to houses, preferring not to end up turning around in someone's driveway. However, while on the south side of the bridge, closer to it, I did finally see some Cliff Swallows -- at least three. They were my FOS. Complete list from this location is below.

Harrisonburg at bridge:
9:29 am - 30 minutes
habitat shots:

end of the road for old LA-8 route

new bridge -- Cliff Swallow spot

Turkey Vulture - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Killdeer - 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 3
Mourning Dove - 2
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 2
crow sp. - 3
Barn Swallow - 3
Cliff Swallow - 3
Sedge Wren - 2
Carolina Wren - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 4
European Starling - 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Savannah Sparrow - 1
Swamp Sparrow - 2
Eastern Towhee - 1
Northern Cardinal - 5
Red-winged Blackbird - 2
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
House Sparrow - 9

   After that, with ~20 minutes to kill, I made my second stop the Harrisonburg Recreation Area, located at the end of LA-922  just north of its intersection with LA-8 and not too far from the bridge. This was my first time visiting the H-burg Rec. Area, and I think this park-like setting on the river bank has potential as a good birding spot. While there, I spotted two female Black Swallowtails, kicking off the day's butterflying.

Black Swallowtail at H-burg Rec. Area

The complete bird list is below.

Harrisonburg Recreation Area:
10:02 am - 26 minutes
habitat shots:

boat launch at rec. area -- The Ouachita fat with flood water

H-burg Rec. Area

Turkey Vulture - 2
Mourning Dove - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow -
crow sp. - 6
Carolina Wren - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2
Chipping Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 4
Song Sparrow - 2

Song Sparrow

Eastern Towhee - 1
Northern Cardinal - 6
Red-winged Blackbird - 2

And now on to the main event...

Sicily Island Hills:

   Our group consisted of Craig Marks, Jeff Trahan, Dave Patton, Mac Myers, Brad Moon, and myself. We did the Hills in three parts; each section is described below. After that, the lists for Butterflies (and a few moths), Birds, Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), Herps (amphibians and reptiles), Wildflowers, and "Miscellaneous" observations, each being a composite list of observations from the three segments described below. 

...from south entrance off LA-8:
10:34 am - 2 hours, 56 minutes
2.5 miles by vehicle, ~0.5 mile on foot
Our meet-up point was the kiosk/sign-in station at the fork with the primitive campground road. We walked a good ways down the campground road, finding lots of yucca, but not the target skippers. Then we drove the main road further into the WMA, making some stops along the way, the final one at the Rock Falls Trail head. On the way back south, we walked a little ways down the next side road north of the campground road, before trying the campground road a second time.
habitat shots:

woods of the Sicily Island Hills

down the primitive campground road

next side road past campground road -- this location was logged a few years ago

a promising spot along the main road

...from north entrance off LA-915:
We drove to the trail head near the western-most of the cluster of ponds (the one with the bluff) and walked the short distance down to the pond. We then drove back around to the area around the east end of the ponds (including the big pond), making some stops along the way. We spent a good while down there, exploring the trails, ponds, woods, and roadside on foot. Some members of the group had to depart a bit early for the long drive home.
habitat shots:

trail to/from western-most pond

trail near eastern ponds

the big pond

road at big pond -- the spot where we found Pepper and Salt Skipper, Phantom Cranefly

...return to south entrance later in day:
Four of us made a second visit to the entrance off LA-8, parking just across that first creek and poking around the woods by the creek or walking up the road along the hill before calling it a day. Of primary interest here was the search for Odes that might be associated with the sandy springwater creek.
habitat shots:

wet woods by creek along south entrance

from part way up the hill

Butterfly List:
Thanks to Craig for putting together list and numbers (I made a couple of small additions).

Pipevine Swallowtail - 5
Spicebush Swallowtail - 2
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - 9
Giant Swallowtail - 3
Falcate Orangetip - 9
Cloudless Sulphur - 1
Southern Dogface - pink-washed winter form (some or all?) - 7
Sleepy Orange - 1, possibly 2
Red-banded Hairstreak - 7
Pearl Crescent - ~ 15 - 20
Red Admiral - 3

Red Admiral

American Lady - 1 - a very small individual nectaring on Rubus blossoms

American Lady

Question Mark - 3
Goatweed Leafwing - Abundant

Goatweed Leafwing

Carolina Satyr - 4
Juvenal's Duskywing - Abundant

Common Checkered-Skipper - 1
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper - 4 - a lifer for me

Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper -- near primitive campgrounds

Pepper and Salt Skipper - 3 - seen by Brad along roadside and water's edge at biggest pond.

...and a few moths:
(note: These are the best attempts at i.d. by this rank amateur.)

*presumably Archips georgiana - This suggested i.d. was accepted by BAMONA

apparent Archips georgiana

Common Oak Moth (Phoberia atomaris) - This suggested i.d. was accepted by BAMONA.

Common Oak Moth (Phoberia atomaris)

Vetch Looper (Caenurgia chloropha) - This i.d. was accepted by BAMONA.

Vetch Looper (or similar-looking sp.)

Mottled Snout Moth - Brad
Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth (Malacosoma americana) -

Eastern Tent Caterpillars -- appropriately, they were by the primitive campground

*un-i.d.ed caterpillar -

caterpillar -- "When I grow up, I want to be a ___."

Bird List:

Turkey Vulture -
Red-shouldered Hawk -
Mourning Dove -
Red-bellied Woodpecker -
Downy Woodpecker -
Pileated Woodpecker -
White-eyed Vireo -
Yellow-throated Vireo - my FOS
Blue Jay -
American Crow -
Purple Martin - 
Carolina Chickadee -
Tufted Titmouse -
Brown Creeper - 
Carolina Wren -
Golden-crowned Kinglet -
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -
Northern Parula -
Pine Warbler -
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) -
White-throated Sparrow -
Eastern Towhee -
Northern Cardinal -
Brown-headed Cowbird -
American Goldfinch -

Odonata List:
provided by Dave Patton and Brad Moon

Orange Bluet -
Skimming Bluet -
Fragile Forktail -

tentative i.d.: Fragile Forktail

Southern Spreadwing -

Common Green Darner -
Swamp Darner -

Swamp Darner (Dig that chocolate-and-mint coloring!)

Ashy Clubtail -
Oklahoma Clubtail -

Ashy Clubtail

Slender Baskettail -

Slender Baskettail

Common Baskettail -
Mantled Baskettail -
Blue Corporal -
Blue Dasher - 
Common Whitetail -
Variegated Meadowhawk -

Variegated Meadowhawk -- What an attractive dragonfly!

Variegated Meadowhawk

(& possible Twin-spotted/Arrowhead Spiketail)

Herps:
Blanchard's Cricket Frog - one seen, I think some were heard as well
Cope's Gray Treefrog - heard in several locations
Green (Bronze) Frog - heard
Southern Leopard Frog - heard

American Alligator - in one of the ponds in north section of WMA

American Alligator

Little Brown Skink -

Wildflowers:
(note: These are the best attempts at i.d. by this rank amateur.)

Phlox sp. - One or more species common throughout the Hills

Phlox sp.

Hawthorn spp. (Crataegus), including Parsleyleaf Hawthorn - common throughout the Hills

hawthorn in bloom

Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) - a few noticed in bloom

Crossvine blooms

May Apple or Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) - There was a nice patch of these -- many in bloom -- in the swampy spot just north of the creek that the south entrance road crosses as you enter the WMA. They were on the right (east) side of the road. I didn't know what they were until I looked them up. Really interesting -- weird and pretty -- plants.

The May Apple's interesting arrangement of just two big umbrella-like leaves, with one white flower growing at the axil, can be seen clearly in this example.

close-up of May Apple flower

a patch of May Apple

 Birdfoot Violet (Viola pedata) - They were beside the trail leading to the western-most of the ponds.

Birdfoot Violet

Birdfoot Violet

Violet spp. (Viola) - One or more of the blue/purple types (Sororia?? Affinis??) were common.

Violet sp.

False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) - Lots and lots, which the butterflies appreciated.
dewberry/blackberry sp. (Rubus) - also popular with the butterflies.
wakerobin sp. (Trillium) - 
woodsorrel spp. (Oxalis) -
white clover sp. (Trifolium) - It was St. Patrick's Day, after all.

clover

buttercup sp. (Ranunculus) -
...just to name a few.

Miscellaneous:

Insects beyond the Lepidoptera and Odonata were noted by members of the party who are skilled in that area (which doesn't include me!). Phantom Crane Fly (Bittacomorpha clavipes) was one such species. Brad located this one in a swampy ditch near the big pond and I was pleased to get some decent photos of it.

Phantom Crane Fly

Mammals were scarce, with only a few Eastern Fox Squirrels coming to my attention. Tracks of Northern Raccoon, Coyote, and White-tailed Deer were seen.

The forest and landscape itself is interesting. There is a lot to take in when out in these scenic, rich, biologically diverse woods. I'm looking forward to more visits this spring and summer.

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