Friday, June 29, 2018

Kisatchie National Forest Natchitoches Butterfly Count, 2018

Common Wood-Nymph at Longleaf Scenic Vista
Related Posts:
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.
Meske's Skipper
Meske's Skipper
   I was in a group with Brad Moon, Phillip Wallace, and Dave Patton. Roads we traveled and stops we made included stops and walks down side roads off the Longleaf Scenic Byway...


scenic byway at Bayou Kisatchie (nowhere to stop here, as land at either end of bridge is private)
...at the ranger station/work center...
small butterfly garden at ranger station
...along national forest roads 350 and 361, LA-118 and Natchitoches Parish road 920...
Little Bayou Pierre downstream from parish road 920
Little Bayou Pierre bridge on parish road 920
Little Bayou Pierre
...and back up Bayou Camp Road and national forest road 360 to the byway. We parted ways at the Longleaf Scenic Vista Rec. Area in the late afternoon, and I spent some time searching solo at the vista trail and some spots along the scenic byway before departing.
trail steps leading downhill from vista rec. area.
I left the NF at 6:48 pm, having stopped butterflying a half hour or more before that.

   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
Palamedes Swallowtail
Palamedes Swallowtail nectaring on Pigeonwings flower
Palamedes Swallowtail
Checkered White - 1
Cloudless Sulphur - 3
Little Yellow - 17
Banded Hairstreak - 1
Gray Hairstreak - 13
Gray Hairstreak
Gray Hairstreak
Red-banded Hairstreak - 4
Eastern Tailed-Blue - 1
Variegated Fritillary - 1
Pearl Crescent - 9
Pearl Crescent
American Lady - 1
Common Buckeye - 3
Goatweed Leafwing - 1
Goatweed Leafwing
Southern Pearly-eye - 7
Carolina Satyr - 7
Little Wood-Satyr - 2
Common Wood-Nymph - 4
Common Wood-Nymph - around bushes at path to stone gazebo at Longleaf Scenic Vista
Common Wood-Nymph
Common Wood-Nymph
Common Wood-Nymph
Silver-spotted Skipper - 1
Hoary Edge - 3
Southern Cloudywing - 3
Southern Cloudywing
Northern Cloudywing - 2
Horace's Duskywing - 3
Horace's Duskywing nectaring on Lantana
Funereal Duskywing - 1
Wild Indigo Duskywing - 1
Wild Indigo Duskywing
Wild Indigo Duskywing
Common/White Checkered Skipper - 1
Swarthy Skipper - 7
Swarthy Skipper
Swarthy Skipper nectaring on Buttonbush
Clouded Skipper - 2
Fiery Skipper - 8
Meske's Skipper - 1
Meske's Skipper
Whirlabout - 4
Southern Broken-Dash - 3
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)...
the dead Dwarf Salamander
 ...Cope's Gray Treefrog, Green Treefrog, Green (Bronze) Frog; Six-lined Racerunner (seen by others in the group at a couple of different spots), Prairie Lizard (2 females at Longleaf Vista walkway)...
Prairie Lizard - first individual
Prairie Lizard - second individual
... and Buttermilk Racer

Fish:
   Redfin Shiner, other Cyprinid (shiner/minnow) species, Blackspotted and/or Blackstripe Topminnow, Western Mosquitofish, Longear Sunfish (video of Longear Sunfishes at spawning bed)




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 -
Southern Spreadwing
Southern Spreadwing
*Seepage Dancer -
*my tentative i.d. is Seepage Dancer; I saw this one separate from the group, uphill from the pitcher plant bog
Powdered Dancer -
male Powdered Dancer at Little Bayou Pierre

Comet Darner -
possible Fawn Darner -
Swamp Darner -
Common Sanddragon -
Sanddragon
Calico Pennant -
Banded Pennant -

Banded Pennant
Black-shouldered Spinyleg -
Black-shouldered Spinyleg at Little Bayou Pierre bridge
Swift Setwing -
Swift Setwing at Little Bayou Pierre bridge
Swift Setwing - same as above
Eastern Pondhawk -
Little Blue Dragonlet -
Golden-winged Skimmer -
possible Yellow-sided Skimmer -
Slaty Skimmer -
Widow Skimmer -
Painted Skimmer -
Painted Skimmer
Blue Dasher -
Eastern Amberwing -
Common Whitetail -
Black Saddlebags -

Below are pictures of a few damselflies that I don't have an i.d. for yet.
TBD damselfly
TBD damselfly
TBD female damselfly, I think same species as male shown below
TBD male damselfly, I think same species as female shown above
I don't know about this dragonfly either.


Flowers:

Propeller Flower, aka Pinewoods Lily (Alophia drummondii) -
Pinewoods Lily (Alophia drummondii)
Pinewoods Lily (Alophia drummondii)
pitcher plant sp. (Sarracenia) -

pitcher plant flower
pitcher plant flower
pitcher plant flowers
pitcher plant
pitcher plants
a small part of the pitcher plant bog
Pinewoods Gentian (Sabatia gentianoides) -
Rose-Gentian or similar species (Sabatia angularis or similar sp. of Sabatia)
Elderberry (Sambucus) -
Pigeonwings (Clitoria mariana) -
Pigeonwings
Dayflower sp. (Commelina) -
Commelina sp.
Texas Bullnettle (Cnidoscolus texanus) -
Texas Bullnettle
Rudbeckia -
sunflower sp. (Helianthus)-
Liatris -
Colicroot (Aletris) -
Coreopsis -
Sneezeweed (Helenium) -
Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) -
Pineland Rayless Goldenrod (Bigelowia nudata) -
Blue Waterleaf (Hydrolea ovata) -
Blue Waterleaf 
what looked to be Physostegia (virginiana?) -
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.:

Longleaf Scenic Vista
spring where salamander was found

hillside pitcher plant bog
Another scenic vista, this one off national forest road 350...



waterfalls on Little Bayou Pierre
Little Bayou Pierre
Back at the Longleaf Vista...




the stone gazebo
trail, continuing down the slope

The monster's lair!...
Brad told me where to find this little cave, which I decided to check out before leaving for the day.

In front of the cave was this egg shell, which I think is from a Wild Turkey egg.

Beside the cave was this funnel web...

...and in the web, this spider. 
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The rare, delicious Orange Sugarwing.
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