Hills and High Water: A Catahoula Parish Odyssey -- Catahoula NWR; Little River, Jonesville, and Harrisonburg Rec. Areas; Sicily Island Hills

the flood-swollen Ouachita River and the forested hills beyond

Related Posts: http://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/03/sicily-island-hills-harrisonburg.html
 and  http://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/03/catahoula-nwr-january-february-and.html
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   I was itching to return to Sicily Island Hills, but a look at the weather forecast for my best day to get away to the woods -- March 27 -- showed windy conditions. Not Good! It would be a wasted effort, I figured, to try for some serious birding and butterflying time in the field. But, dang it, I really wanted to get out to some place woodsy.
   So, on 3/27 I decided to ride out to Catahoula NWR HQ Unit to see what the situation was concerning high water and closed roads. The whole refuge loop beyond the entrance area was closed, as I had assumed it would be.

Catahoula NWR HQ Unit

I did a bit of birding there along the road by the entrance -- along the La Salle - Catahoula Parish line -- and considered what to do next. OK, a visit to Little Recreation Area at Archie sounded good -- it's close by, the wind wasn't too bad after all -- or yet, at least -- so let's bird there.

Brown Thrasher putting on a show at Little River Rec. Area

Once I was satisfied with that spot I figured lets keep birding. I took US-84 to Jonesville, making a few stops along the way to record what I had seen along the road and to add some species from those spots.

I stopped at a church parking lot a little ways SW of Jonesville

I figured this was the time to check out a spot I'd been aware of but hadn't visited: Jonesville Landing Recreation Area.
   This location is a small park and boat launch on the north side of Little River, accessed from LA-3264, just after turning east off of LA-124. This is immediately across the LA-124 Little River bridge from Jonesville. It's a neat little spot and provided some solid birding. I got my FOS Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, and Purple Martin were also present. This turned out to be a good day to watching the sky for raptors; that started at this location with Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks and continued on through the next two locations.
   By this time I was toying with going to Sicily Island Hills after all. I'd take a ride up to Harrisonburg Landing Recreation Area, bird around that spot, and see what happens. H-burg Rec. Area is situated at the NW end of LA-922, on the east bank of the Ouachita River across from Harrisonburg. This was my second recent visit to this location, which I've taken a liking to. It may provide good opportunities for finding migrants as the spring migration season progresses. On this day I got my FOS Eastern Kingbird and Broad-winged Hawk at this location, as well as additional Northern Rough-winged Swallows. Ok, this was shaping up to be a good day to bird and I was close to The Hills by this point... what the heck, let's spend some time over there after all.
   At Sicily Island Hills, I traveled the length of the south entrance road, accessed from LA-8, taking my time, driving slow, making frequent stops and short walks. I also walked the length of the maintained section of the primitive campground road (I estimate 0.5 miles) and a roughly 0.5 miles section of the Rock Falls Trail.

Rock Falls

Birds were singing, butterflies were out and about (got my lifer Pepper and Salt Skipper), some new plants were blooming since my last visit on 3/17 (including new-to-me Green Antelopehorn and old-friend-I-hadn't-seen-in-too-long Indian Pink): in other words, I was glad that I went.

crawfish (I wish I knew what species) -- Rock Creek

   A separate bird list for each location is below. For Sicily Island Hills, there's also lists for butterflies and moths, dragonflies and damselflies, herps, and wildflowers.


Catahoula NWR HQ Unit:
3/27/2018
8:35 am - 23 minutes
0.2 miles
73 degrees F., cloudy, light breeze

Birds:
Great Blue Heron - 1
Great Egret - 3
Little Blue Heron - 11 - FOS
Green Heron - 1
Black Vulture - 3
Turkey Vulture - 2
Mourning Dove - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
White-eyed Vireo - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Tufted Titmouse -  2
Carolina Wren - 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Northern Parula - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 2
Chipping Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 3
Northern Cardinal - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 2
Brown-headed Cowbird - 3
Common Grackle - 11

Little River Recreation Area:
9:01 am - 48 minutes
~5 acres
73 degrees F., variable sky, breezy, water very high
habitat shots:

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Birds:
Great Blue Heron - 2
Great Egret - 2
Snowy Egret - 5
Little Blue Heron - 7
Turkey Vulture - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 1
crow sp. - 1
Cliff Swallow - 4
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Carolina Wren - 3
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Brown Thrasher - 1 - video below

Northern Mockingbird - 1
Cedar Waxwing - 16
Savannah Sparrow - 7

Savannah Sparrows

Savannah Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow - 3
Northern Cardinal - 4
Red-winged Blackbird - 3
Brown-headed Cowbird - 4
Common Grackle - 8


Additional spp. along Hwy 84, and a short section on LA-3037, included...
Double-crested Cormorant, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Loggerhead Shrike

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Jonesville Landing Recreation Area:

10:17 am - 40 minutes
~2 acres
75 degrees F., sky cloudy/variable, breezy, Little River very high
habitat shots:

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Birds:
Great Egret - 2
Little Blue Heron - 2
Turkey Vulture - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Killdeer - 1
Chimney Swift - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 1 - FOS

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Purple Martin - 4
Barn Swallow - 3

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow - ~15
swallow sp. - ~15
Carolina Chickadee - 1
House Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 1
American Robin - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1

Northern Mockingbird

European Starling - 3
Cedar Waxwing - 10
Northern Cardinal - 3
Red-winged Blackbird - 3
Brown-headed Cowbird - 2
blackbird sp. - 1

sp. along LA-124 and LA-8 included...
Eurasian Collared Dove, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow,....


Harrisonburg Landing Recreation Area:
11:14 am - 48 minutes
~5 acres
74 degress, sky mixed cloud and sun, breezy, Ouachita River very high
habitat shots:

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Birds:
Turkey Vulture - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 1 - FOS

Broad-winged Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Northern Flicker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Eastern Kingbird - 1 - FOS
White-eyed Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 5

Northern Rough-winged Swallows perched in a little Sycamore out in the flood waters

Northern Rough-winged Swallows

Barn Swallow - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Tufted Titmouse - 1
House Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3
Eastern Bluebird - 2
American Robin - 2
Northern Mockingbird - 4
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 11
Song Sparrow - 1
Eastern Towhee - 1
Northern Cardinal - 9
Red-winged Blackbird - 30
Brown-headed Cowbird - 4

Sicily Island Hills:
12:09 pm - 5 hours, 27 minutes
5.5 miles (4.2 by vehicle; )
76 - 79 degrees F., sky varying degrees of cloud and sun, moderately windy
habitat shots:

woods along the primitive campground road

down the main road

Rock Falls Trail

Rock Creek

back on the road

Water from the flooded Ouachita River was backed up into the valley of Big Creek, the main stream that flows through the center of S.I. Hills.

Birds:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Bald Eagle - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 2

2 Broad-winged Hawks

Chimney Swift - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 4
White-eyed Vireo - 7
Yellow-throated Vireo - 2
Red-eyed Vireo - 4
American Crow - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 8
Tufted Titmouse - 25
Carolina Wren - 12
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 16
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 7
Hermit Thrush - 2
Louisiana Waterthrush - 1 -- Singing in video below; ends with Hooded Warbler singing. This is at junction of Rock Creek and a tributary, upstream from the falls. This waterthrush seemed to be patrolling territory along the stream, both upstream and downstream of the falls.

Hooded Warbler - 19
Northern Parula - 16
Pine Warbler - 22
White-throated Sparrow - 5

White-throated Sparrow

Eastern Towhee - 1
Northern Cardinal - 4


Sicily Island Hills Butterflies:

duskywing sp. (Juvenal's and/or Horace's) - 10

duskywing

Common/White Checkered-Skipper - 2

Common/White Checkered-Skipper

Pepper and Salt Skipper - 2 -- A lifer for me.

Pepper and Salt Skipper

Pepper and Salt Skipper - wings open

Pepper and Salt Skipper

Pipevine Swallowtail - 3
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - 7
Spicebush Swallowtail - 9
Giant Swallowtail - 5
Southern Dogface - 2 - pink-washed "raspberry lemonade" winter form

Southern Dogface nectaring on Phlox

Who's a good boy?!

Red-banded Hairstreak - 3

Red-banded Hairstreak

Monarch - 4 or 5 - One, probably two, were at a spot with Green Antelopehorn Milkweed (Asclepias viridis).

Monarch

'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple - 2
Red Admiral - 1

Red Admiral

Pearl Crescent - 15

Pearl Crescents

Pearl Crescent

Question Mark - 5
Goatweed Leafwing - 26

Goatweed Leafwing

Gemmed Satyr - 1

Gemmed Satyr

Carolina Satyr - 21

Carolina Satyr

 
Moths:

Desmia funeralis/maculalis --

Desmia sp.

? moth spp. --

This tiny moth (so far I've neglected to try to i.d. it) flew in and landed on this Green Antelopehorn milkweed as I was preparing to photograph the plant. There were lots and lots of tiny moths fluttering around in Sicily Island Hills this day, though I didn't get a good clear look at them or try to photograph them, beyond this little guy and one other whose pic didn't turn out to be useful.

Odonata:
(**I'm no kind of expert, and have very limited experience w/ Odes -- but I'm learning! -- so there could certainly be errors in the i.d.s. Consider them tentative. Feel free to correct errors in the comments section.**)

Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) --

Ebony Jewelwing

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) --
Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia) --

female-type Common Whitetail

baskettail sp. (Ephitheca) --

maybe a Common Baskettail or a Slender Baskettail?

clubtail sp. (Gomphidae) --

clubtail sp.

clubtail sp., same individual as above image

Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros) --
Common Green Darner (Anax junius) --
darner sp./spp. --
red saddlebags sp. (Tramea?) --
...among others....

Herps:
I neglected to write down frogs heard, but I do recall Cope's Gray Treefrog and there were probably others of the expected species. 

Green Anole - 1 seen running across road; i.d.ed once settled onto sapling trunk.
Little Brown Skink - ~5 or 6
Common Five-lined Skink - 1

Eastern Box Turtle shell

Wildflowers:
(**Keep in mind that I'm no kind of expert and that the i.d.s I've assigned to the plants shown below are only the best efforts of an amateur with limited experience. Feel free to correct any misidentified plants in the comment section.**)

Green Antelopehorn Milkweed (Asclepias viridis) --

Green Antelopehorn

   As my eyes followed a Monarch, I did a double-take. What wild-looking plants! And definitely some kind of milkweed (Asclepias) -- that explains the Monarchs. A little digging around online when I got home brought me to the conclusion that these are probably Green Antelopehorn (Asclepias viridis).

Green Antelopehorn

Green Antelopehorn flower close-up

violet sp./spp. (Viola) --

violet sp.

False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) --

False Garlic

?Fleabane (Erigeron sp.)? -- I think that's what you call the daisy-like flowers that the Pearl Crescents and Pepper and Salt Skipper are shown nectaring on in their photos.
Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica) aka Woodland Pinkroot --

Indian Pink

   I was tickled when I recognized Indian Pink plants -- a large patch of them -- growing along the roadside.

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At first I didn't see any in bloom, but slowing the truck down I spotted a few specks of red. Stopping to get photos, I could see that most of the plants (at least among those near me -- this was a large patch of these plants) were showing tiny hints of red where the buds were just on the verge of starting to open. I found a few with noticeable but still small and closed blooms, like the one pictured below.

Indian Pink

Then, there was this bold pioneer with flowers already just about to open.

Indian Pink

I hope that on my next visit this bed of Indian Pink is in full bloom (I do not know long one can expect the blooms to last). I would surely be a sight to behold!

Wakerobin sp. (Trillium) --

wakerobin

Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium sp.) --

Blue-eyed Grass

Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) --

Crossvine (yellow-and-red) and presumed dogwood sp. (white)

dogwood sp. (Cornus)? -- 
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) --

Flowering Dogwood

Parsleyleaf Hawthorn and other hawthorns (Crataegus) --

Parsleyleaf Hawthorn

Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata) --

Lyreleaf Sage

Phlox sp. --

Woodsorrell spp. (Oxalis) -- yellows and purples
Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) --

Red Buckeye

Snowbells (Styrax sp.) --

Snowbells

The Snowbells were in the little creek bottom along the stream as you enter the WMA.

Snowbells

   So, from the flooded, wrecked low places, through twists and turns, up to the exhilarating wild high ground of some of the most interesting woods around; it turned out to be a great day in the field. Sometimes, whether you are or aren't planning to go (or, in some ways, both), it's worthwhile to just follow your feet, so to speak, and see where the path takes you.

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