Parks & Rec. -- Catahoula Parish, 10/10/2018

Tufted Titmouse at Fort Beauregard Historical Park -- Harrisonburg, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana

Related Posts:
 - posts that include Harrisonburg Landing and/or Jonesville Landing Rec Areas:
falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/05/loose-alliance-field-trip-to-sicily.html
& falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/04/hills-and-high-water-catahoula-parish.html
& falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/03/sicily-island-hills-harrisonburg.html
 - Jena Park and Vision Trail (most recent):
falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/09/nature-at-jenas-vision-trail-2018-part-2.html
 - nearby locations:
falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/08/sicily-island-hills-catahoula-parish.html
& falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/09/catahoula-nwr-la-salle-catahoula.html

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   On October 10th I made a birding trip through Catahoula Parish, visiting four recreation areas and parks. The first two locations were at Harrisonburg -- the Harrisonburg Landing Recreation Area and Fort Beauregard Historical Park. After that, it was southward to Jonesville Landing Recreation Area, then west to Little River Landing Recreation Area.
   A rain front passed through the area in the wee hours, and it was still drizzling slightly when I arrived at the Harrisonburg Landing Recreation Area at 7:39 a.m. The landing rec area is situated on the east bank of the Ouachita River, at the northwest end of LA-922. This is across the river, and slightly upstream, from downtown Harrisonburg.

Ouachita River at Harrisonburg Rec Area (three pics, from upstream to downstream)

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The rain lingered a little while as an intermittent faint drizzle, but eventually it moved on and blue sky and morning sun began replacing the clouds.

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Bird activity was pretty good at this location, though it lacked the showing of southbound neotropical migrants that I'd (fingers crossed) hoped to find. Below is the bird list for this location. After that, it's on to the next park.

Harrisonburg Landing Recreation Area
7:39 a.m.; 1 hr 28 min
~5 acres
Conditions: 70's F.; light misting rain for about first half, sky becoming mixed cloud and sun after rain ended; wind from near calm to light breeze

Eurasian Collared-Dove - 2
Great Blue Heron - 1

Great Blue Heron on opposite side of the river

Red-tailed Hawk - 1

Red-tailed Hawk -- on wooded hillside across the river

Belted Kingfisher - 1

Belted Kingfisher where highline crosses the river

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 4
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
Northern Flicker - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Blue Jay - 6
American Crow - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 4
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Carolina Wren - 7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Gray Catbird - 2
Brown Thrasher - 7
Northern Mockingbird - 4
Eastern Towhee - 1
blackbird sp. - 1
Hooded Warbler - 1 male
Pine Warbler - 1 singing
Northern Cardinal - 7
Indigo Bunting - 4
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   I've been wanting to visit Fort Beauregard Historical Park and Veterans Memorial for a while, and that was one of the main motivations behind this day's trip. The park is situated off the north side of LA-124 at the north edge of Harrisonburg. Memorial Drive takes you through the park, which occupies pine-covered hills that rise above the town. There is a touching memorial to service members beside the drive. Down toward the end of the drive is a small amphitheater and a small wooden tower or observation platform that one can climb to get a view through the trees across Harrisonburg to the floodplain beyond. I parked on the side of Mem. Drive and first walked the drive east and north and then spent some time in the tower and walking the grounds around there.

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view from observation tower

Then I walked back up the drive and went off through the open park-like pines south of the first leg of the drive, toward the entrance.

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The Pine Warbler flock and Red-headed Woodpecker family were here.

Noise from some sort of operation going on (gravel pit???) on nearby property made for less than ideal birding conditions, but it's still a location I'd recommend for anyone birding in the area. Bird activity was fairly good.

Fort Beauregard Historical Park:
9:15 a.m.; 1 hr 38 min
0.25 miles on foot
Conditions: 70's F.; breeze; sky variable, trending sunny

Chimney Swift - 1
Turkey Vulture - 1
Red-headed Woodpecker - 4 -- family group of three (1 youngster, 2 adults) at park; an additional adult on utility pole down in town seen from park

immature Red-headed Woodpecker

immature Red-headed Woodpecker (starting to show some red)

adult Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker down in the town (and is that a Blue Jay flying in from the right?).

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Blue Jay - 5
Carolina Chickadee - 4
Tufted Titmouse - 3

Tufted Titmouse -- When I got out of the truck, a group of Tufted Titmice were there to greet me.

Tufted Titmouse -- By the time I got up in the tower, the titmice had made their way to the trees beside it. A few pishes brought this one out in the open for some photos. It was nice to view them up in their element. I can imagine this tower/platform is great for up-close birding on one of those days when the trees are full of birds. 

Tufted Titmouse

Brown-headed Nuthatch - 2
Carolina Wren - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 1

Eastern Bluebird

Gray Catbird - 1
Brown Thrasher - 4
Northern Mockingbird - 2
Eastern Towhee - 2
Pine Warbler - 11

Pine Warbler

Northern Cardinal - 4
Indigo Bunting - 2
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   My next planned location was near Jonesville, which took me south down LA-124. Along the way I decided to take a side trip down Tew Lake Road. There' no public access to the lake itself, and there are a good many camps and homes along the road, so it is not an ideal place to bird, but a drive down the road with a couple of short stops away from homes and camps revealed some of the birds that were around.

Tew Lake is an old oxbow of the Ouachita River

Tew Lake Road:
11:04 a.m.; 14 minutes
0.9 miles by vehicle
Conditions: warm (probably about 80 F.); sunny

Great Egret - 2

Great Egret at Tew Lake

Turkey Vulture - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Loggerhead Shrike - 1

Loggerhead Shrike

Blue Jay - 8
American Crow - 6
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Brown Thrasher - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 4
Red-winged Blackbird - x -- calls heard from trees somewhere down and across the lake, sounded like a flock
Northern Cardinal - 3
House Sparrow - 1
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   The next location visited was Jonesville Landing Recreation Area. It is situated on the north bank of Little River, just east of the LA-124 bridge. Turn off LA-124, east onto LA-3264, and the access to the rec area is on the right.

Jonesville Landing Rec Area

The American Redstart was on this side of the rec area, in the edge of the woods

Jonesville Landing boat launch on Little River

Jonesville Landing Recreation Area:
11:24 a.m.; 38 minutes
~3 acres
warm (~80 degrees Fahrenheit); sunny; breeze

Great Egret - 1

Great Egret in Little River

Turkey Vulture - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Carolina Wren - 2
Northern Mockingbird - 2
European Starling - 1
American Redstart - 1

female or immature male American Redstart

Northern Cardinal - 3
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   My final birding destination for the day was the Little River Recreaion Area (aka Archie Recreation Area), situated north of US-84, almost across from the junction with LA-28 at the Archie community.

Little River and the Archie Structure -- Little River Recreation Area

Little River Rec Area

road coming down into rec area parking lots -- Notice the dead weeds (sprayed with herbicide) in this pic, and on the river bank in the above pic. Those would have been some nice patches of habitat for winter sparrows, etc. 

Little River at east end of rec area -- Follow the river east/northeast and you eventually get to Jonesville and the Four Rivers -- the Ouachita, Tensas, Little, and Black.

   Where as the other destinations on this day's trip were all locations that I only started birding this year, the Little River Rec Area is an old favorite. I've been visiting this location, with varying degrees of regularity, for many years now.
   By this point in the day it was feeling pretty hot, and being midday, bird activity was not what it could have been. The location was far from dead, though, and birding was pretty decent. Butterflies were abundant, and counting them kept me occupied when the birds weren't up to much.
   After this bird list, there's a list of the day's butterflies (all locations combined) and a rundown of some of the other things seen on this outing.

boat launch at east end of rec area; there's another at the west end 

Little River Recreation Area (Archie):
12:18 p.m.; 43 minutes
~5 acres
Conditions: warm (80's F.); sunny/ partly cloudy; breezy

Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret

Chimney Swift - 3
Great Blue Heron - 3

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret - 3
Snowy Egret - 21

Snowy Egrets on Archie Structure

Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 2
American Crow - 2
Barn Swallow - x - calls of flyovers heard a few times
Carolina Wren - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Hooded Warbler - 1 - calling from woods across the river
Northern Cardinal - 2
Indigo Bunting - 8

Butterflies (all locations):
Common/White Checkered-Skipper -

Common/White Checkered Skippers -- Little River Rec Area

Common/White Checkered-Skipper -- Little River Rec Area

Common/White Checkered Skipper -- Fort Beauregard

Fiery Skipper - 1 at J-ville Landing
Cloudless Sulphur -

Cloudless Sulphur -- Little River Rec Area

Little Yellow -

Little Yellows -- Little River Rec Area

Cloudless Sulphur (left) and Little Yellows -- Little River Rec Area

Sleepy Orange -
possible Gray Hairstreak fluttered past -
possible Eastern Tailed Blue fluttered past at Fort Beauregard -
Gulf Fritillary -

Gulf Fritillary -- Little River Rec

Gulf Fritillary -- Little River Rec

Gulf Fritillary -- Little River Rec. Area

Variegated Fritillary - 3 at Fort Beauregard, I think I saw one somewhere else during the day as well

Variegated Fritillary -- Fort Beauregard

Pearl Crescent -

Pearl Crescent -- Little River Rec Area

Phaon Crescent - several at both J-ville Rec and Little River Rec

Phaon Crescent at Jonesville Landing Rec Area

Common Buckeye -

Common Buckeye -- Little River Rec Area

Moths:
   Epipagis fenestralis, aka E. huronalis, (*and assuming I'm i.d.ing them correctly) were abundant all throughout the day.

*Epipagis fenestralis at Jonesville Landing Rec Area

I saw at least two Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moths at J-ville Landing Rec.

Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth at Jonesville Landing

There were other moths around that went unidentified.

Odonata:
   Dragonflies -- Black Saddlebags and Wandering Gliders were abundant. There were also a fair number of Common Green Darners out and about. Lots of dragonflies, but not a lot of diversity of dragonflies species.
   I also saw some type of blue damselfly at the Jonesville location, but lost it before I could get a good look or a photo.

a few other things...

   I don't think I saw or heard any Herps (Amphibians and Reptiles) other than a Pond Slider on a log. As for mammals: there were a few Eastern Fox Squirrels around, and one of a group of fellows taking up a boat at the Harrisonburg launch when I arrived said that he/they had seen about 15 White-tailed Deer in the open space at the east side of the rec area.

dayflower sp. (Commelina) -- Fort Beauregard

dayflower (Commelina) sp. -- Fort Beauregard

... --  Fort Beauregard

a couple of fun guys -- Fort Beauregard

looking out from the observation tower at Fort Beauregard

a view from Fort Beauregard

Ouachita River at Harrisonburg Landing

   I think I'll have to make this route a thing -- do these same locations like this perhaps once or twice a season. I look forward to what birds cooler fall and winter weather will bring!

   As always, if you spot any incorrect i.d.s or have suggestions for one I'm unsure about, feel free to let me know.

...and, speaking of parks (and waiting for migrants)...

   I made one of my regular birding visits to the Jena Vision Trail and town park complex (La Salle Parish) the following day, October 11, and found that some winter birds had arrived with the cold front (Yellow-rumped Warbler, House Wren). Additional migrants included a male American Redstart, a male Northern Parula, and a handful of Common Yellowthroats in the weeds and brush along the streams (where none were on previous visit).

Peace!
Jonathan
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