Central Louisiana Birding & Wildlife: 2019

Barred Owl -- FS Rd 530, Winn Parish

Related Posts:
- NCWMP March 2019 -
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/04/national-catahoula-wildlife-management.html
- NCWMP July -
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/08/national-catahoula-wildlife-management.html
- NCWMP August -
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/08/national-catahoula-wildlife-management_11.html

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On November 5 I returned to National Catahoula Wildlife Management Preserve (NCWMP) after having last visited this location in August. The Preserve is located in the Kisatchie National Forest in northern Grant Parish and southern Winn Parish, with the great majority being in Grant. I birded along Bear Creek Rd, Lincecum Village Rd, LA-472 (couple of stops at side roads along LA-472), and Forest Service Roads 556, 558, and 530. This route happens to follow the boundary between the Catahoula and Winn Ranger Districts of the Kisatchie NF, up until FS 530 which is in Winn RD. I also recorded birds and butterflies detected on the ~0.7 mile section of FS 558/Parish Rd 599 that passes through private land in the Iatt Creek bottoms (separate bird list from NF list).
Weather conditions were... meh. Temperatures were from mid-50's through mid-60's Fahrenheit. In the morning it was cloudy to overcast with some brief periods of light drizzle, and the wind tended to be calm with occasional breezes. In the afternoon sunny and cloudy skies tug-of-warred back and forth, becoming clearer late, and there was generally a light breeze. There had been a recent thinning of a section of pine woods along Lincecum Village Rd not far from LA-472, and the thinning operation was still going on south of there on the east side of the highway. The sounds of the logging could be heard from well up Bear Creek Rd in the east to a ways down FS 556 to the west. The noise wasn't too bad on bird detection until close, but still it was something of a factor for this sizable stretch of the route.
Here are some habitat shots before continuing.

Bear Creek Rd, entering NCWMP -- Grant Parish

Bear Creek Rd

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Lincecum Village Rd, west of Bear Creek Rd

The recently thinned pines along Lincecum Village Road -- a Red-cockaded Woodpecker and a group of 20+ Pine Warblers were at this spot.

a stop along LA-472 (at campground) -- thinning/logging going on in the background across the road

FS Rd 556, west of LA-472

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FS Rd 556 at pond on east side of RR tracks

pond between RR and US-167

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woods along FS 556 in vicinity of 2nd pond -- birds here included Eastern Screech-Owl and a sizable mixed flock that included a White-breasted Nuthatch

FS Rd 558 at west side of US-167 -- this is about a mile south of where FS 556 crosses the highway

FS 558

FS Rd 558 at Southern Pearly-eye (butterfly) location -- there was also a good mixed flock of songbirds and a Winter Wren in the woods along the creek

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woods along FS Rd 558

decent sized creek bottom woods along FS 558 just east of junction with FS 155 -- This was probably the single bird-y--est spot of the day, with lots of activity from a dozen+ species and many individuals

Iatt Creek, Grant Parish (private land off road) -- road crosses a corner of Winn Parish in the creek bottoms

FS Rd 558 west of Iatt Creek (back on NCWMP)

FS Rd 530, ~Grant-Winn Parish line

FS Rd 530, Winn Parish

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the end of the drive-able section of FS Rd 530 going north -- west/south of Iatt Creek

Birding along the roads in this predominantly piney-woods region of forest I found that birds tended to be concentrated in some locations, with sparse detection in the areas in between. Most of the woodland songbirds (such as Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped and Pine Warblers, Brown-headed and White-breasted Nuthatches) and many of the woodpeckers were in the mixed flocks that roam the woods during the winter season. Happening upon one of these groups brought a flurry of activity, punctuating the stretches of slower birding. ("So that's where the birds all went.")

Brown-headed Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

Tufted Titmouse

At one location on Lincecum Village Rd, at the edge of recently thinned pines, there was a group of at least 20 pine warblers with a few of the other species - including a Red-cockaded Woodpecker - tagging along.

Pine Warbler

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

There was a second Red-cockaded Woodpecker on FS 556 about 0.5 miles west of LA-472. Some of the best bird concentrations were in the multiple hardwood creek bottoms that FS Rd 558 crosses west of US-167. These veins of richer habitat presumably support greater densities of birds.

(video: noisy--in a good way--creek bottom woods along FS 558 just east of FS 155)

Hermit Thrushes were present all along the route, even in spots that seemed otherwise devoid of birds.
It's always nice when you get to take your time watching one of the larger birds such as Barred Owl or Pileated Woodpecker just doing what they do.

Pileated Woodpecker

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Wham!

raiding the fridge ...

Anything good?

Nah. ...

On this day I saw three of my FOS species for this fall-winter season. These were Snow Goose (flyover flock at FS 530), Sharp-shinned Hawk (flyover at FS 556), and American Goldfinch (multiple locations). Other highlights were the White-breasted Nuthatch on FS Rd 556 (not a particularly common bird in this region of the state, but not the first time I've seen them on this road) and of course the two Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.

Because it was cool and cloudy through the morning and never very warm and not consistently sunny for long during the afternoon, butterflies were not found in great numbers. The first butterfly of the day--a Little Yellow--wasn't seen until the noon hour when I was already on FS 558. However, there were some interesting butterflies among the few that did show up.
I saw a Southern Pearly-eye on FS Rd 558 just before the creek about 1.1 miles west of US-167.

Southern Pearly-eye

This is the first pearly-eye that I've seen on NCWMP, but I suspect that Southern Pearly-eye could be common here as there is a fair amount of their host plant--cane (Arundinaria)--in those woods and I saw another cane-feeder (Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper, two individuals) along the same road this summer.
The most interesting butterfly was a winter form Barred Yellow, seen in the company of Little Yellows and a Pearl Crescent, at a spot on FS 558 about 0.4 miles east of FS 155.

Barred Yellow

This is notable because I found a population of these butterflies, which in Louisiana are typically found east of the Mississippi River in the "Florida Parishes", on NCWMP this summer (see 'August' post linked at top of the blog entry) and had hoped to see evidence of subsequent generations.

Barred Yellow beside FS 558 -- ventral surface of wings are brown on the wet season or winter form. Those that I saw on NCWMP during July and August were the dry season or summer form, which are grayish-white on the ventral surface of the wings

Barred Yellow FS 558 -- dorsal view, showing the namesake black bars across yellow dorsal surface of forewings

Let's hope they (the larva or eggs at least) survived the recent cold spell and fair well through the winter.
A few mammals were out and about. Both Fox and Gray Squirrels were seen here and there. From the end of FS 530, as light was fading, I heard a pack of Coyotes howling. On the drive back out through the Preserve after dark I saw a White-tailed Deer.
Because of the cool cloudy conditions for much of the day, it wasn't a good day for finding Herps. A few Pond Sliders at the ponds and an occasional skink disappearing into the leaf litter in the afternoon were all the reptiles I recall seeing. I failed to record what frogs I heard either, but there weren't many.
One of the most interesting species encountered, however, was a species of moth. I saw Scarlet-bodied Wasp Moths at two locations. One was beside FS Rd 558 about 0.6 miles east of the junction with FS Rd 155, the second was at that junction.

Scarlet-bodied Wasp-Moth number 1 -- FS Rd 558 -- The plant that the moth is nectaring on is Witch-Hazel (Hamamelis sp.; I'm guessing that H. virginiana is the likely species, but I don't know).

Scarlet-bodied Wasp-Moth #1

Scarlet-bodied Wasp-Moth (Spider-Man, am I right?)

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I spent about 10 or 15 minutes watching the moth nectaring from the Witch-Hazel blossoms. When it was done, it took shelter on the underside of one of the tree's leaves.

the 2nd Scarlet-bodied Wasp-Moth

What bizarre-looking moths! They added an unreal splash of color to the often dreary woods.

Below are the lists for birds, butterflies, and mammals detected on this outing.

National Catahoula Wildlife Management Preserve (Kisatchie NF), 11/5/19
Grant Parish and Winn Parish
14.6 miles
8:36 a.m.; 6 hrs 27 mins / 3:26 p.m.; 2 hrs 5 mins
57-66F.; morning: cloudy, occasional light drizzle, calm with periods of light breeze; afternoon: sky varying between sunny and cloudy, clearing up late, light breeze

Snow Goose - 110
Wood Duck - 2

male Wood Ducks

Turkey Vulture - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Eastern Screech-Owl - 6
Barred Owl - 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 4
Red-headed Woodpecker - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 9
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Red-cockaded Woodpecker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 7

Northern Flicker - 3
Eastern Phoebe - 18
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 20
Carolina Chickadee - 24
Tufted Titmouse - 28
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 8
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 25
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 8
House Wren - 1
Winter Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 30
Gray Catbird - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 4
Hermit Thrush - 32
American Robin - 24
American Goldfinch - 4
Chipping Sparrow - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 1 (would have expected more)
Song Sparrow - 1
Swamp Sparrow - 2
Eastern Towhee - 6
Red-winged Blackbird - 3
Orange-crowned Warbler - 6
Pine Warbler - 40
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 13
Northern Cardinal - 19

Off-NCWMP on Par. Rd 599/ FS Rd 558 (between parts of the Preserve)
Winn and Grant Parishes
3:07 p.m.; 18 mins (mostly on foot on bridge and road at Iatt Creek); 0.7 miles

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 1
American Crow - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 1
Winter Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Goldfinch - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 4
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2

Butterflies (all locations)
Common Checkered-Skipper - 1