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| Jena's Vision Trail beside the middle/main branch of Hemp's Creek - January 30, 2019 |
Vision Trail -- March - April, 2018:
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/05/nature-at-jenas-vision-trail-march.html
Vision Trail -- May - Sept., 2018:
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/09/nature-at-jenas-vision-trail-2018-part-2.html
parks, rec. areas in neighboring Catahoula Parish:
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/10/parks-rec-catahoula-parish-10102018.html
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I birded Jena's Vision Trail (Jena, La Salle Parish) nine times between October 8, 2018 and February 17, 2019. Starting at the parking lot on the west side of Austin Rd. beside the creeks, I birded walking the section of Vision Trail in the vicinity of the ball fields, town park, confluence of the main and east prongs of Hemp's Creek (in other words, around Austin Rd., Terral St., Edwards Rd., Sycamore St.), and through the woods south of Sycamore St. beside Mac's grocery. Here are some habitat shots for the vision trail.
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| confluence of East Prong and Hemp's Creek - 2/17/2019 |
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| Vision Trail by parking area - 2/17 |
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| East Prong of Hemp's Creek upstream from parking lot - 10/11/2018 |
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| vision trail beside main/middle branch of Hemp's Creek - 12/23 |
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| vision trail approaching Austin Rd. and East Prong of Hemp' Creek; Terral St. and the park (pine trees, hill) beyond that -- 12/23 |
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| East Prong creek from northernmost foot bridge, looking south toward Austin Rd - 10/11 |
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| Vision Trail at Terral St. - 12/23 |
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| Vision Trail eastward along Terral St. - 10/8 |
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| Vision Trail westward along Edwards Rd. - 12/23 |
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| Vision Trail - west side Austin Rd. at Sycamore St. and Hemp's Creek |
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| Hemp's Creek - 12/23 |
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| Hemp's Creek - 12/23 |
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| unpaved side loop of trail west of Hemp's Creek and north of Sycamore Street -10/8 |
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| Vision Trail through woods south of Sycamore Street - 11/1 |
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| Vision Trail through woods south of Sycamore St. - 12/23 |
October 8, 2018:
8:33 am; 4 hours; 1 mile
74 - 90 degrees F.; sunny for most part; light wind
October 11, 2018:
8:57 am; 3 hrs 20 min; 1 mile
61 - 71 degrees F.; clear; light-to-mod. NW wind
October 14:
10:16 am; 3 hrs 6 min; 1 mile
77 - 86 degrees F.; variable sky: mostly cloudy - sunny; southerly breeze/light wind.
November 1:
7:58 am; 3 hrs 14 min; 1 mile
58 - 60 degrees F.; overcast; on-and-off breeze; very fine misting rain during middle of birding.
November 7:
9:55 am; 3 hrs 5 min; 1 mile
lower 70's Fahrenheit; cloudy; on-and-off breeze; brief periods of light drizzle beginning ~1 hr into birding.
December 1:
11:07 am; 1 hr 42 min; 1 mile
74 - 76 degrees F.; sky variable, then clear; windy (bird activity not great).
December 23:
1:17 pm; 2 hrs 21 min; 1 mile
65 - 63 degrees F.; clear; light breeze.
January 30, 2019:
8:44 am; 1 hr 45 min; 1 mile
mid-30's Fahrenheit; cloudy; calm.
February 17:
8:34 am; 1 hr 30 min; 0.7 miles
58 degrees F. at start; very little wind; foggy, light drizzle began after a few minutes and continued until I gave up.
Again, the dates are: October 8, 11, 14 / November 1, 7 / December 1, 23 // January 30 / February 17.
Mourning Dove - 0, 2, 1 / 0, 1 / 0, 0 // 2 / 5
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 0, 0, 1 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Chimney Swift - 3, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Great Blue Heron - 0, 0, 1 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Great Egret hunting in Hemp's Creek by Sycamore St. bridge - 10/11 (same in pic and vid. below) |
Snowy Egret - 0, 0, 0 / 2, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
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| Snowy Egret - 11/1 |
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| Snowy Egrets - 11/1 |
Black Vulture - 0, 0, 2 / 0, 0 / 0, 2 // 0 / 0
Turkey Vulture - 1, 1, 2 / 1, 1 / 2, 19 // 0 / 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 0, 0, 1 / 0, 1 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0, 1, 0 / 1, 0 / 0, 1 // 1 / 0
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| Red-shouldered Hawk - 12/23 |
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| Red-shouldered Hawk - 12/23 (same in video below) |
Red-tailed Hawk - 1, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 2, 2 // 0 / 0
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| Red-tailed Hawk - 12/23 |
Red-headed Woodpecker - 4, 3, 1 / 1, 2 / 0, 1 // 4 / 3
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| immature Red-headed Woodpecker caching acorns - 10/11 |
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| adult Red-headed Woodpecker - 11/1 |
Downy Woodpecker - 2, 2, 2 / 1, 1 / 1, 0 // 1 / 5
Pileated Woodpecker - 2, 4, 2 / 1, 3 / 1, 1 // 0 / 1
(video: Pileated Woodpecker - 10/11)
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| Pileated Woodpecker - 11/1 |
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 0, 1, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Eastern Phoebe - 0, 0, 1 / 1, 1 / 2, 1 // 3 / 1
White-eyed Vireo - 1, 0, 1 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Blue-headed Vireo - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 1 / 0
Blue Jay - 6, 10, 8 / 5, 0 / 1, 1 // 7 / 4
American Crow - 7, 32, 2 / 34, 45 / 6, 2 // 11 / 23
Carolina Chickadee - 6, 6, 4 / 3, 6 / 1, 6 // 2 / 3
Tufted Titmouse - 7, 5, 2 / 2, 0 / 1, 2 // 2 / 0
White-breasted Nuthatch - 0, 1, 0 / 1, 0 / 0, 0 // 2 / 1
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| White-breasted Nuthatch - 10/11 (same in pic and vid. below) |
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Brown-headed Nuthatch - 2, 2, 3 / 2, 1 / 1, 3 // 4 / 1
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| Brown-headed Nuthatch - 12/23 |
House Wren - 0, 1, 1 / 1, 1 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Marsh Wren - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 1 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
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| Marsh Wren - 11/7 -- This wren was skulking along East Prong of Hemp's Creek in the stretch between the two foot bridges north of the Austin Road bridge. |
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| Carolina Wren - 10/11 |
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 1 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 0, 0, 0 / 2, 6 / 2, 3 // 4 / 2
Eastern Bluebird - 12, 7, 4 / 6, 4 / 5, 2 // 5 / 5
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| female Eastern Bluebird - 10/11 |
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| male Eastern Bluebird - 10/11 |
Brown Thrasher - 4, 7, 2 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 1 / 4
Northern Mockingbird - 11, 6, 5 / 5, 2 / 0, 1 // 4 / 2
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| Northern Mockingbird - 10/11 |
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| Northern Mockingbird - 1/30/2019 |
Cedar Waxwing - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 25 // 15 / 20
House Finch - 1, 2, 16 / 8, 12 / 0, 2 // 5 / 2
Purple Finch - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 1 // 0 / 0
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| female Purple Finch, associating with American Goldfinch flock, feeding on Sweet Gum seeds - 12/23 (same in video below) |
American Goldfinch - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 4, 12 // 16 / 2
(video: American Goldfinch feeding on Sweet Gum seeds - 12/23)
Chipping Sparrow - 2, 5, 4 / 20, 13 / 8, 3 // 20 / 17
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 6 / 5
White-throated Sparrow - 0, 0, 1 (FOS) / 3, 6 / 5, 8 // 8 / 6
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| White-throated Sparrow - 10/14 -- my First of Season White-throat for fall 2018 |
Swamp Sparrow - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 2 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Eastern Towhee - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 1 / 0
Red-winged Blackbird - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 1 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Common Grackle - 0, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 1 fem./imm., 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
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| Black-and-white Warbler - 10/8 |
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| Black-and-white Warbler - 10/8 |
Hooded Warbler - 1 male, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
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| Hooded Warbler - 10/8 |
Northern Parula - 0, 1 male, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Orange-crowned Warbler - 0, 0, 0 / 1, 2 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
(video: Orange-crowned Warbler feeding - 11/1)
Pine Warbler - 4 singing, 7, 5 / 7, 0 / 0, 2 // 5 / 4
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| male Pine Warbler - 10/14 |
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| male Pine Warbler - 10/14 |
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| female or immature Pine Warbler - 10/11 (foraging in video below) |
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 0, 1 (FOS date), 2 / 10, 7 / 2, 6 // 11 / 4
Summer Tanager - 2, 0, 0 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Northern Cardinal - 14, 13, 10 / 21, 7 / 4, 1 // 10 / 8
Blue Grosbeak - 0, 0, 1 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
Indigo Bunting - 2, 5, 4 / 0, 0 / 0, 0 // 0 / 0
House Sparrow - 3, 5, 1 / 1, 1 / 0, 0 // 2 / 2
Mammals:
Eastern Gray Squirrel -
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| Gray Squirrel - 12/23 |
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| Fox Squirrels - 10/11 |
Herps:
Spring Peeper, Cajun Chorus Frog; Green Anole...
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| Green Anole - 10/14 |
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| Green Anole (in brown mode) - foot bridge over East Prong - 12/23 |
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| Speckled Kingsnake - 10/8 |
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| Speckled Kingsnake - 10/8 |
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| Speckled Kingsnake - 10/8 |
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| Speckled Kingsnake - 10/8 |
Creek Chub...
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| Creek Chub - 10/11 |
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| - 10/8 |
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| Cyprinid sp. - 10/8 |
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| male Longear Sunfish - 10/14 |
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| Spotted Bass - 10/14 |
Butterflies:
One new species for the location's butterfly list that I found during this period was the Southern Pearly-eye. I observed two on October 11, along the gravel trail on the west side of Hemp's Creek. They were near the northern bend of this section of trail, where there's a grove of their host plant, Arundinaria (cane).
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| one of the two Southern Pearly-eyes seen on 10/11 |
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| the other Southern Pearly-eye |
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| ovipositing Common/White Checkered-Skipper - 10/8 |
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| Checkered-Skipper - 11/1 |
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| female Fiery Skipper - 10/8 |
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| male Fiery Skipper nectaring on Jacquemontia - 10/14 |
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| male Fiery Skipper - 10/14 |
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| Red-banded Hairstreak - 10/11 |
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| Gulf Fritillary - 10/14 |
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| Variegated Fritillary -- 11/7 |
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| Variegated Fritillary -- 11/7 |
In addition to butterflies, a couple of moths were identified: Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth (Anticarsia gemmatalis) and Epipagis fenestralis (a.k.a.: E. huronalis).
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| Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth - 10/14 |
Wildflowers:
A variety of wildflowers were seen during this period, especially during the fall. Pictures of some of them are below.
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| Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) -- 10/14 |
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| Cardinal Flower - 10/8 |
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| Lobelia cardinalis - 10/8 |
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| Lobelia sp. -- maybe L. puberula, the Downy Lobelia? -- 10/8 |
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| Morning-Glory sp. (Ipomoea) - maybe Ivyleaf Morning-Glory (Ipomoea hederacea) - 10/11 |
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| Lactuca sp.; I'm assuming L. floridana, Woodland Lettuce - 10/11 |
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| Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata) -- 10/14 |
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| Spotted Beebalm (same as above) |
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| Dayflower sp. (Commelina) - 10/14 -- Maybe Commelina diffusa, Spreading Dayflower, but that's just my guess. |
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| ? maybe a Solidago sp. - 10/14 |
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| ? species of Fabaceae... - 10/14 |
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| ?? above two pics -- I don't know what it is, but it kind of looks like pictures of Lindernia dubia. -- 10/14 |
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| woodsorrel sp. (Oxalis) - 10/14 -- My guess would be Oxalis violacea. |
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| Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) -- 2/17 |
And, as always, if you spot any incorrect i.d. or have a suggestion for one that I'm not sure about, feel free to let me know.
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