La Salle Parish -- May and July, 2015

I had to delay completing this blog entry, but I finally got around to it. Better late than never! Also, as stated on some previous posts, I am still a novice at wildflower and Lepidoptera identification, so there could be mistakes in those i.d.'s. Will correct any that I uncover as I go along, though I tried to only feature those I was certain about in this blog entry. Enjoy!
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Snyder Road, 5/28/15

The ever camera-shy Swainson's Warbler -- a common spring and summer resident in the woods along Snyder Road.

Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta),
 Snyder Road south of Trout Creek, La Salle Parish

  After birding the butterfly garden in Kisatchie National Forest in Grant Parish, Tom Pollock, Katy Richard, John Romano, and I rode over to the Eden community in La Salle Parish to bird Snyder Road. Specifically, John and Katy were hoping to find Swainson's, Kentucky, Worm-eating, and Prairie Warblers and the woods along Snyder Road are excellent for these species.
   We heard and briefly saw one of the pair of Swainson's Warblers that inhabit a territory between the south end of the road and Trout Creek. More individuals of the species were heard along Snyder Rd.
   Butterflies were present in good numbers and variety, with lots of 'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purples on the wet gravel road, a number of 'duskywing' -type butterflies (including Horace's Duskywing), a Sachem, a Pearl Crescent, a Question Mark, and a few powdery-blue, delicate-looking little Summer Azures.

Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos), Snyder Road near Trout Creek, La Salle Parish.

Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes),
 Snyder Road near Trout Creek, La Salle Parish

There was a Giant Swallowtail and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, as well as what looked to be either a Pipevine or Spicebush Swallowtail which I simply didn't see very clearly.

   It was, as is usual at that time of year, 'birdy' along Snyder, with Hooded, Worm-eating, Prairie, and Kentucky Warblers (in addition to the previously mentioned Swainson's), Red-eyed Vireo, Acadian Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, just to name a few species. A pair of Painted Buntings were at the south end of the road when we returned to Highway 8 to leave.

Winecup/Poppy-Mallow, Snyder Road

female Painted Bunting, Snyder Road x Hwy 8, La Salle Parish

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West-Central La Salle Parish, 7/17/15

Eurasian Collared-Dove, Alonzo Road, La Salle Parish

   On July 17, I made another trip to my favorite local upland summer birding spot, Snyder Road. Unfortunately, I didn't find conditions to be what I expected. Log trucks were using the narrow dusty road (apparently there was logging going on some where further north along the road -- I entered from the south) and I soon decided to cut my losses and try to salvage the morning with a trip to some other birding location nearby.
   I settled on the roads southwest of the Belah-Fellowship community, specifically Goulde and Hurricane Creek Road. I was mostly hoping to see Greater Roadrunner there, as I sometimes have in past years.

hilly pine-land habitat along Hurricane Creek Road in central La Salle Parish

singing male Blue Grosbeak, Goulde Road x Brooks Road

   On the way there I encountered a couple of Eurasian Collared-Doves by Alonzo Road in the Belah area.
   Once on Goulde and Hurricane Creek Roads, I found a number of wildflower species in bloom, including Meadow-beauty (Rhexia), tickseed species (Coreopsis), and Multibloom Tephrosia in the drier, more exposed hilly areas; and Butterfly Pea (Centrosema virginianum), Solanum and Ludwigia species in damper areas along woodland edges near/west of Hurricane Creek.

Meadow-Beauty growing along Goulde Road

Butterfly Pea (Centrosema virginianum), Hurricane Creek Road

  No roadrunners were encountered, but common birds of the typical pineland/upland habitats -- birds such as Eastern Bluebird in open areas, Blue Grosbeak in the brushy cutovers, White-eyed Vireo in denser cover, Wood Thrush and Pine Warbler in among older trees -- were encountered. A juvenile Hooded Warbler paused long enough to allow me to get a photo.


Hooded Warbler, Hurricane Creek Road, La Salle Parish

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Green Heron, HQ Unit of C NWR

Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge, 7/18/15

   I had largely neglected visiting Catahoula NWR so far this summer, so a visit to my 'weekly' birding spot -- the Headquarters Unit of the refuge -- was long overdue. Water was still high in the Catahoula Lake system, so there was no exposed shoreline area on Duck Lake to attract larger numbers of wading birds or the odd early southbound shorebird. The grassy road margins had been mowed recently, so practically no wildflowers or the variety of butterflies they would have attracted, but there was still birds and other wildlife around to be appreciated.

Green Heron, HQ Unit Catahoula NWR

   Indigo and Painted Buntings are always abundant here during summer, and who doesn't like a colorful bird with a lively song? A comical moment was watching a Green Heron, perched in a cypress tree, bobbing and weaving obviously flustered by -- and trying to avoid -- some unseen nuisance. Wasps. The heron eventually tired of this and flew to a more peaceful perch.
   Besides birds, there were interesting reptiles about. A Red-bellied Mudsnake was seen crossing the road by Cowpen Bayou. These boldly colorful snakes are, for me, one of the more attractive reptile species found in our area. I also got a few photos of a young American Alligator.

Red-bellied Mudsnake by Cowpen Bayou, Catahoula NWR Headquarters Unit

Marshmallow Hibiscus, Catahoula NWR Willow Lake Unit

  After leaving the Headquarters Unit, I decided to visit the Willow lake Unit which had been inaccessible due to water over the road the last time I tried to go there. Luckily, the water levels were down enough for the area to be reopened.

   The 'fish watching' was good at the little culvert just inside the refuge. Several gar (with Spotted Gar and Longnose Gar represented) were gathered at the downstream end watching for anything edible that the current might bring their way.

Spotted Gar, Willow Lake Unit of Catahoula NWR

   Topminnows schooled at the surface while schools of Golden Shiners and possibly other shiner/minnow Cyprinids passed by below the surface. A small sunfish or two of some species were glimpsed and a school of the ubiquitous, tiny, Mosquitofish hung out in the safety of the shallow, sheltered water against the shore.

Blackstripe Topminnows and Golden Shiners, Willow Lake Unit of Catahoula NWR

Southern Dogface, Catahoula NWR Willow Lake Unit

   Butterflies were present in decent numbers, especially in the meadow-like area where there was a variety of wildflowers to nectar on. Some butterfly species recorded were Question Mark, Gulf Fritillary, Southern Dogface, 'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple, and Silver-spotted Skipper. The  Q-Mark and Skippers were found on wet parts of the road near water.
   Wildflowers blooming during this visit included Marshmallow Hibiscus, Canada Germander, and Swamp Leatherflower, among others.
   And of course there were the birds ... Hearing Hooded Warbler singing at one of the places where I have heard them in the spring was nice. It seems almost confirmation that this woodland species does indeed breed at this location now, marking that the WRP second-growth is reaching an important milestone in the process of returning the land to it's natural hardwood forest.
   My FOS Wood Storks were seen -- two flying high over the meadow. Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo and Painted Bunting, and Blue Grosbeak were singing, but disappointingly, I neither saw nor heard any of the Prairie Warblers that are usually present during spring and summer.

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   Upcoming posts will include some that go into more detail on this spring-and-summer's butterfly and wildflower observations, respectively. I've been putting off  doing similar posts for a time now while I tried to confirm the identity of some species I've encountered during this spring/summer. I had initially planned on doing a butterfly post and a wildflower post for spring through early summer, then a pair of separate posts for late summer, but will now do complete spring-summer combined and post them around the end of August. ...Learning those tricky, tricky flowers and butterflies!