Central Louisiana Birding & Wildlife

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Catahoula NWR - January, February, and early March, 2018

Catahoula NWR Willow Lake Unit - 1/4/2018

Related Posts: http://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/04/hills-and-high-water-catahoula-parish.html
and http://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2017/12/catahoula-nwr-december-2017.html
and http://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2017/12/catahoula-nwr-autumn-2017.html
and http://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2017/09/catahoula-nwr-spring-summer-2017.html
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The water was high and still rising on my last visit to Catahoula NWR Headquarters Unit, which was on March 9 (similar conditions on March 6). Only about 1.5 miles of the 9-mile refuge loop was still open, and the water was up to the road in places, so it might all be closed by this point. Willow Lake Unit was clearly flooded, as seen from US-84, and entrances to Bushley Bayou Unit were closed. I've not been by French Fork Unit since the water got high. As of ~ March 19 - 20 both Catahoula Lake and Black River are supposed to be cresting. So, while we wait for the water to drop and allow us to pass once again, lets look back on the past two-and-a-half months of observations from the refuge.
First: some habitat shots, and shots showing the icy conditions in January and the high water in March.

Willow Lake Unit -- 1/4, La Salle Parish

Willow Lake nearly iced over -- 1/4, La Salle Parish

ice on cypress knees -- Willow Lake Unit, La Salle Parish, 1/4

Willow Lake Unit -- 1/4, La Salle Parish

ponds on Willow Lake Unit -- 1/4, La Salle Parish

Headquarters Unit -- La Salle Parish, 1/15

French Fork Unit (Muddy Bayou entrance off LA-28) -- 1/27, La Salle Parish

Minnow Ponds Road on Bushley Bayou Unit -- 2/4, Catahoula Parish

impoundments near Minnow Ponds Road on Bushley Bayou Unit -- 2/4, Catahoula Parish

north end of Duck Lake on Headquarters Unit -- 2/12, La Salle Parish

very low water in Cowpen Bayou -- 2/12, La Salle Parish (that water thing'll change soon enough)

HQ Unit -- 2/12, La Salle Parish

impoundments near Minnow Ponds Road on Bushley Bayou Unit -- 2/16, Catahoula Parish

one of the forks of Flat Creek at Minnow Ponds Trail on Bushley Bayou Unit -- 2/16, Catahoula Parish

Green's Creek at Dry Bayou Road on Bushley Bayou Unit -- 2/16, Catahoula Parish

a swampy thicket near Dry Bayou Rd on Bushley Bayou Unit -- 2/16, Catahoula Parish. This was a very bird-y spot, with Fox Sparrows, Winter Wrens, Brown Thrashers, Hermit Thrushes, kinglets, gnatcatchers, Pine Warblers...

Catahoula NWR HQ Unit entrance area -- 3/6, along the La Salle - Catahoula Parish line. This is a popular hangout for grackles, robins, juncos...

water's rising -- refuge loop along La Salle - Catahoula Parish line on HQ Unit, 3/6

HQ Unit -- same as above

HQ Unit -- 3/6, La Salle Parish

Compare this next image, taken on February 12, with the one that follows it, taken at same location on March 9:

refuge loop along La Salle - Catahoula Parish line -- HQ Unit, 2/12

refuge loop along La Salle - Catahoula Parish line -- HQ Unit, March 9

Below are lists for Birds, Herps, Mammals, and Butterflies. Each list is a composite list of species recorded during 10 visits to the refuge during this period. These are the dates of my visits to Catahoula NWR during this period:
Willow Lake Unit - 1/4/18; HQ Unit - 1/15/18; HQ Unit - 1/27/18; French Fork Unit - 1/27/18; Bushley Bayou Unit - 2/4/18; HQ Unit - 2/12/18; Bushley Bayou Unit - 2/16/18; HQ Unit - 2/21/18; HQ Unit - 3/6/18; HQ Unit - 3/9/18
The January 27 visits to HQ and Fr Frk Units were part of a Louisiana Ornithological Society field trip. The winter meeting was held in Alexandria this year, and one of the four field trip areas was to Catahoula NWR and adjacent locations. Our five-person group went to HQ Unit, Fr Frk Unit, and to the Catahoula Lake Recreation Area by the spillway. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day and bird activity was very low. Still, it was nice to show folks around this typically very bird-y area.

Birds:

Snow Goose -
Greater White-fronted Goose -
Wood Duck -
Gadwall -
Blue-winged Teal - March 6 and 9
Northern Shoveler - 3/9/18
Mallard -

Mallards -- HQ Unit, 2/12

Northern Pintail -
Green-winged Teal -
Canvasback -

Canvasback -- female, male, female - HQ Unit, 2/21

Canvasbacks -- HQ Unit, 2/21

Ring-necked Duck -
Hooded Merganser - Willow Lake and Bushley Bayou Units

Hooded Mergansers - female, male -- Willow Lake, 1/4

Hooded Mergansers -- Willow Lake, 1/4

duck sp. -
Pied-billed Grebe -
Double-crested Cormorant -
Anhinga -
American White Pelican -

American White Pelican and Double-crested Cormorants -- Willow Lake Unit, 1/4

Great Blue Heron -

Great Blue Heron -- HQ Unit, 1/15

Great Egret -

Great Egrets and Great Blue Heron -- Willow Lake Unit, 1/4

White Ibis -

immature White Ibis -- Willow Lake, 1/4

Black Vulture -
Turkey Vulture -
Osprey -

Osprey -- HQ Unit, 2/12

Bald Eagle -
Red-shouldered Hawk -

Great Blue Heron and a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks -- Willow Lake Unit, 1/4

Red-tailed Hawk -

a pair of Red-tailed Hawks -- Bushley Bayou Unit, 2/4

Killdeer -

Killdeer -- Willow Lake Unit, 1/4

Least Sandpiper -
American Woodcock -
Greater Yellowlegs - 3/9/18 - flooded field adjacent to, and visible from, the refuge
Lesser Yellowlegs - 3/9/18 - ditto
Ring-billed Gull -
Mourning Dove -
Barred Owl -
Belted Kingfisher -
Red-bellied Woodpecker -
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -

male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -- HQ Unit, 1/15

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -- HQ Unit, 3/6

Downy Woodpecker -
Northern Flicker -
Pileated Woodpecker -
American Kestrel -
Eastern Phoebe -
White-eyed Vireo -

White-eyed Vireo -- HQ Unit, 1/15

Blue-headed Vireo -

Blue-headed Vireo -- HQ Unit, 2/12

Blue Jay -
American Crow -
crow sp. -
Purple Martin - FOS was on Bushley Bayou Unit, 2/4/18
Tree Swallow - HQ Unit on 1/27 with LOS group
Carolina Chickadee -

Carolina Chickadee -- HQ Unit, 3/6

Tufted Titmouse -
House Wren -
Winter Wren -
Sedge Wren -

Sedge Wren -- Willow Lake Unit, 1/4

Carolina Wren -
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher -
Golden-crowned Kinglet -
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -
Eastern Bluebird -
Hermit Thrush -
American Robin -

American Robin -- HQ Unit, 3/6

Brown Thrasher -
Northern Mockingbird -
European Starling -

European Starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds -- Bushley Bayou Unit, 2/4

American Pipit -
Cedar Waxwing -

Cedar Waxwing -- HQ Unit, 2/12

Orange-crowned Warbler -
Common Yellowthroat -

Common Yellowthroat -- French Fork Unit, 1/27

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) -
Pine Warbler -
Chipping Sparrow -
Dark-eyed Junco -
Fox Sparrow -

Fox Sparrow -- Bushley Bayou Unit, 2/16

White-throated Sparrow -
Savannah Sparrow -

Savannah Sparrow -- Bushley Bayou Unit, 2/16

Song Sparrow -

Song Sparrow -- HQ Unit, 2/12

Swamp Sparrow -
Eastern Towhee -
Northern Cardinal -
Red-winged Blackbird -
Brown-headed Cowbird -
Rusty/Brewer's Blackbird - birds seen poorly in flight at a distance
Common Grackle -

Common Grackles -- HQ Unit, 3/6

American Goldfinch -

Herps:
Blanchard's Cricket Frog - a few calls heard
Spring Peeper - Abundant - frequently heard
Cajun Chorus Frog - Common - frequently heard
Cope's Gray Treefrog - often heard calling on warmer days
*Green Treefrog - I think I heard one call (kind of early in season to be hearing these)
Green (Bronze) Frog - some heard, some seen
Southern Leopard Frog - Common - heard

American Alligator -

American Alligator -- Bushley Bayou Unit, 2/16

American Alligator -- HQ Unit, 2/21

Little Brown Skink -
Cottonmouth -
Pond Slider -

Mammals:
Eastern Fox Squirrel -
American Beaver -
River Otter -
Northern Raccoon -
Coyote -

Coyote -- Bushley Bayou Unit, 2/16

White-tailed Deer -

Lepidoptera:
(list incomplete)
Black Swallowtail - FOSs on February 21

Black Swallowtail nectaring on Henbit -- HQ Unit, 2/21

Black Swallowtail -- HQ Unit, 2/21

Monarch - FOSs on February 21

Monarch -- HQ Unit, 2/21

Question Mark -

Question Mark feeding on ...chocolate cake -- HQ Unit, 2/21

I'm looking forward to Spring on the refuge, which. Can't wait for the waters to recede!

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Saturday, March 17, 2018

Zimmer Creek Road (La Salle Parish), Fall and Winter 2017-2018

Hermit Thrush - 12/29/2017

   Below are lists from five trips down my Zimmer Creek Road birding route (an upland, piney-woods area northwest of Jena, in La Salle Parish) between late September 2017 and early March 2018. The Sept. 21 list shows some of the summer birds still around, while the March 7 list shows spring beginning to stir with my FOS Louisiana Waterthrush singing on territory, and a pair of Gray Catbirds making noise in likely breeding habitat. In the November, December, and March lists, we get a good sampling of winter species that one would expect in such a location as this.
   The route I birded on each of these visits is a follows: Fount Cutoff Road from LA-127 to Zimmer Creek Road (~0.75 mile) and Zimmer Creek Road from there to south end at US-84 (for a total of 5 miles).
   I'll cover other wildlife and some interesting wildflowers after the bird lists.

September 21, 2017:
8:56 am - 2hrs, 6min
5 miles
77 - 85 degrees F, sunny, near calm to light breeze

Turkey Vulture - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 5
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
White-eyed Vireo - 7
Blue Jay - 12
American Crow - 6
Carolina Chickadee - 4
Tufted Titmouse - 11
Carolina Wren - 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 1
Hooded Warbler - 4 (3 locations; 1 singing, 3 calling)
Pine Warbler - 8 (all singing)
warbler sp. -- possible Swainson's Warbler call and glimpsed (unsatisfactory to clinch i.d.; slightly light date for SWWA as expected sp.)
Northern Cardinal - 8

Sept. 25, 2017 (incidental observations, incomplete list):
2:04 pm
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Blue Jay - 3
American Crow -2
Pine Warbler - 1

November 29, 2017:
10:08 am - 1hr, 46min
5 miles
71 - 73 degrees F., breezy, sky a varying mix of cloud and sun

Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 5
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Mourning Dove - 7

Mourning Doves

Eastern Screech-Owl - 2 (one can be heard in the video below)

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 14
Carolina Chickadee - 8
Tufted Titmouse - 2
House Wren - 4
Carolina Wren - 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 8
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 13
Eastern Bluebird - 3
Cedar Waxwing - 14
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Pine Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 8
Chipping Sparrow - 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 4
Song Sparrow - 5
Swamp Sparrow - 2
Eastern Towhee - 4

female Eastern Towhee - highline south of Zimmer Creek woods

Northern Cardinal - 8
American Goldfinch - 2

December 29, 2017:
9:56 am - 1hr, 58min
5 miles
40 - 43 degrees F.; start sunny, became cloudy; light breeze

Snow Goose - 130 - flyovers
Black Vulture - 3
Turkey Vulture - 5
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 3
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 3
American Crow - 18
crow sp. - 11
Carolina Wren - 5
Tufted Titmouse - 4
Brown Creeper - 1
House Wren - 2
Carolina Wren - 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 5
Eastern Bluebird - 4
Hermit Thrush - 7
Brown Thrasher - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Cedar Waxwing - x (group heard but not seen to be counted)
Pine Warbler - 11 (most were singing)

male Pine Warbler - Fount Cutoff

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 15
Chipping Sparrow - 4
Field Sparrow - 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 6
White-throated Sparrow - 8
Song Sparrow - 8
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1
Swamp Sparrow - 6
Eastern Towhee - 1
Northern Cardinal - 15
American Goldfinch - 3

March 7, 2018:
6:45 am - 3hrs, 5min
5 miles
41 - 47 degrees F., sunny, north wind, moderately windy

Great Blue Heron - 1
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 11
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Mourning Dove - 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Northern Flicker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 6
American Crow - 16
Carolina Chickadee - 9
Tufted Titmouse - 10
House Wren - 2
Carolina Wren - 12
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 9
Eastern Bluebird - 3
Hermit Thrush - 3
American Robin - 2
Gray Catbird - 2

one of the pair of Gray Catbirds from 3/7...

...and its mate

Louisiana Waterthrush - 1 - Likely a very recent arrival, as this date is on the early edge of when this neotropical migrant is expected to appear in the state. This bird was singing by Zimmer Creek, where a pair was present last breeding season.

Louisiana Waterthrush singing

The bird can be seen singing in the videos below. The bird was initially singing in cover on the west side of the road just south of the bridge. I pished a few times and used playback very briefly (did not want to harass it) to see if it would show itself so I could get a photo or at least sing more predictably so I could get some video of the song. The bird came quickly into view, and lingered along the roadside, singing from a couple of perches where I could see and photo/film it clearly. What a treat!

Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Pine Warbler - 10 (9 singing, 1 calling)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 22
Chipping Sparrow - 40
White-throated Sparrow - 16
Song Sparrow - 2
Swamp Sparrow - 4
Eastern Towhee - 2
Northern Cardinal - 19
Common Grackle - 1
American Goldfinch - 2

Others...
From the road I could see Creek Chubs in Zimmer Creek on the September visits. These fish are common in small and medium spring water streams such as this.

what appears to be a Creek Chub - 9/25/2017

Butterflies in September included 'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple and Painted Lady. If I'm not mistaken, the moth pictured below is what's called Epipagis huronalis or Epipagis fenestralis. I don't know of any English common name being applied to this rather common little moth. Hodges # 5147.

tentative i.d.: Epipagis huronalis / E. fenestralis -- 9/21/17

(I'm pretty confident about the plant i.d.s below, but I am an amateur and there's no guarantee they're correct. Corrections are welcomed, just drop a comment.)
There's a lot of wildflowers to be found in the fall. One that I think is among the most attractive and compelling is the Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis). In my experience, they can be tough to find, but I was lucky this past fall, finding them in four locations, two of which were along ZC Rd.

Cardinal Flower - 9/25/2017

Cardinal Flowers on the creek bank -- 9/21/17

A new species for me was the Forked Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum). What an interesting-looking flower. This was growing roadside in a hilly cutover along ZC Rd.

Forked Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum) - 9/21/17

These blue Lobelia were a common sight in upland/piney-woods locations this fall. I first noticed them on the 9/21 trip to ZC Rd.

Lobelia sp. (Lobelia puberula?) -- 9/21/17

Lobelia sp. (L. puberula?) -- 9/21/17

In addition to these plants, many of the usual suspects for piney-woods wildflowers of late summer through fall were noticed along this route. Among them were the plants pictured below: