Central Louisiana Birding & Wildlife: Easter in the Sicily Island Hills

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

...

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

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

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.