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| Common Wood-Nymph at Longleaf Scenic Vista |
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/06/catahoula-nwr-naba-butterfly-count-2018.html
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This year's Kisatchie Longleaf Trail NABA Butterfly Count was held on June 23. This was the 12th year of the count, and my first time to participate in this count. The count circle is centered a little ways south of the Longleaf Scenic Byway, at the junction of Bayou Camp Road and national forest road 380, in the Kisatchie National Forest in southern Natchitoches Parish, and includes everything within a 7.5 mile radius. Participants this year were Jeff Trahan (count compiler), Craig Marks, Rosemary Seidler, Scott Delaney, Paul Wallace, Phillip Wallace, Dave Patton, Brad Moon, and myself. The count started at 9:30 a.m. You can find a map of the count circle at this link: http://www.naba.org/counts/us_mx_map.html
We spent most of the day divided up into groups to cover different areas in the count circle, but came back together for a time around 11:30 a.m. to search for Meske's Skippers. This is one of only two reported locations for Meske's in Louisiana and checking on them is one of the motivations for this count. We found one Meske's nectaring on flowers on Bayou Camp Road by the junction w/ national forest road 380.
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| Meske's Skipper |
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| Meske's Skipper |
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| scenic byway at Bayou Kisatchie (nowhere to stop here, as land at either end of bridge is private) |
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| small butterfly garden at ranger station |
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| Little Bayou Pierre downstream from parish road 920 |
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| Little Bayou Pierre bridge on parish road 920 |
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| Little Bayou Pierre |
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| trail steps leading downhill from vista rec. area. |
Below are the results for the count, compiled by Jeff. This is the day's total for the nine participants. After the butterfly list there's also my lists for birds, mammals, herps (amphibians and reptiles), fish, Odonata (damselflies and dragonflies), a few of the day's wildflowers, and a few other odds and ends. Other participants, especially those in the other groups, probably detected additional species from these categories.
Kisatchie Longleaf Trail NABA Butterfly Count
9 participants
Conditions: hot - 80's and 90's Fahrenheit; light breeze; sunny to partly cloudy
Pipevine Swallowtail - 29
Zebra Swallowtail - 1
Spicebush Swallowtail - 4
Palamedes Swallowtail - 6
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| Palamedes Swallowtail |
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| Palamedes Swallowtail nectaring on Pigeonwings flower |
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| Palamedes Swallowtail |
Cloudless Sulphur - 3
Little Yellow - 17
Banded Hairstreak - 1
Gray Hairstreak - 13
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| Gray Hairstreak |
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| Gray Hairstreak |
Eastern Tailed-Blue - 1
Variegated Fritillary - 1
Pearl Crescent - 9
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| Pearl Crescent |
Common Buckeye - 3
Goatweed Leafwing - 1
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| Goatweed Leafwing |
Carolina Satyr - 7
Little Wood-Satyr - 2
Common Wood-Nymph - 4
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| Common Wood-Nymph - around bushes at path to stone gazebo at Longleaf Scenic Vista |
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| Common Wood-Nymph |
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| Common Wood-Nymph |
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| Common Wood-Nymph |
Hoary Edge - 3
Southern Cloudywing - 3
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| Southern Cloudywing |
Horace's Duskywing - 3
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| Horace's Duskywing nectaring on Lantana |
Wild Indigo Duskywing - 1
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| Wild Indigo Duskywing |
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| Wild Indigo Duskywing |
Swarthy Skipper - 7
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| Swarthy Skipper |
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| Swarthy Skipper nectaring on Buttonbush |
Fiery Skipper - 8
Meske's Skipper - 1
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| Meske's Skipper |
Southern Broken-Dash - 3
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| Southern Broken-Dash |
Birds:
Northern Bobwhite - 2 flushed together
Turkey Vulture -
Broad-winged Hawk - 2 soaring together and calling at the ranger station on LA-117
Mourning Dove -
Yellow-billed Cuckoo -
Red-bellied Woodpecker -
Hairy Woodpecker - 2 at Longleaf Vista parking area
Northern Flicker -
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 2
Acadian Flycatcher -
Great Crested Flycatcher -
White-eyed Vireo -
Red-eyed Vireo -
Blue Jay -
American Crow -
Purple Martin -
Carolina Chickadee -
Tufted Titmouse -
Brown-headed Nuthatch -
Carolina Wren -
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher -
Northern Mockingbird -
Common Yellowthroat -
Hooded Warbler -
Northern Parula - 2 or 3 singing around Little Bayou Pierre
Pine Warbler -
Bachman's Sparrow - several singing, various locations over the course of the day
Eastern Towhee -
Summer Tanager -
Northern Cardinal -
Indigo Bunting -
Mammals:
We saw several White-tailed Deer.
Herps:
Dwarf Salamander (freshly dead, might have been stepped on - at a popular local spring where people gather water)...
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| the dead Dwarf Salamander |
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| Prairie Lizard - first individual |
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| Prairie Lizard - second individual |
Fish:
Redfin Shiner, other Cyprinid (shiner/minnow) species, Blackspotted and/or Blackstripe Topminnow, Western Mosquitofish, Longear Sunfish (video of Longear Sunfishes at spawning bed)
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| two Longear Sunfishes |
Odonata:
Bear in mind that my Ode game is weak. I'm very much a novice. However, the rest of my group -- Brad, Phillip, and Dave -- are all very experienced with, and enthusiastic about, Odes and most species are ones that they pointed out. Hopefully I made no mistakes labeling the pics (let me know if I did). Also, those without pics are listed from memory, so hopefully I got 'em all.
Ebony Jewelwing -
Southern Spreadwing -
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| Southern Spreadwing |
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| Southern Spreadwing |
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| *my tentative i.d. is Seepage Dancer; I saw this one separate from the group, uphill from the pitcher plant bog |
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| male Powdered Dancer at Little Bayou Pierre |
Comet Darner -
possible Fawn Darner -
Swamp Darner -
Common Sanddragon -
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| Sanddragon |
Banded Pennant -
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| Banded Pennant |
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| Black-shouldered Spinyleg at Little Bayou Pierre bridge |
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| Swift Setwing at Little Bayou Pierre bridge |
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| Swift Setwing - same as above |
Little Blue Dragonlet -
Golden-winged Skimmer -
possible Yellow-sided Skimmer -
Widow Skimmer -
Painted Skimmer -
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| Painted Skimmer |
Eastern Amberwing -
Common Whitetail -
Black Saddlebags -
Below are pictures of a few damselflies that I don't have an i.d. for yet.
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| TBD damselfly |
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| TBD damselfly |
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| TBD female damselfly, I think same species as male shown below |
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| TBD male damselfly, I think same species as female shown above |
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| I don't know about this dragonfly either. |
Flowers:
Propeller Flower, aka Pinewoods Lily (Alophia drummondii) -
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| Pinewoods Lily (Alophia drummondii) |
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| Pinewoods Lily (Alophia drummondii) |
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| pitcher plant flower |
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| pitcher plant flower |
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| pitcher plant flowers |
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| pitcher plant |
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| pitcher plants |
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| a small part of the pitcher plant bog |
Rose-Gentian or similar species (Sabatia angularis or similar sp. of Sabatia)
Elderberry (Sambucus) -
Pigeonwings (Clitoria mariana) -
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| Pigeonwings |
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| Commelina sp. |
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| Texas Bullnettle |
sunflower sp. (Helianthus)-
Liatris -
Colicroot (Aletris) -
Coreopsis -
Sneezeweed (Helenium) -
Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) -
Pineland Rayless Goldenrod (Bigelowia nudata) -
Blue Waterleaf (Hydrolea ovata) -
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| Blue Waterleaf |
Brazilian Verbena -
Verbena rigida -
Narrowleaf Mountainmint -
Ruellia -
...and I'm sure many others...
If you spotted any incorrect i.d., please feel free to comment, let me know.
Landscape Shots, etc.:
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| Longleaf Scenic Vista |
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| spring where salamander was found |
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| hillside pitcher plant bog |
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| waterfalls on Little Bayou Pierre |
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| Little Bayou Pierre |
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| the stone gazebo |
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| trail, continuing down the slope |
The monster's lair!...
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| Brad told me where to find this little cave, which I decided to check out before leaving for the day. |
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| In front of the cave was this egg shell, which I think is from a Wild Turkey egg. |
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| Beside the cave was this funnel web... |
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| ...and in the web, this spider. |
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| The rare, delicious Orange Sugarwing. |
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