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| Enterprise BBS stop 5 - Catahoula Church Rd. . |
Related Posts
- BBS 2021:
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A USGS Breeding Bird Survey route consists of 50 stops at half-mile intervals along a fixed route. Birds are counted during a three-minute window at each stop, and only those go on the BBS report. The route is run close to the same date each year, the same exact stops surveyed each year, building up a picture of bird population fluctuations/trends over the years/decades. In addition to those birds that make it onto the official report, I also keep separate lists of all other birds detected while running the route. The lists I give below for each of my three routes are of all birds that I detected while running the route this year, not just those at the official stops.
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Trout BBS Route
The Trout BBS Route runs roughly northeast-to-southwest through the often hilly uplands of central La Salle Parish, beginning at the junction of LA-503 and LA-126. From here, it follows LA-503 southwest, eventually going though the Summerville community, from where it then follows Zimmer Creek Road, going south to US-84 at Searcy. The route has a detour here, going east, and picks back up at the junction of US-84 and LA-772 in Trout. From here it follows LA-772 south to LA-8, and LA-8 east to Appleby Road near Midway. The route then returns to the backroads, following parts of Appleby, Tingle, Hangar, Emma, and Firetower Roads, before coming out onto the Nebo-Belah Road in the Belah-Fellowship community. The route heads south, passing into the pine-plantation-and-oil-well country south of the main inhabited areas, ending on Nebo-Belah Road partway between the namesake communities.
Habitat Shots:
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| stop 3 - LA-503 |
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| stop 7 |
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| stop 8 - LA-503 |
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| stop 9 - LA-503 |
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| stop 18 near junction of LA-503 and 127 in Summerville |
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| stop 19 - Zimmer Creek Rd. |
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| stop 20 - Zimmer Creek Rd. |
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| stop 21 - ZC Rd. |
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| stop 22 - ZC Rd. |
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| stop 23 - ZC Rd. |
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| stop 26 - ZC Rd. |
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| stop 28 - beside south end of ZC Rd. and US-84 |
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| stop 29 - junct. US-84 and LA-778 in Trout |
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| stop 30 - LA-778 beside county club |
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| stop 33 - LA-778 near LA-8 |
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| stop 35 - Appleby Road at LA-8 |
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| stop 37 |
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| stop 43 - Emma Road |
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| stop 48 - Nebo-Belah Rd. |
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| looking back at stop 50 (bottom of hill) - Nebo-Belah Rd. |
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Trout BBS Route
5/28/22
5:35am-10:21am
57F.-76F.; clear sky; wind calm for a good while, then SE breeze up to ~2-3 Beaufort.
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 1
Mourning Dove - 46
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 16
Chuck-will's-widow - 4
(video: stop 5 birdsong - in addition to the Chuck, there's Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, White-eyed Vireo, Mourning Dove ...)
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Chimney Swift - 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1
Great Egret - 1
Green Heron - 1
Cattle Egret - 4
Black Vulture - 3
Turkey Vulture - 9
Mississippi Kite - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Buteo sp. (probably Red-shouldered) - 1
Red-headed Woodpecker - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 21
Downy Woodpecker - 9
Northern Flicker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 12
Acadian Flycatcher - 4
Great Crested Flycatcher - 10
Eastern Kingbird - 13
White-eyed Vireo - 56
Yellow-throated Vireo - 1
Red-eyed Vireo - 13
Blue Jay - 26
American Crow - 57
Carolina Chickadee - 24
Tufted Titmouse - 10
Purple Martin - 7
Barn Swallow - 6
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 21
Carolina Wren - 62
European Starling - 2
Brown Thrasher - 3
Northern Mockingbird - 22
Eastern Bluebird - 4
Wood Thrush - 13
Chipping Sparrow - 10
Eastern Towhee - 15
Yellow-breasted Chat - 47
Orchard Oriole - 14
Brown-headed Cowbird - 20
Common Grackle - 1
Worm-eating Warbler - 6
Louisiana Waterthrush - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 2
Swainson's Warbler - 3
Kentucky Warbler - 3
Common Yellowthroat - 9
Hooded Warbler - 39
Northern Parula - 4
Pine Warbler - 25
Prairie Warbler - 22
Summer Tanager - 11
Northern Cardinal - 85
Blue Grosbeak - 7
Indigo Bunting - 42
Painted Bunting - 2
passerine sp. - 15
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(birdsong video, stop 4 - Yellow-breasted Chat, Carolina Wren, White-eyed Vireo, Indigo Bunting; 2 Chuck-will's-widows were singing here too, but I can't really hear them in the video recording)
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(video: stop 22 - songs of Northern Cardinal, Prairie Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo Bunting, White-eyed Vireo)
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Enterprise BBS Route
The Enterprise BBS Route runs roughly north-to-south though parts of northern and central Catahoula Parish. The route begins at the junction of LA-124 and Catahoula Church Road just south of the Ouachita River, between the Duty Ferry and the community of Enterprise. It follows Catahoula Church Road south, immediately rising into the hills. It turns east on Old Columbia Road, passes into the Chalk Hills, and continues on a series of gravel backroads, going south to Posey-Webb Camp Highway (actually a narrow parish blacktop). The route follows P-W C Hwy west to Posey-Webb Camp Road, and P-W C Rd. south to LA-126 near the Manifest community. The route then follows LA-126 south to LA-8, then east to take LA-126 where it turns south off LA-8, enters floodplain terrain, and passes through the Bushley Bayou Unit of Catahoula NWR. The route turns south onto LA-923 in the Sandy Lake community, and after a few miles ends in an ag. fields about a half-mile north of where the highway turns into a parish road at the north bank of Little River.
Habitat Shots:
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| stop 2 - Catahoula Church Road |
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| stop 3 - Catahoula Church Rd. |
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| looking back from stop 5 - Catahoula Church Rd. |
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| stop 6 - C.C. Rd. |
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| stop 8 - C.C. Rd. just south of Haggerty Creek - two American Redstarts were singing here |
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| stop 9 - small cow pasture just past cluster of houses on Old Columbia Road |
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| stop 10 - Old Columbia Rd. |
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| stop 11 - just south of Sugar Creek; another Am. Redstart spot |
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| in the Chalk Hills, between stops 12 and 13 |
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| stop 14 |
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| stop 17 |
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| stop 18 - looking back, just south of an upper branch of Rawson Creek - another Am. Redstart spot |
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| stop 21 |
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| stop 24 |
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| stop 26 - the split of Posey-Webb Camp Hwy and Posey-Webb Camp Rd. |
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| stop 28 or 29 - P-W Camp Rd. |
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| LA-126 - stop |
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| LA-8 |
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| LA-126 |
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| ditto |
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| stop beside LA-126 Bushley Bayou bridge |
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| stop beside LA-126, Sandy Lake community |
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| LA-923 - stop 49 50 |
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(birdsong video at stop 7, Catahoula Church Rd. - Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Red-eyed Vireo, Hooded Warbler Northern Parula, Black-and-white Warbler, White-eyed Vireo, )
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The first third or so of the Enterprise route is one of the few places out of the many areas that I regularly bird here in Cenla where it's typical that I find American Redstarts during breeding season. Though common during migration, I don't find this species to be a vey common breeder in Cenla in general. However, there are some particular areas where I've come to expect them, and this part of the Enterprise route is at the top of that list. I detected 7 on the route this year. They're most often detected singing in or near the creek bottoms that crisscross the hilly terrain through which this part of the route passes, especially in thick secondgrowth areas interspersed with tall mature deciduous trees, or sometimes in, or at the edge of, the older creek bottom woods themselves, where such habitat still exists. One detail I've noticed about locations with Redstarts here is that there is often a good deal of Muscadine or other wild grape vines draped on the trees. Perhaps this provides the kind of cover the birds like.
(American Redstart singing at stop 8 - also Northern Parula, White-eyed Vireo, Wood Thrush, )
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Enterprise BBS Route
5/29/22
5:31am-10:17am
61F.- 82F.; clear sky; wind calm for some time, then picking up to ~2-3 Beaufort for later part of survey
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 2
Mourning Dove - 32
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 24
Chuck-will's-widow - 2
(video: song of Chuck-will's-widow - stop 4)
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Chimney Swift - 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 2
Great Egret - 1
Snowy Egret - 3
Little Blue Heron - 1
Cattle Egret - 19
Black Vulture - 2
Turkey Vulture - 6
Mississippi Kite - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 6
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Buteo sp. -1 (possibly Broad-winged Hawk)
Barred Owl - 1
Red-headed Woodpecker - 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 18
Downy Woodpecker - 7
Pileated Woodpecker - 8
Northern Flicker - 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 4
Acadian Flycatcher - 21
Great Crested Flycatcher - 8
Eastern Kingbird - 3
White-eyed Vireo - 43
Red-eyed Vireo - 32
Blue Jay - 19
American Crow - 41
Carolina Chickadee - 12
Tufted Titmouse - 25
Purple Martin - 1
Barn Swallow - 9
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 28
Carolina Wren - 52
European Starling - 16
Gray Catbird - 1
Brown Thrasher - 2
Northern Mockingbird - 12
Eastern Bluebird - 5
Wood Thrush - 13
Eastern Towhee - 10
Yellow-breasted Chat - 40
Eastern Meadowlark - 1
Orchard Oriole - 5
Red-winged Blackbird - 7
Brown-headed Cowbird - 21
Common Grackle - 4
Worm-eating Warbler - 12
(video: song of Worm-eating Warbler at stop 13 - also Northern Cardinal, Yellow-breasted Chat, Carolina Wren)
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Louisiana Waterthrush - 3
Black-and-white Warbler - 5
Prothonotary Warbler - 14
Swainson's Warbler - 1
Kentucky Warbler - 8
Common Yellowthroat - 4
Hooded Warbler - 38
American Redstart - 7
(video: song of American Redstart at stop 18 - also )
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Northern Parula - 18
Pine Warbler - 6
Prairie Warbler - 11
Summer Tanager - 14
Northern Cardinal - 80
Blue Grosbeak - 7
Indigo Bunting - 35
Painted Bunting - 2
passerine sp. - 20
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Frogmore BBS Route
The Frogmore BBS Route runs roughly north-south through northern and east-central Concordia Parish. The route begins at the north end of Bob Rife Road at LA-566, just south of the Tensas River between Clayton and the community of Dunbarton. The route follows LA-566 west to Dunbarton, and south down LA-566 to US-84 at Frogmore. The next few stops are west along US-84. The route then turns south on LA-129, then west on Ames Road. The next few stops are on Ames Road, then south down Gallup Road to LA-565. The last couple of stops are south of LA-565 on Deadning Road in the Lismore community.
The Frogmore route basically lies in the alluvial plain of the Tensas and Black Rivers. The terrain is largely flat. The habitat is dominated by agricultural fields (corn, cotton, soybean, some small areas with wheat some years, but wheat had already been harvested and stubble burned this time), with areas of bottomland hardwood forest, swampy areas, brush/secondgrowth. There are a number of small bayous, sloughs, and small lakes in the vicinity of the route or which the route crosses. There are also rural residential areas and small pastures, and stops near farm buildings, a cotton gin, and a tractor dealership.
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| stop 1 |
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| stop 2 |
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| stop 6(?) - heading west on LA-566 |
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| stop 9 - heading south on LA-566 at Dunbarton Church |
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| stop 12 |
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| stop 14 |
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| stop 18 (17?) |
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| stop 20 |
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| stop 22 |
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| stop 22 or 23 |
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| stop 27 - US-84 at Frogmore |
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| stop 29 - Stacy |
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| stop 30 - LA-129 south |
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| stop - 31 |
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| stop 36 - Ames Road |
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| Ames Road - stop 37 |
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| stop 37 |
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| Ames Rd. - stop 38 |
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| stop 41 - Ames Rd. |
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| stop 46 - Gallup Rd. |
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| Deadning Road |
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Surprisingly, I detected no Hooded Warblers on the route this year (usually pick up a small number around Ames Rd. and such places). I didn't hear or see Dickcissels in the usual area along LA-566 around stops 12 and 13, but I did find them in another spot further south along that highway (stop 20). Note that Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is not on the list. Many years they aren't detected along this route (most recent was 1 in 2018). It seems very odd for a bird that is so common in this region to be totally absent from a BBS that includes sizable areas of appropriate/acceptable habitat.
There were a lot of flyover waterbirds at LA-129 around stops 33-34 (especially 34). The birds--herons, egrets, ibises, cormorants, Anhingas--were passing NW-SE or SE-NW. I typically see a good many waterbird flyovers in this general area during the BBS. If one looks at a satellite map of the part of Concordia Parish around LA-129 a couple of miles south of US-84, one can see that there are what appear to be some swampy/wooded lakes a half-mile or so west and northwest of these stops, and some watery areas (including what look to be shallow water impoundments) maybe a couple of miles to the southeast. Makes sense that the birds would be passing between these two areas; perhaps there's even a rookery in the woody/swampy lake location, if not both areas.
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Frogmore BBS Route
6/10/22
5:31am-10:30am (ended BBS at 10:23)
75-82F.; sky mixed/variable, ranging from overcast to hazy-sunny; wind 0-2 Beaufort with occasional gusts
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - 1
Rock Pigeon - 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 4
Mourning Dove - 49
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 24
Chimney Swift - 14
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 2
Killdeer - 5
Anhinga - 6
Neotropic Cormorant - 4
Great Blue Heron - 8
Great Egret - 30
Snowy Egret - 4
Little Blue Heron - 46
Tricolored Heron - 1
Cattle Egret - 41
white egret sp. - 19
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 2
White Ibis - 23
Black Vulture - 4
Turkey Vulture - 13
Mississippi Kite - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Great Horned Owl - 2 (calling at stop 3)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 22
Downy Woodpecker - 8
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Acadian Flycatcher - 13
Great Crested Flycatcher - 9
Eastern Kingbird - 2
White-eyed Vireo - 11
Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Loggerhead Shrike - 2
Blue Jay - 30
American Crow - 24
Carolina Chickadee - 5
Tufted Titmouse - 18
Horned Lark - 2 (singing at stop 18)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 5
Purple Martin - 1
Barn Swallow - 26
Cliff Swallow - 32
swallow sp. - 4
Carolina Wren - 44
European Starling - 28
Brown Thrasher - 4
Northern Mockingbird - 18
Eastern Bluebird - 4
Wood Thrush - 7
House Sparrow - 9
Eastern Towhee - 12
Yellow-breasted Chat - 12
Orchard Oriole - 4
Baltimore Oriole - 1
Red-winged Blackbird - 95
Brown-headed Cowbird - 38
Common Grackle - 13
blackbird sp. - 6
Prothonotary Warbler - 17
Swainson's Warbler - 3
(video: song of Swainson's Warbler at stop 36, Ames Rd. - also Wood Thrush, White-eyed Vireo, Eastern Towhee, Acadian Flycatcher, Tufted Titmouse)
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Northern Parula - 4
Summer Tanager - 14
Northern Cardinal - 66
Blue Grosbeak - 9
(video: male Blue Grosbeak singing at stop 12 or 13)
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Indigo Bunting - 72
Painted Bunting - 20
Dickcissel - 2
(video: song of Dickcissel - stop 20)
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passerine sp. - 9
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