Central Louisiana Birding & Wildlife: Nature at Jena's Vision Trail -- March & April, 2018

Yellow-rumped Warbler (male) in breeding plumage -- 4/18

   "Jena's Vision Trail" is a paved walking trail, begun a few years ago (more info here http://www.townofjena.com/greatplacesaward.html). In the area of the park and ball fields, it follows and crosses the main and east forks of Hemphill "Hemp's" Creek, around the confluence of the streams. It goes on to wrap around the park complex, follow the north side of Sycamore Street, crosses to the south side of Sycamore to cut through a small but very nice patch of mixed pine-hardwoods beside Mac's grocery store, and then on across US-84 through part of the business district to points beyond. The farthest I've walked it south of US-84 is to the creek beside Ace Hardware (one can start to smell the sewage treatment facility from there, so that's my stopping point!). There's a spur that branches off in the aforementioned woodlot to connect with Third Street/downtown.
   Planned continuations to the trail would allow for folks to walk from the park to as far as Walmart and back.
   This spring I've taken several birding walks down the trail; distances between ~ 0.5 miles and ~ 1.5 miles, and always starting from the parking lot at Austin Rd, and on a couple of them I added the adjacent walking track to my route. The variety of habitats packed close together allow for a decent variety of birds and other wildlife to be found. Below are lists, and photos and videos, for birds, mammals, herps, fishes, butterflies, Odonanta, as well as some of the many flowers seen. Each list lumps together observations from the following dates: March 9 and 13; April 1, 7, 18, and 20.

Birds:

Black Vulture -
Turkey Vulture -
Accipiter sp. - I had a brief look at the bird in flight as I was crossing the street. I was unable to relocate it once I was safely across. Adult bird. - 4/20.
Red-shouldered Hawk - (video: American Crows harassing a Red-shouldered Hawk -- 4/20)

Buteo sp. - poorly seen, high flyover
Killdeer -

a pair of Killdeer, grassy lot in front of Geaux Tech -- Maybe there's a nest in there as well?

Mourning Dove -
Chimney Swift - location FOS on 4/7
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - location FOS on 4/18
Red-headed Woodpecker -

Red-headed Woodpecker - 3/13

Red-bellied Woodpecker -
Downy Woodpecker -
Northern Flicker -
(video: 4/20)

Pileated Woodpecker -
Eastern Wood-Pewee - location FOS on 4/20
Great Crested Flycatcher - location FOS on 4/7
Eastern Kingbird - location FOS on 4/1

Eastern Kingbird -- 4/20

White-eyed Vireo - location FOS on 4/1
Red-eyed Vireo - location FOS on 4/20
Blue Jay - On April 1 I observed a pair of Blue Jays bringing nesting material to a partly-constructed nest in the big Sycamore by Terrall Street near junction w/ Austin Rd. From what I saw on subsequent visits, the birds had continued to construct the nest, though I didn't actually see the jays at the nest on those dates.

Blue Jay nest under construction - 4/1

American Crow -

American Crow - 4/20

Barn Swallow - My all-around FOS for this species was at this location on 3/9. A pair seems to be building a nest under the Austin Rd bridge over East Prong of Hemp's Creek.
Carolina Chickadee -
Tufted Titmouse -
White-breasted Nuthatch - 3/9 and 4/20
Brown-headed Nuthatch -

Brown-headed Nuthatch -- 4/7

Carolina Wren -
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - location FOS on 4/1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - last detection for this location 3/13
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -
Eastern Bluebird - Multiple pairs. Some seen entering or exiting bird boxes and gathering nesting material.

A pair was repeated seen at the bird box on the Sycamore tree near Terrall St. X Austin Rd. junction -- 4/1

the female of that pair -- 4/1

male of that pair -- 4/1

female Eastern Bluebird gathering nesting material -- 4/7

male Eastern Bluebird picking up some grub -- 4/7

female Eastern Bluebird -- 4/7

male Eastern Bluebird -- 4/7

Wood Thrush - location FOS on 4/20 -- Calling in the woods beside Mac's.
American Robin -

American Robin (female) - 4/20

The bird pictured above is part of a pair who were busy building their nest on 4/20. Video below.

Brown Thrasher - Multiple territorial singers/pairs.
Northern Mockingbird - ditto.
European Starling -
Cedar Waxwing -
Louisiana Waterthrush - location FOS on 4/20 -- Singing and aggressive calling, which seemed to involve two individuals, in the woodlot beside Mac's. The two little gullies that come together in these very nice little woods make this, at first glance, a very good patch of LA Waterthrush habitat. However, because of it's proximity to so much noisy human activity I was pleasantly surprised when I actually found the species there.
Hooded Warbler - location FOS on 4/1
Pine Warbler -
Yellow-rumped Warbler -

Yellow-rumped Warbler (male) - 4/18

Chipping Sparrow - This species breeds around the park. More than one singing male often heard this season.

Chipping Sparrow - 3/9

White-throated Sparrow -

White-throated Sparrow - 3/13

White-throated Sparrow - 4/7

Eastern Towhee -

Eastern Towhee (male) - 4/7

Summer Tanager - location FOS on 4/18
Northern Cardinal -

Northern Cardinal (female) - 4/7

Northern Cardinal (male) - 4/18

Blue Grosbeak - location FOS on 4/18
Indigo Bunting - location FOS on 4/18

Indigo Bunting (male) - 4/18

Orchard Oriole - location FOS on 4/1 -- These two FOS individuals are singing in video below -- one off-camera.

House Finch -

House Finch (male) feeding on Lyreleaf Sage -- 4/20 (same in video below)

singing male House Finch - 4/20

Pine Siskin -
American Goldfinch -

American Goldfinch (male) - 4/7

House Sparrow -

.................................................................
Mammals:
Eastern Gray Squirrel -

Eastern Gray Squirrel - 4/18

Eastern Fox Squirrel -

Eastern Fox Squirrel - typical "red" morph

Eastern Fox Squirrel - melanistic or "black" morph

Eastern Cottontail -
Northern Raccoon (tracks seen) -

Herps (Amphibians & Reptiles): Cope's Gray Treefrog, Little Brown Skink

Fish:
   An assortment of stream-dwelling fishes can be observed from the foot bridges over Hemp's Creek and East Prong Hemp's Creek, and from stream-side stretches of trail. Mosquitofish were also seen where the footbridge crosses the little gully beside Mac's parking lot.
   One problem I see for the health of Hemp's Creek around the trail/Austin Rd parking area is the heavy erosion of the stream banks there, which are silting up the pools.
   As tempting as it may be, I'd advise against fishing here because of the small size of the habitat and limited number of individual fish. Just appreciate them in their element. : )

Redfin Shiner -

male Redfin Shiner - 4/18

multiple other species of shiner/minnow Cyprinids that I can't/haven't identified -
Blackspotted/Blackstriped Topminnow -
Western Mosquitofish -

Mosquitofish - 4/18

Orangespotted Sunfish -

Orangespotted Sunfish - 4/18

Bluegill -

Bluegill

Spotted Bass -

Spotted Bass - 4/18

...and possibly others.

Butterflies:
Horace's and/or Juvenal's Duskywing -

Duskywing sp.

Red-banded Hairstreak -
American Lady -

American Lady - 4/20

Carolina Satyr

Carolina Satyr - 3/13

Odonata (Dragonflies & Damselflies): see photos...

Ebony Jewelwing -

Ebony Jewelwing - 4/20

...other damselflies, including....

damselfly sp. - 4/18

...dragonflies, including....

clubtail dragonfly sp. (Gomphidae) - 4/18

Some wildflowers and other plants (just a few of the many to be found here...):

Before we go further, I should make it clear that I'm a novice at plant i.d., despite years of trying to document wildflowers and other plants that I encounter in the field. So, there certainly could be something incorrect below. These i.d.s should be taken as tentative.
Here area a couple of good online resources for trying your hand at identifying plants. : http://southeasternflora.com/SearchForm.php & https://www.wildflower.org/plants-main.

multiple species of violets -

Field Pansy (Viola bicolor) - 3/13

one of the commonly seen blue/purple violets (maybe Viola sororia or V. affinis?)

one of the white violet sp. -- My best guess would be Viola blanda, the Sweet White Violet ...buuut, what I've read indicates that that species isn't found in Louisiana. So what are they?