 |
| Wood Ducks in cypress slough by walking trail at The Lakes District in Alexandria |
- previous Loose Alliance field trip -
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/05/kisatchie-national-forest-in-grant.html
- 2017 field trip to Lakes District -
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2017/09/alexandria-lakes-district-field-trip.html
- most recent post about Kisatchie NF Grant -
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/09/kisatchie-nf-grant-parish-and-camp.html
***************
The Loose Alliance bird club of Cenla's September 2019 field trip was held on 9/14 at The Lakes District in Alexandria, Louisiana. The six participants were Connie Guillory, Donna Futrell, Jackie Duncan, Jay Huner, Scott Delaney, and Jonathan Clark. We walked the paved trail from the bell tower parking lot on Ansley Blvd to the power line cut, took the mowed path down the power line cut to the far end of the woods, then took the trail back through the woods. Habitat shots are below.
 |
| Ansley Blvd |
 |
| one of the large ponds ("lakes") along the trail |
 |
| power line cut |
 |
| ... |
 |
| wooded section of trail |
 |
| Eastern Wood-Pewee |
 |
| Wood Ducks in cypress slough by walking trail |
Butterflies were starting to stir. Long-tailed and Ocola Skippers and a Monarch were visiting the Buttonbushes at the edge of the cypress slough. Flowers in the power line cut attracted Clouded Skippers and Gulf Fritillary.
 |
| Long-tailed Skipper and Monarch nectaring on Buttonbush |
The Lakes District walking trail and environs, Alexandria
7:35 a.m.; 2 hrs 40 mins; estimated 0.5 miles (maybe more); 6 observers
warm; sunny; calm, then some light breeze
Birds
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - 1
Canada Goose - ~100 - feral flock in pond across Ansley Blvd
Wood Duck - 32
Rock Pigeon - 7
White-winged Dove - 8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 4
Killdeer - 1
Great Egret - 1
Green Heron - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Northern Flicker - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 2
White-eyed Vireo - 5
swallow sp. - 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 4
Carolina Wren - 5
European Starling - 8
Brown Thrasher - 3
Northern Mockingbird - 4
American Robin - 4
House Finch - 1
Common Grackle - 1
blackbird sp. - 5
Hooded Warbler - 1
Summer Tanager - 1
Northern Cardinal - 3
Indigo Bunting - 1
Butterflies
Long-tailed Skipper - 3
 |
| Long-tailed Skipper |
 |
| Long-tailed Skipper nectaring on Buttonbush |
 |
| Common Checkered-Skipper |
 |
| mating pair of Clouded Skippers |
Ocola Skipper - 2
 |
| Ocola Skipper nectaring on Buttonbush |
 |
| Ocola Skipper on Buttonbush |
Cloudless Sulphur - 1
Monarch - 1
Gulf Fritillary - 1
Some Other Wildlife...
Eastern Fox Squirrel, Nutria
.......................................
After departing Alexandria, I visited three locations in the Kisatchie National Forest Catahoula Ranger District in Grant Parish -- Catahoula Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden, South Tower Road, and Stuart Lake Road. By the time I got to these areas it was hot and bird activity was poor. Most effort was put into finding and ID-ing butterflies, though bird activity on Stuart Lake Rd was fair.
(video: song of Bachman's Sparrow -- cut short as camera ran out of memory! -- Stuart Lake Rd)
Butterfly activity was pretty good in some spots along the roads. I found two Barred Yellows on South Tower Road and added Stuart Lake Road to the list of places where I've found Barred Yellows, with 10 individuals counted, most of those about 0.35 miles south of the turn off to Stuart Lake Rec. Area.
 |
| Barred Yellow in flight, showing black bar on dorsal surface of forewing -- South Tower Rd |
 |
| Barred Yellow nectaring on Diodia -- Stuart Lake Rd |
 |
| Catahoula Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden |
 |
| South Tower Rd |
 |
| Stuart Lake Rd at good butterfly location -- most Barred Yellows were within ~100 yards of this spot |
Catahoula Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden
10:48 a.m.; 39 mins; 0.1 miles
hot, sunny, light breeze
Birds
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 2
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 1
Carolina Wren - 3
Chipping Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2
Butterflies
Long-tailed Skipper - 2
 |
| Long-tailed Skipper nectaring on Lantana |
checkered-skipper sp. - 1
Clouded Skipper - 1
Fiery Skipper - 1
Southern Broken-Dash - 2
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - 2
Spicebush Swallowtail - 4
Palamedes Swallowtail - 2
 |
| Palamedes Swallowtail nectaring on Lantana |
Little Yellow - 3
Red-banded Hairstreak - 1
Gulf Fritillary - 3
Common Buckeye - 4
 |
| Common Buckeye nectaring on Lantana |
Some Other Wildlife...
Green Anole
....................
South Tower Road
11:29 a.m.; 39 mins; 0.8 miles
~90 F.; sunny; light breeze
Birds
American Kestrel - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 1
Carolina Wren - 5
Brown Thrasher - 1
Northern Cardinal - 1
Butterflies
Long-tailed Skipper - 1
Tropical Checkered-Skipper - 1
checkered-skipper sp. - 2
Fiery Skipper - 1
 |
| Fiery Skipper |
Pipevine Swallowtail - 1
Palamedes Swallowtail - 1
Cloudless Sulphur - 6
Barred Yellow - 2
Little Yellow - 28
Sleepy Orange - 1
Gray Hairstreak - 1
 |
| Gray Hairstreak |
Pearl Crescent - 1
Common Buckeye - 1
Some Other Wildlife...
White-tailed Deer
...................................
Stuart Lake Road
12:14 p.m.; 1 hrs 19 mins; 3.0 miles
93-94 F.; sunny/mixed sky; light breeze
Birds
Turkey Vulture - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
White-eyed Vireo - 4
American Crow - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 1
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Carolina Wren - 5
Bachman's Sparrow - 2 - one was singing for a little while
Hooded Warbler - 1
Pine Warbler - 2 - one sang
Northern Cardinal - 2
Indigo Bunting - 1
Butterflies
Hoary Edge - 1
Tropical Checkered-Skipper - 1
checkered-skipper sp. - 7
Whirlabout - 1
 |
| Whirlabout on Liatris |
Spicebush Swallowtail - 4
Palamedes Swallowtail - 1 or 2
Pipevine Swallowtail - 2
Cloudless Sulphur - 10
Barred Yellow - 10
Little Yellow - 26
Gray Hairstreak - 1
Gulf Fritillary - 1
'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple - 1
Pearl Crescent - 4
Goatweed Leafwing - 1
 |
| Goatweed Leafwing on side of pine tree |
As always, if you spot any incorrect IDs or have suggestions for those that I'm not sure about, feel free to let me know.
 |
| Orange Milkweed -- Stuart Lake Rd |
No comments:
Post a Comment