Catahoula NWR NABA Butterfly Count, 2019

Common Buckeyes - Norvin Road -- photo by Connie Guillory

Related Posts
Catahoula NWR count 2018 (with links to previous years):
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2018/06/catahoula-nwr-naba-butterfly-count-2018.html

Kisatchie Natchitoches count 2019 (with link to 2018):
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/06/longleaf-trail-butterfly-count-2019.html

************************
   The fourth annual Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge NABA Butterfly Count was held on July 20, 2019. The count circle is centered at the Catahoula NWR headquarters and includes everything within a 7.5 mile radius. This includes equal territory in both La Salle and Catahoula Parishes. The habitat is divided between bottomlands -- with hardwood forest, agricultural fields, and wetlands -- and hilly upland "piney woods" areas with pine plantations, mixed woods, and small hardwood creek bottoms. To see a map of the count circle, visit the NABA website:
http://www.naba.org/counts/us_mx_map.html
   We had eight participants this year: Craig Marks (count organizer; author of Butterflies of Louisiana), Connie Guillory, Rosemary Seidler, Jean Trahan, Jeff Trahan, Phillip Wallace, Brad Moon, and Jonathan Clark. Conditions were: mid-80s to low 90s F.; sunny for much of time, but period of cloudy with localized rain shower in early afternoon; calm to light breeze, ~0-2 Beaufort.
   We began at the NWR Headquarters Unit around 10:00 a.m., where were divided into three parties.

Catahoula NWR HQ Unit (photo taken July 12, 1019)

Catahoula NWR HQ Unit (photo taken 7/12/19)

Catahoula NWR HQ Unit (photo taken 7/12/19)

Catahoula NWR HQ Unit (photo taken 7/12/19)

After that we gathered back together and all went to Little River Recreation Area at about noon.

Little River Rec. Area

Then to Catahoula NWR French Fork Unit.

CNWR French Fork Unit

We then attempted to butterfly on Dewey W. Wills WMA, but it rained us out there and we decided to give up on that location and head north to the piney woods portion of the count circle. We butterflied at locations along Blade Loop and Norvin Road, located between Rhinehart and Jena. These upland locales proved to be productive.

Blade Loop

spring water stream - Blade Loop

Rhinehart Creek - Norvin Road (photo taken July 4, 2019)

Norvin Road near creek (photo taken 7/4/19)

Norvin Road near Girlinghouse Road

The group parted after Norvin Rd, and I continued butterflying at a few more locations -- Girlinghouse Road and an unnamed side road, Breithaupt Cutoff, Oak Grove Cemetery Road, and Catahoula NWR Bushley Bayou Unit (Minnow Ponds Rd) -- before calling it quits.

CNWR Bushley Bayou Unit

   We got our first notable butterfly of the day while the group was gathering to start at the kiosk by the NWR headquarters. There was a duskywing on the gravel road and parking area, which appeared to be a Zarucco Duskywing.

Zarucco Duskywing - CNWR HQ Unit -- photo by Connie Guillory

There'd be a couple of more apparent Zaruccos seen while at the NWR. This was a new species for the Catahoula NWR Count.
   Two species were notably abundant this day. Silvery Checkerspot was abundant in certain areas along Blade Loop. There was one on last year's count, and I'd seen my lifer (1) just a couple of days before the count. So, it was a pleasant surprise for 52 Silvery Checkerspots to be tallied during the count.

two Silvery Checkerspots -- Blade Loop

Silvery Checkerspots nectaring on Coreopsis -- Blade Loop

Silvery Checkerspot -- Blade Loop

Common Buckeye was abundant in places around Norvin Road and Girlinghouse Road and the aforementioned side road. The total all day was 56, with the majority seen in this area.

Common Buckeye - Norvin Road -- photo: Connie Guillory

   The most numerous species of the day was Carolina Satyr (no surprise there), with 67 counted.

Carolina Satyr -- Breithaupt Cutoff

   Count firsts this year included Confused Cloudywing (1), Zarucco Duskywing (3), Little Glassywing (2), Palamedes Swallowtail (1), and Common Wood-Nymph (1).

Little Glassywing - Blade Loop -- photo by Connie Guillory

   Finding certain flowers in bloom usually meant finding butterflies. In the upland areas, they were using a Coreopsis sp., Ironweed (Vernonia), and Bitter Sneezeweed (Helenium). Brazilian Verbena was a favorite in both upland and bottomland settings. The Silvery Checkerspots seemed to be favoring Coreopsis, and I also saw one on Sneezeweed. When you found Ironweed, more often than not it had at least one skipper on it and might be visited by a Common Buckeye or other butterfly if one watched. Skippers especially were frequenting the Brazilian Verbena. A number of Common Buckeye and at least one Carolina Satyr appeared to be nectaring from the grass shown in the above C. Satyr pic. and the C. Buckeye pic. at the top of the post. I didn't see butterflies making much use of the Whiteleaf Mountainmint, which were common in spots in the uplands, though I have seen butterflies eagerly nectar on this flower on other occasions.

Dun Skipper Nectaring on Ironweed -- Blade Loop

Dun Skipper nectaring on Brazilian Verbena -- Norvin Road at Rhinehart Creek

    Below is the day's butterfly list, compiled by Craig. After that are lists of birds and other wildlife encountered during the count.

Butterfly List
40 species, 480 individuals

Pipevine Swallowtail - 1
Black Swallowtail - 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - 10

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on Buttonbush - Minnow Ponds Rd

Spicebush Swallowtail - 2
Palamedes Swallowtail - 1
Giant Swallowtail - 2
Cloudless Sulphur - 13
Little Yellow - 13
Sleepy Orange - 4
Red-banded Hairstreak - 1
American Snout - 4
Monarch - 2
Gulf Fritillary - 1

Gulf Fritillary - Minnow Ponds Rd

Variegated Fritillary - 1
Viceroy - 4
'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple - 15
Hackberry Emperor - 20
Tawny Emperor - 7

Tawny Emperor -- CNWR HQ Unit

Silvery Checkerspot - 52

Silvery Checkerspot - Blade Loop

Silvery Checkerspot - Blade Loop -- photo: Connie Guillory

Phaon Crescent - 2
Pearl Crescent - 39
Common Buckeye - 56

Common Buckeye - Girlinghouse Road

Question Mark - 48

Question Mark - Catahoula NWR HQ Unit -- photo by Connie Guillory

Red Admiral - 4
American Lady - 1
Gemmed Satyr - 4
Carolina Satyr - 67

Carolina Satyr - Norvin Road -- photo: Connie Guillory

Common Wood-Nymph - 1
Silver-spotted Skipper - 3
Confused Cloudywing - 1
Horace's Duskywing - 5
Zarucco Duskywing - 3

apparent Zarucco Duskywing - CNWR HQ Unit

apparent Zarucco Duskywing - CNWR HQ Unit -- same one in photo below

apparent Zarucco Duskywing - same one in the photo above

duskywing sp. - 6
Common Checkered-Skipper - 18

Common Checkered-Skipper - Breithaupt Cutoff

Common Checkered-Skipper - CNWR Bushley Bayou Unit

Tropical Checkered-Skipper - 15

Tropical Checkered-Skipper -- photo by Connie Guillory

Tropical Checkered-Skipper - Norvin Road

checkered-skipper sp. - 1
Clouded Skipper - 5
Least Skipper - 3

Least Skipper - CNWR HQ Unit -- photo: Connie Guillory

Least Skipper -- CNWR HQ Unit

Least Skipper - CNWR HQ Unit -- photo: Connie Guillory

Fiery Skipper - 28

Fiery Skipper - Little River Rec. Area

Fiery Skipper - Little River Rec. Area

Whirlabout - 3

Whirlabout - Blade Loop 

Whirlabout - Blade Loop

Little Glassywing - 2

Little Glassywing on germander - Blade Loop -- photo by Connie Guillory

Dun Skipper - 12

Dun Skipper - Breitaupt Cutoff

Dun Skipper - Blade Loop

Dun Skipper - Norvin Road

Dun Skipper - Norvin Road -- photo: Connie Guillory

****
Birds
   With the summer doldrums underway, bird detection wasn't what it was during previous years' counts, which were held during May and June. However, we still heard and saw a fair assortment of birds while conducting the butterfly count. The bird highlight of the day was the flock of Wood Storks that we watched circling overhead at the NWR HQ.

Wood Storks (and what appears to be a Roseate Spoonbill) -- CNWR HQ Unit

We saw immature Common Gallinules at the French Fork Unit of the NWR, in a pond where they are traditionally found during breeding season. While in the upland areas, we didn't hear the singing of Swainson's, Worm-eating, Kentucky, and Pine Warblers, which would have been heard earlier in the breeding season.

Bird List

duck sp. - 2 in small marshy roadside pond; unable to ID while zipping down the highway
Mourning Dove -
Yellow-billed Cuckoo -
Ruby-throated Hummingbird -
Chimney Swift -
Wood Stork -
Anhinga -
Common Gallinule -
Spotted Sandpiper -
Great Egret -

Great Egret - Little River Rec. Area

Snowy Egret -
Little Blue Heron -
Cattle Egret -
Green Heron -
White Ibis -
Gossy/White-faced Ibis -
Roseate Spoonbill -
Black Vulture -
Turkey Vulture -
Red-shouldered Hawk -
Red-tailed Hawk -
Barred Owl -
Belted Kingfisher -
Red-bellied Woodpecker -
Downy Woodpecker -
Hairy Woodpecker -
Pileated Woodpecker -
Acadian Flycatcher -
Great Crested Flycatcher -
Eastern Kingbird -
White-eyed Vireo -
*possibly Yellow-throated Vireo -
Red-eyed Vireo -
Blue Jay -
American Crow -
Purple Martin -
Barn Swallow -
Cliff Swallow -
Carolina Chickadee -
Tufted Titmouse -
Carolina Wren -
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher -
Wood Thrush -
Northern Mockingbird -
European Starling -
Eastern Towhee -
Yellow-breasted Chat -
Red-winged Blackbird -
Common Grackle -
Prothonotary Warbler -
Common Yellowthroat -
Hooded Warbler -
Northern Parula -
Summer Tanager -
Northern Cardinal -
Blue Grosbeak -
Indigo Bunting -
Painted Bunting -

****
Mammals 

Eastern Cottontail -
Eastern Gray Squirrel -
Eastern Fox Squirrel -

Herps

Fowler's Toad -
Blanchard's Cricket Frog -
Green Treefrog -
Cope's Gray Treefrog -
Green (Bronze) Frog -
Southern Leopard Frog -

Southern Leopard Frog - CNWR HQ Unit -- photo by Connie Guillory

Green Anole -
*possible* Prairie Lizard -
Pond Slider -

Fishes

shiner/minnow (Cyprinid) sp. -
Western Mosquitofish -
Blackstripe/Blackspotted Topminnow -
Largemouth/Spotted Bass -

Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)
   There will probably be additions to list.

Blue-tipped Dancer -

a pair of Blue-tipped Dancers -- photo: Connie Guillory

Blue-tipped Dancer

Powdered Dancer -

Powdered Dancer -- photo by Connie Guillory

Powdered Dancer -- photo: Connie Guillory

Ebony Jewelwing -

a pair of Ebony Jewelwings in heart-shaped mating stance -- photo by Connie Guillory

Ebony Jewelwing -- photo by Connie Guillory

Jade Clubtail -

Jade Clubtail - Little River Rec. Area -- photo by Connie Guillory

darner sp. -
possible emerald sp. -
Yellow-sided Skimmer -
Slatey Skimmer -

adult Slatey Skimmer -- photo by Connie Guillory

immature Slatey Skimmer - Catahoula NWR HQ Unit -- photo: Connie Guillory

Great Blue Skimmer -
skimmer sp. -
Little Blue Dragonlet -

Little Blue Dragonlet -- photo by Connie Guillory

Amanda's Pennant -

Amanda's Pennant - Norvin Road -- photo by Connie Guillory

Amanda's Pennant -- photo: Connie Guillory

Halloween Pennant -
Eastern Pondhawk -

female or immature male Eastern Pondhawk cannibalizing another Ea. Pondhawk -- photo: Connie Guillory

male Eastern Pondhawk - between young and adult coloring -- photo: Connie Guillory

Common Whitetail -

male Common Whitetail in transition from immature to adult color pattern -- photo: Connie Guillory

male Common Whitetail - Little River Rec. Area -- photo: Connie Guillory

Eastern Amberwing -

female Eastern Amberwing -- photo by Connie Guillory

male Eastern Amberwing -- photo by Connie Guillory

Black Saddlebags -
Carolina Saddlebags -

Moths
   These are just a few that I recognized, thought I recognized, or managed to get a picture of.

Black-bordered Lemon Moth -

Black-bordered Lemon Moth - Little River Rec. Area

Snowy Urola -

tentative ID: Snowy Urola -- Norvin Road

possible Vetch Looper or similar sp. -

possibly a Vetch Looper -- Blade Loop

"Grass Veneer" type moth -
other moth spp. (photos; not yet ID-ed) -

TBD - Catahoula NWR HQ Unit

TBD - Little River Recreation Area

Wildflowers
   Just some that I recall seeing.

Coreopsis sp. -
Vernonia sp. -
Brazilian Verbena -
Whiteleaf Mountianmint -
Sneezeweed -
Bidens sp. -
Justicia sp. -
"swamp" milkweed sp. (Asclepias) -

milkweed sp. -- Catahoula NWR HQ Unit

Swamp Leatherflower (Clematis crispa) -
Japanese Honeysuckle -
Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans) -
Buttonbush -
Germander -
Heliotrope sp. -
assorted Fabaceae -
...among others

   As always, if you spot any incorrect ID or have suggestions for those I'm unsure about, feel free to let me know.
   There will probably be an edit updating some info soon, but I wanted to go ahead and get it posted before tooo much time had passed.

Question Mark - CNWR HQ Unit -- photo: Connie Guillory

************************