Easter in the Sicily Island Hills - 4/21/2019

Worm-eating Warbler - primitive campground road, Sicily Island Hills - 4/21/19

Related Posts:
   If you're interested in further reading about Sicily Island Hills, these links are to posts about my previous two visits to this location (January 11 and August 3). They in turn contain links back to earlier visits, including some last spring.
1/11/19:
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/01/sicily-island-hills-harrisonburg-area.html

8/3/18:
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/08/sicily-island-hills-catahoula-parish.html

This link is to a post about birding on the Ouachita and Boeuf Rivers, bordering the Sicily Island Hills:
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/02/birding-on-ouachita-and-boeuf-rivers.html

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   I spent much of Easter afternoon exploring the Sicily Island Hills in the JC "Sonny" Gilbert Wildlife Management Area (aka: Sicily Island Hills WMA) in Catahoula Parish. I hadn't been to the hills since January, and was happy to finally get back there to spend some time birding, butterflying, and just enjoying these magnificent woods.

Pipevine Swallowtail on Indian Pink

   I spent the entire time in the southern part of the WMA, accessed from LA-8 a few miles east of Harrisonburg. I drove along the main road, as far a the trail head for Rock Falls Trail, making many stops along the way. I also walked the maintained portion of the primitive campground road (road that turns left at self clearing kiosk) and walked the Rock Falls trail, coming out on the road on the next ridge over, and walking back up it to the main road and from there back to the where I'd parked at the trail head.
habitat shots:

primitive campground road

woods along primitive campground road - There were six Worm-eating Warblers singing on the slopes of the shaded hollows along the roughly half-mile of this road that I walked.

main road

woods along main road

Rock Falls Trail - the steep descent begins

Rock Falls

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Rock Falls Trail - looking back from the far side of the hollow

Rock Falls Trail

side road on the next ridge over, east of Rock Falls -  The Rock Falls Trail comes out on this road on the far side of the hollow from the trail head / parking. 

  Despite being in the middle of the day, bird activity was good and taking ones time meant that bird detection could be good despite some moderately windy conditions at times. This is excellent habitat for several neotropical warblers that come to Louisiana to breed. Worm-eating Warblers were notably abundant, with 16 tallied, almost all of which were singing. One or two were calling, several of those that were singing and calling were also seen. While on foot I came across the one singing in the video below along the main road at the fork with the side road that goes east a little ways south of Rock Falls Trail parking area. It and another were singing back and forth. This one was tantalizingly close, but always obscured by foliage, so I very briefly used playback to get it to come into the open to be photographed and videoed.

Hooded Warblers and the resident Pine Warblers were also abundant and frequently heard singing. There's a fair number of Northern Parula in these woods as well. Likely I'd have heard more out of the Kentucky Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrushes if it had been morning. Migrant Tennessee Warblers were singing in the trees in several locations - they are one of the most frequently encountered transient species in this area during late April and early May.
   I also heard my FOS Eastern Wood-Pewee. Summer Tanagers were numerous.
   Below is the complete bird list. After that, there's lists for butterflies, Herps, mammals, and photos of some of the wildflowers that were observed.

12:28 pm; 5 hrs 47 mins; 4 miles (2.5 by vehicle, ~1.5 on foot)
mid-70's F.; sunny; breezy

Mourning Dove - 1
Chimney Swift - 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 5
Black Vulture - 2
Turkey Vulture - 2
Mississippi Kite - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Acadian Flycatcher - 5
Great Crested Flycatcher - 5
White-eyed Vireo - 12

White-eyed Vireo - main road

Yellow-throated Vireo - 2
Red-eyed Vireo - 11
American Crow - 4
Purple Martin - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 10
Tufted Titmouse - 18
Carolina Wren - 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 14
Swainson's Thrush - 1
Hermit Thrush - 1
Wood Thrush - 5
Brown Thrasher - 1
Cedar Waxwing - 20
Brown-headed Cowbird - 2
Worm-eating Warbler - 16
Louisiana Waterthrush - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 7
Kentucky Warbler - 2
Hooded Warbler - 18
Northern Parula - 7
Pine Warbler - 17
Summer Tanager - 14

male Summer Tanager - main road

Northern Cardinal - 11
Indigo Bunting - 5

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Mammals:
Eastern Gray Squirrel - 2
tracks of White-tailed Deer and Nine-banded Armadillo

Herps:

Cope's Gray Treefrog - 5 (calls heard)
Green Treefrog - 1 (call heard)

Eastern Box Turtle - 1

Eastern Box Turtle seen along Rock Falls Trail

Little Brown Skink - ~7
"Buttermilk" Racer - 1
*Common Gartersnake - 1 -- At first I made the assumption that it was a Western Ribbonsnake, but after looking at the photos more closely I think it's a Common Gartersnake. If you know snakes, feel free to weigh in.

(tentative i.d.) Common Gartersnake seen along Rock Falls Trail

(tentative i.d.) Common Gartersnake with a meal in its belly - Rock Falls Trail

snake sp. - 1 (small, dark, thin; gone into cover before I could get a good look)

Butterflies:

duskywing sp. - 1
Clouded Skipper - 3
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper - 2

Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper -- side road east of Rock Falls

Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper - same individual

Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper - same individual

Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper - same individual

Pipevine Swallowtail - 4
Black Swallowtail - 3

Black Swallowtail nectaring on Phlox sp. - primitive campground road

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - 6
Spicebush Swallowtail - 5
Southern Dogface - 1
Cloudless Sulphur - 3
Harvester - 1 (possibly 2 or 3, but those were poorly seen in flight and sighted before I saw the one that I finally got a good look at to identify) -- Harvester was a new species for my butterfly life list. I spotted the one photographed below as it flew across the road and landed in vegetation. Luckily it was cooperative, staying put while I approached on foot and snapped many photos. Harvesters are unusual in that their larva feed not on plants but on woolly aphids and some other insects, and the adults drink aphid honeydew instead of flower nectar.

Harvester - main road, about 0.8 miles (as per odometer) south of Rock Falls Trail parking area

Harvester

Red-banded Hairstreak - 1
("Spring"?) Azure - 2

Azure - primitive campground road

American Snout - 2
'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple - 4
Pearl Crescent - 1
American Lady - 2

American Lady nectaring on Rubus - primitive campground road

Goatweed Leafwing - 22
Pearly-eye sp. - 4 or 5 -- Unfortunately I was never able to get a good look at them or snap a photo. They were quite flighty, but always in the presence of cane (Arundinaria), the Southern Pearly-eye's host plant. (*edit on 5/9/19*) However, after finding Creole Pearly-eye in S.I. Hills for the first time on 5/7/19, that species could also be a contender. Creole also use Arundinaria as host plant. Northern Pearly-eye, who use a different host plant, are also found in Sicily Island Hills. The three species are very similar in appearance.
Gemmed Satyr - 1
Carolina Satyr - 18


Wildflowers:

   Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica) were starting to bloom. To me, these are some of the most beautiful native flowers and Sicily Island Hills is one of the few places I know to see them in the wild.

Indian Pink or Woodland Pinkroot (Spigelia marilandica)

Indian Pink

   Look up and don't miss the flowers of the Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera).

Tulip Poplar

Tulip Poplar

   Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) are abundant in these woods, and the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that I detected on this outing were always in the vicinity of these plants.

Red Buckeye

   Some hawthorns (Crataegus sp.) were still in bloom. Blackberries (Rubus) were blooming. Phlox sp. and a couple of types of blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium) were a common sight.

Phlox sp. - primitive campground road

Blue-eyed Grass sp. (Sisyrinchium sp.) - primitive campground road

Blue-eyed Grass sp. (Sisyrinchium sp.) - primitive campground road

   I look forward to my next outing in these amazing woods.

Rock Creek / Falls

   As always, if you spot an incorrect i.d. or have suggestions for one I'm unsure about, feel free to let me know.
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National Catahoula Wildlife Management Preserve - Grant and Winn Parishes - 3/28/19

woods of National Catahoula Wildlife Management Preserve - 3/28/19

   National Catahoula Wildlife Management Preserve is located in northern Grant Parish and southern Winn Parish in the Catahoula Ranger District of Kisatchie National Forest. The dominant habitat is pine forest, blending into mixed pine-hardwoods, broken up by numerous hardwood creek bottoms ranging from small to quite large. There are some relatively large unbroken tracts of forest on the preserve, and some nice sized trees within these woods, especially compared to the typical pine plantation woods which dominate the region.

some habitat shots of National Catahoula Wildlife Management Preserve

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Iatt Creek

controlled burn near US-167

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   I hadn't been to the preserve since I started doing this blog back in 2014 -- not since about 2010, I believe -- but once upon a time I frequented this location and family members have continued to hunt here, so I've been keeping up with the word from these woods. On this morning I joined my father as he scouted for turkeys. Of course for me this means a chance to bird. We spent the morning riding miles and miles of the preserve's gravel roads, making many stops, and some short walks. These are beautiful woods, and offer great birding for the spectrum of forest species one expects in the region, but in recent years there don't seem to be as many turkeys as there were many years ago (the late 1990's - early 2000's was the heyday of when I joined my turkey-hunting kin in these woods every chance I could get, and there seemed to be so many turkeys). This is perhaps because there are more hunters in the woods nowadays and other factors, such as the feral hog problem.
   This is Pine Warbler paradise, and on this morning the woods were ringing with their song. Hooded Warblers had arrived, though they won't be in peak numbers for a while -- by mid-April they can rival the Pine Warblers.

male Hooded Warbler - 3/28 - same bird singing in video below

Many of the preserve's streams are home to Louisiana Waterthrushes during the breeding season, and on this morning we heard one singing at one location and one calling at another. Northern Parulas are common in the larger creek bottom woods. Many of the other spring and summer breeders haven't arrived yet, but as the season progresses this location becomes especially good for finding Chuck-will's-widow and Broad-winged Hawk, as well as many of the neotropical songbirds.

 (video of birdsong: Hooded Warbler, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Parula, White-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay)

   Of course many winter species are still around. This has been an irruption year for Red-breasted Nuthatch, and we heard two on this morning at separate locations.
   Parts of the preserve offer what appears to be good habitat for Bachman's Sparrow, though we weren't in those areas during prime listening time and drove through some such habitat without stopping.
   Below is a list of all birds detected that morning from various locations on the preserve. After that is a rundown of some of the other wildlife, and plant life, that we noticed.

Wood Duck - 1
Wild Turkey - 4
Mourning Dove - 2
Killdeer - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Barred Owl - 9
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 11
Downy Woodpecker - 4
Pileated Woodpecker - 4
Northern Flicker - 1
White-eyed Vireo - 5
Yellow-throated Vireo - 7
 (video of Yellow-throated Vireo singing in treetop)

Blue Jay - 4
American Crow - 13
Carolina Chickadee - 19
Tufted Titmouse - 35 (1x1)
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Carolina Wren - 19
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 6
Brown Thrasher - 1
American Goldfinch - 5
White-throated Sparrow - 2
Louisiana Waterthrush - 2
Black-and-white Warbler - 1
Hooded Warbler - 15 (1x1)

male Hooded Warbler

Northern Parula - 4
Pine Warbler - 50 (1x1)
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 5 (1x1)
Northern Cardinal - 20 (1x1)

This juvenile Timber Rattlesnake looks to have been dead for a couple of days. 

   Fox Squirrels and Gray Squirrels were the only mammals seen (though, of course, there was hog sign in some areas).

   Temperatures were cool in the morning and we left about the time butterfly activity would have been picking up, but we still noticed a few. The highlight was a gorgeous Zebra Swallowtail.

Zebra Swallowtail

There were also a couple of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and a few Gemmed Satyrs.

   Wild Azaleas (aka "Pink Honeysuckle" - Rhododendron canescens) were in bloom along some of the streams. Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) were blooming, as well as violet spp. (Viola). There were A LOT of Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) in bloom, making white splashes all in among the pine trunks.

Flowering Dogwood

In creek bottom woods we found a good many Snowbells (Styrax) in bloom.

Snowbell

Snowbell

Snowbell

one of the larger Snowbell (Styrax) trees seen that morning

At one spot along the road, where the habitat is a transition between pine woods and creek bottom hardwoods, we spotted a patch of some kind of Bluestar (Amsonia).

numerous Bluestar (Amsonia)

Bluestar (Amsonia)

Were they Eastern Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana)... or could they possibly be the rare Louisiana Bluestar (A. ludoviciana)?

Bluestar (Amsonia)

Bluestar (Amsonia)

Bluestar (Amsonia)

Bluestar (Amsonia)

   I suppose odds are they're A. tabernaemontana, but, hey, one never knows.

   I intend to make more trips to National Catahoula Wildlife Management Preserve this year, especially during the spring and early summer. It really is a shame that I let so many years pass without returning to these woods, which are a pretty special place in my estimation. I look forward to reacquainting myself with old familiar locales and exploring some new spots on this large preserve.

   As always, if you spot an incorrect i.d. or have suggestions for something that I'm unsure about, feel free to let me know.

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