the flood-swollen Ouachita River and the forested hills beyond |
and http://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/03/catahoula-nwr-january-february-and.html
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I was itching to return to Sicily Island Hills, but a look at the weather forecast for my best day to get away to the woods -- March 27 -- showed windy conditions. Not Good! It would be a wasted effort, I figured, to try for some serious birding and butterflying time in the field. But, dang it, I really wanted to get out to some place woodsy.
So, on 3/27 I decided to ride out to Catahoula NWR HQ Unit to see what the situation was concerning high water and closed roads. The whole refuge loop beyond the entrance area was closed, as I had assumed it would be.
Catahoula NWR HQ Unit |
Brown Thrasher putting on a show at Little River Rec. Area |
I stopped at a church parking lot a little ways SW of Jonesville |
This location is a small park and boat launch on the north side of Little River, accessed from LA-3264, just after turning east off of LA-124. This is immediately across the LA-124 Little River bridge from Jonesville. It's a neat little spot and provided some solid birding. I got my FOS Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, and Purple Martin were also present. This turned out to be a good day to watching the sky for raptors; that started at this location with Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks and continued on through the next two locations.
By this time I was toying with going to Sicily Island Hills after all. I'd take a ride up to Harrisonburg Landing Recreation Area, bird around that spot, and see what happens. H-burg Rec. Area is situated at the NW end of LA-922, on the east bank of the Ouachita River across from Harrisonburg. This was my second recent visit to this location, which I've taken a liking to. It may provide good opportunities for finding migrants as the spring migration season progresses. On this day I got my FOS Eastern Kingbird and Broad-winged Hawk at this location, as well as additional Northern Rough-winged Swallows. Ok, this was shaping up to be a good day to bird and I was close to The Hills by this point... what the heck, let's spend some time over there after all.
At Sicily Island Hills, I traveled the length of the south entrance road, accessed from LA-8, taking my time, driving slow, making frequent stops and short walks. I also walked the length of the maintained section of the primitive campground road (I estimate 0.5 miles) and a roughly 0.5 miles section of the Rock Falls Trail.
Rock Falls |
crawfish (I wish I knew what species) -- Rock Creek |
Catahoula NWR HQ Unit:
3/27/2018
8:35 am - 23 minutes
0.2 miles
73 degrees F., cloudy, light breeze
Birds:
Great Blue Heron - 1
Great Egret - 3
Little Blue Heron - 11 - FOS
Green Heron - 1
Black Vulture - 3
Turkey Vulture - 2
Mourning Dove - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
White-eyed Vireo - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Carolina Wren - 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Northern Parula - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 2
Chipping Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 3
Northern Cardinal - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 2
Brown-headed Cowbird - 3
Common Grackle - 11
Little River Recreation Area:
9:01 am - 48 minutes
~5 acres
73 degrees F., variable sky, breezy, water very high
habitat shots:
... |
... |
Birds:
Great Blue Heron - 2
Great Egret - 2
Snowy Egret - 5
Little Blue Heron - 7
Turkey Vulture - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 1
crow sp. - 1
Cliff Swallow - 4
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Carolina Wren - 3
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Brown Thrasher - 1 - video below
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Cedar Waxwing - 16
Savannah Sparrow - 7
Savannah Sparrows |
Savannah Sparrow |
Northern Cardinal - 4
Red-winged Blackbird - 3
Brown-headed Cowbird - 4
Common Grackle - 8
Additional spp. along Hwy 84, and a short section on LA-3037, included...
Double-crested Cormorant, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Loggerhead Shrike
Eurasian Collared-Dove |
Jonesville Landing Recreation Area:
10:17 am - 40 minutes
~2 acres
75 degrees F., sky cloudy/variable, breezy, Little River very high
habitat shots:
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... |
Great Egret - 2
Little Blue Heron - 2
Turkey Vulture - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Killdeer - 1
Chimney Swift - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 1 - FOS
Northern Rough-winged Swallow |
Barn Swallow - 3
Barn Swallow |
swallow sp. - ~15
Carolina Chickadee - 1
House Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 1
American Robin - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Northern Mockingbird |
Cedar Waxwing - 10
Northern Cardinal - 3
Red-winged Blackbird - 3
Brown-headed Cowbird - 2
blackbird sp. - 1
sp. along LA-124 and LA-8 included...
Eurasian Collared Dove, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow,....
Harrisonburg Landing Recreation Area:
11:14 am - 48 minutes
~5 acres
74 degress, sky mixed cloud and sun, breezy, Ouachita River very high
habitat shots:
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... |
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... |
Turkey Vulture - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 1 - FOS
Broad-winged Hawk |
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Northern Flicker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Eastern Kingbird - 1 - FOS
White-eyed Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallows perched in a little Sycamore out in the flood waters |
Northern Rough-winged Swallows |
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Tufted Titmouse - 1
House Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3
Eastern Bluebird - 2
American Robin - 2
Northern Mockingbird - 4
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 11
Song Sparrow - 1
Eastern Towhee - 1
Northern Cardinal - 9
Red-winged Blackbird - 30
Brown-headed Cowbird - 4
Sicily Island Hills:
12:09 pm - 5 hours, 27 minutes
5.5 miles (4.2 by vehicle; )
76 - 79 degrees F., sky varying degrees of cloud and sun, moderately windy
habitat shots:
woods along the primitive campground road |
down the main road |
Rock Falls Trail |
Rock Creek |
back on the road |
Water from the flooded Ouachita River was backed up into the valley of Big Creek, the main stream that flows through the center of S.I. Hills. |
Birds:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Bald Eagle - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 2
2 Broad-winged Hawks |
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 4
White-eyed Vireo - 7
Yellow-throated Vireo - 2
Red-eyed Vireo - 4
American Crow - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 8
Tufted Titmouse - 25
Carolina Wren - 12
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 16
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 7
Hermit Thrush - 2
Louisiana Waterthrush - 1 -- Singing in video below; ends with Hooded Warbler singing. This is at junction of Rock Creek and a tributary, upstream from the falls. This waterthrush seemed to be patrolling territory along the stream, both upstream and downstream of the falls.
Hooded Warbler - 19
Northern Parula - 16
Pine Warbler - 22
White-throated Sparrow - 5
White-throated Sparrow |
Eastern Towhee - 1
Northern Cardinal - 4
Sicily Island Hills Butterflies:
duskywing sp. (Juvenal's and/or Horace's) - 10
duskywing |
Common/White Checkered-Skipper |
Pepper and Salt Skipper |
Pepper and Salt Skipper - wings open |
Pepper and Salt Skipper |
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - 7
Spicebush Swallowtail - 9
Giant Swallowtail - 5
Southern Dogface - 2 - pink-washed "raspberry lemonade" winter form
Southern Dogface nectaring on Phlox |
Who's a good boy?! |
Red-banded Hairstreak |
Monarch |
Red Admiral - 1
Red Admiral |
Pearl Crescents |
Pearl Crescent |
Goatweed Leafwing - 26
Goatweed Leafwing |
Gemmed Satyr |
Carolina Satyr |
Moths:
Desmia funeralis/maculalis --
Desmia sp. |
Odonata:
(**I'm no kind of expert, and have very limited experience w/ Odes -- but I'm learning! -- so there could certainly be errors in the i.d.s. Consider them tentative. Feel free to correct errors in the comments section.**)
Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) --
Ebony Jewelwing |
Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia) --
female-type Common Whitetail |
maybe a Common Baskettail or a Slender Baskettail? |
clubtail sp. |
clubtail sp., same individual as above image |
Common Green Darner (Anax junius) --
darner sp./spp. --
red saddlebags sp. (Tramea?) --
...among others....
Herps:
I neglected to write down frogs heard, but I do recall Cope's Gray Treefrog and there were probably others of the expected species.
Green Anole - 1 seen running across road; i.d.ed once settled onto sapling trunk.
Little Brown Skink - ~5 or 6
Common Five-lined Skink - 1
Eastern Box Turtle shell |
Wildflowers:
(**Keep in mind that I'm no kind of expert and that the i.d.s I've assigned to the plants shown below are only the best efforts of an amateur with limited experience. Feel free to correct any misidentified plants in the comment section.**)
Green Antelopehorn Milkweed (Asclepias viridis) --
Green Antelopehorn |
Green Antelopehorn |
Green Antelopehorn flower close-up |
violet sp. |
False Garlic |
?Fleabane (Erigeron sp.)? -- I think that's what you call the daisy-like flowers that the Pearl Crescents and Pepper and Salt Skipper are shown nectaring on in their photos.
Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica) aka Woodland Pinkroot --
Indian Pink |
... |
... |
Indian Pink |
Indian Pink |
Wakerobin sp. (Trillium) --
wakerobin |
Blue-eyed Grass |
Crossvine (yellow-and-red) and presumed dogwood sp. (white) |
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) --
Flowering Dogwood |
Parsleyleaf Hawthorn |
Lyreleaf Sage |
Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) --
Red Buckeye |
Snowbells |
Snowbells |
So, from the flooded, wrecked low places, through twists and turns, up to the exhilarating wild high ground of some of the most interesting woods around; it turned out to be a great day in the field. Sometimes, whether you are or aren't planning to go (or, in some ways, both), it's worthwhile to just follow your feet, so to speak, and see where the path takes you.
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