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| Big Creek in the Sicily Island Hills |
Related Posts:
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/05/loose-alliance-field-trip-to-sicily.html
&
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/04/hills-and-high-water-catahoula-parish.html
&
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/03/sicily-island-hills-harrisonburg.html
&
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2016/05/sicily-island-hills-catahoula-parish.html
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After three excellent outings to the Sicily Island Hills this March and April, I somehow let the time slip away from me and didn't go back this May, June, or July. Doubtless I missed a lot. But, I finally got back out there on August 3 and took my time checking out both familiar and new locations in the Sicily Island Hills.
I went to the south part of JC "Sonny" Gilbert WMA (better known as Sicily Island Hills WMA) accessed from LA-8 east of Harrisonburg, arriving at 8:39 a.m. I spent time on foot in three areas, and watched and listened for wildlife on the drive between these areas. The first area done on foot was the road which turns west at the self-clearing kiosk and has the primitive campground locations. Let's call that the "campground road".
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| "campground road" |
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| "campground road" |
The second was down a walk-in/seasonal atv road the leads to an area where Craig Marks reports finding Northern Pearly-eye butterflies a few years ago. I checked out the woods in an area approximately fitting the directions and description, but didn't find any of the butterflies. I plan on exploring that area further on my next visit and would love to relocate the Northern Pearly-eyes. I'll call that area the "pearly-eye road".
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| "pearly-eye road" |
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| going off in the woods near "pearly-eye road" |
There's a narrow driving road that forks east off the main road a little ways south of the Rock Falls trail head. Let's call that road "east fork". This road swings around north then west. I drove this road to the end of the driving section. Here, there's a seasonal atv path that turns north, but the main path continues westerly beyond the 'no vehicles beyond this point' sign. This is the third area I walked. We'll call this "east fork trail".
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| down "east fork trail" |
"East fork trail" ends in a grassy clearing. I continued through the woods, going down the steep slope and through the creek bottoms to reach Big Creek.
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| in the creek bottoms |
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| Big Creek |
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| Big Creek |
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| Big Creek |
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| going back up the slope |
I left Sicily Island Hills at 3:07 pm, having done about 2 miles on foot and 3 miles (one way) by vehicle. Conditions were: 73 - 92 degrees F.; clear sky at start, variable degrees of sunny and cloudy later in the day; calm at start with some light breeze most of the day.
Below are lists for birds, Lepidoptera (butterflies & moths), mammals, herps (amphibians & reptiles), fishes, Odonata (dragonflies & damselflies), and a few wildflowers and other plants.
As always, if you spot any incorrect i.d., or have a suggestion for one I'm not sure about, please let me know. I try to research as much as I can before posting, but there's always some I'm not comfortable with/ not confident about.
Birds:
Turkey Vulture - 1
Mississippi Kite - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Mourning Dove - 6
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 3
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 4
Acadian Flycatcher - 6
White-eyed Vireo - 10
Yellow-throated Vireo - 2
Red-eyed Vireo - 4
Blue Jay - 2
American Crow - 3
Carolina Chickadee - 7
Tufted Titmouse - 8
Carolina Wren - 15
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 3
Louisiana Waterthrush - 2
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| Louisiana Waterthrush - Big Creek |
Hooded Warbler - 6
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| male Hooded Warbler - on the slope to the Big Creek bottoms |
Pine Warbler - 1
Summer Tanager - 2
Northern Cardinal - 9
Butterflies & Moths:
Butterflies
Silver-spotted Skipper - 2
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| Silver-spotted Skipper nectaring on mountainmint (+ lynx spider) - "campground road" |
Clouded Skipper - 6
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| female Clouded Skipper - "campground road" |
skipper sp. - 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - ~7
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| two Eastern Tiger Swallowtails -- typical yellow phase (lower left), black phase female (upper right) - "campground road" |
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| black phase female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on mountainmint - The majority of the E. Tiger Swallowtails that I saw this day were black ones. -- '"campground road" |
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| black phase female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - underside of wings; here you can see the black tiger stripes pretty clearly |
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| typical yellow phase Eastern Tiger Swallowtail -- "campground road" |
Giant Swallowtail - 2
Spicebush Swallowtail - 3
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| Spicebush Swallowtail - Big Creek |
Sleepy Orange - 4
Little Yellow - 1
Red-banded Hairstreak - 20 +
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| Red-banded Hairstreak - "campground road" -- These tiny butterflies were found in all areas that I visited, including off-trail deep in the woods |
"Summer" Azure - 4
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| Summer Azure - Big Creek |
American Snout - 1
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| American Snout - Big Creek |
'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple - 12
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| 'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple - "pearly-eye road" |
Hackberry Emperor - 1
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| Hackberry Emperor - "campground road" near fork w/ main road |
Pearl Crescent - 6
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| Pearl Crescent - "campground road" |
Gemmed Satyr - 3
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| Gemmed Satyr - "pearly-eye" road |
Carolina Satyr - 15
Moths
Tuliptree Silkmoth (Callosamia angulifera) - 1
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| Tuliptree Silkmoth (Callosamia angulifera) - I spotted this beauty hanging from the underside of a branch in the creek bottoms near Big Creek. I think it's a fascinating-looking moth. This was also a new species for my moth lifelist. |
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| Tuliptree Silkmoth |
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| Tuliptree Silkmoth |
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| close-up of Tuliptree Silkmoth body |
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| Tuliptree Silkmoth |
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| Tuliptree Silkmoth |
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| Tuliptree Silkmoth |
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| also known by the stage name T-Bone and the Electric Caterpillars (ha!) |
The Widow (Catocala vidua) - 1
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| The Widow (Catocala vidua) -- Amazing camouflage! |
There were many of what looked like Vetch Looper or something similar (some tough to i.d. moths in that group, and I can't say I can tell them apart) in the grass on "campground road".
tentative i.d.: Epipagis fenestralis (formally Epipagis huronalis) - 1
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| presumed Epipagis fenestralis (formally E. huronalis) - "east fork trail" |
...plus numerous little moths that went unidentified.
Mammals: I don't think I saw any mammals on this trip.
Herps: There were a lot of tiny young Fowler's Toads at Big Creek.
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| Fowler's Toad |
I heard several Cope's Gray Treefrogs. Little Brown Skinks were seen slinking off through the leaf litter.
Fishes:
This gets interesting...
Big Creek, in the Sicily Island Hills, is home to a couple of species of fish that, in Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, are found in only a small area in the Ouachita River drainage. These are the Longnose Shiner (Notropis longirostris) and the Central Stoneroller (Campostoma anomalum); both Cyprinids. Every since reading about them in Dr. Neil Douglas' The Freshwater Fishes of Louisiana when I was a kid, I have been intrigued. I trekked down to Big Creek this day hoping I might find one or both. Here's the results. (I am no kind of expert on fish, so...)
* pics and video of possible Longnose Shiners (Notropis longirostris):
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| tentative i.d.: Longnose Shiners |
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| tentative i.d.: Longnose Shiner - Longnose Shiners have yellow fins, which can be seen on this individual |
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| The position of the Longnose Shiner's eyes higher on the head give it an upward-gazing appearance when viewed from above (also notice the yellow fins, especially pectoral fin). |
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| Longnose Shiners feed by grazing for algae, detritus. |
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| tentative i.d.: Longnose Shiners |
The videos below show what I think are Longnose Shiners. Notice the feeding behavior.
Below are images of the section of creek where most of the suspected Longnose Shiners were seen. This is shallow water, often over sand, with a wide sand and gravel bar taking up much of the stream bed and the water hugging the shaded bank. The fish were a couple of small schools and probably additional individuals among small fish that went unidentified.
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| ... |
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| ... |
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| ... |
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| ... |
*pics and video of possible Central Stonerollers (Campostoma anomalum):
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| tentative i.d.: Central Stoneroller |
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| tentative i.d.: Central Stonerollers grazing on algae. Same for videos below. |
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| possibly Central Stonerollers |
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| the upstream end of the main suspected Central Stoneroller site |
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| Most of the suspected Central Stoneroller action was right here, the deepest spot in the ~200 yard stretch of creek that I explored. |
The descriptions of appearance, behavior, and habitat used as "evidence" here were based on info from various sources:
If you know fish, please feel free to comment and correct or confirm these attempted i.d.s or give your opinion.
Other fish seen here included Blackstripe/Blackspotted Topminnow, Western Mosquitofish, one small Bluegill, and either a Spotted Bass or Largemouth Bass, and possibly others.
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| a young bass (Micropterus) - Spotted or Largemouth? |
Odonata:
There were not a whole lot of dragonflies and damselflies out that day. Many of the dragonflies that I did see looked like skimmers of one sort or another. I did see several Eastern Pondhawks. As for damselflies, I saw what I think is a Familiar Bluet (see photo below), a few Blue-tipped Dancers (photos below), a few Ebony Jewelwings, and what looked to be a Citrine Forktail (a small forktail of the correct orange, green, and black coloring that I lost track of before getting a better look or a photo). Note that I'm still pretty inexperienced with Odonata, but I'm learning.
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| possibly a Familiar Bluet - "pearly-eye road" |
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| tentative i.d.: Blue-tipped Dancer - Big Creek |
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| tentative i.d.: Blue-tipped Dancer - Big Creek |
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| tentative i.d.: Blue-tipped Dancer - Big Creek |
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| tentative i.d.: Blue-tipped Dancer - Big Creek |
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| tentative i.d.: Blue-tipped Dancer - Big Creek |
Wildflowers (and other plant stuff):
These are some (but certainly not all) of the in-bloom wildflowers seen (plus a couple of other interesting plant observations). In general, there weren't a whole lot of flowers blooming in the parts of the Sicily Island Hills that I visited. One notable exception was that mountainmint, Spotted Beebalm, and Butterfly Pea were all abundant along the primitive campground road. Not surprisingly, this is where butterflies were most abundant as well.
Mountainmint sp. (Pycnanthemum) -
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| Pycnanthemum - "campground road" |
tentative i.d.: Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata) -
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| tentative i.d.: Spotted Beebalm - definitely a "beebalm" (Monarda) of some sort, and I'm pretty confident it's M. punctata. - "campground road" |
Butterfly Pea (Centrosema virginianum) -
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| Clouded Skipper nectaring on Butterflypea (Centrosema virginianum) - "campground road" |
tentative i.d.: Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) -
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| This looks to me like Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) - main road, just south of self-clearing kiosk. I'd never encountered this species of milkweed before, but it seems to line up with the description of A. verticillata, including the whorled leaf placement. |
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| tentative i.d.: Whorled Milkweed |
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| tentative i.d.: Whorled Milkweed |
TENTATIVE I.D.: Ipomoea pandurata - goes by many common names, including Bigroot Morning-Glory, Man-of-the-Earth, and Wild Sweet Potato
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| Bigroot Morning-Glory - "campground road" |
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| Bigroot Morning-Glory - "east fork trail" |
Ironweed sp. (Vernonia) -
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| Ironweed sp. - "campground road" |
Indian Pink or Pinkroot (Spigelia marilandica) -
There were a lot of the beautiful red-and-yellow flowers of the Indian Pink on display in Sicily Island Hills this spring. While walking "east fork trail" on this trip I found a group of the plants, the blooms long gone by this point in the season.
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| Indian Pink (S. marilandica) after the flowers have gone - "east fork trail" |
Osage Orange -
I spotted the big gnarly green fruit laying in the grass on campground road and looked up to find more in the tree overhead.
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| Osage Oranges still in tree |
I found another one down the "pearly-eye road".
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| Osage Orange |
....
This was an excellent day in the field, and like every trip to this location, it left me eager to return. The Sicily Island Hills are such a rich ecosystem and any visit feels like barely scratching the surface of what's there to be seen.
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