Catahoula Lake & Dewey W. Wills WMA (10/28/19) / Catahoula NWR (10/30/19) -- La Salle Parish

Barred Owl -- Dewey W. Wills WMA

Related Posts
 - Catahoula Lake, Sept. (w/ links to August) -
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/09/catahoula-lake-and-catahoula-nwr-982019.html

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   On October 28 I made a trip out to the south side of Catahoula Lake, after which I went by Dewey W. Wills WMA, located nearby. I began by birding Catahoula Lake Recreation Area, including the portion of Diversion Canal Road that connects LA-28 and the rec. area itself.

Diversion Canal Road

spillway/canal/rec. area

continuing down the road

boat launch parking area on lake side of spillway / dirt road to lake on right

   Bird activity was fairly good here, and in a hour I had seen or heard several personal FOS species: Golden-crowned Kinglet, House Wren, Hermit Thrush, Swamp Sparrow. Thankfully, many of the weedy areas near the road had not been mowed, and these hosted a good many birds including Common Yellowthroat, House Wren, Swamp and White-throated Sparrow, and Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak. Its getting late in the season for the grosbeaks.

Blue Grosbeak -- Catahoula Lake Rec. Area

male Common Yellowthroat

female or immature Common Yellowthroat

House Wren

   From the boat launch parking area on the lake side of the spillway, its a short walk down the gravel (then dirt) road on the right to reach the lake bed.

   Catahoula Lake was appropriately low for fall draw down, and seemed to be rising. Perhaps because it was so dry earlier in the season, there wasn't as much weedy growth as I'd seen in this part of the season some years ago.

Catahoula Lake

Catahoula Lake

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   Birds were much more scarce on the lake as well -- very disappointing compared to what could have been here. However, there were Savannah Sparrows (FOS) popping up from the grass as I walked along, and I also saw my FOS Northern Pintail, Northern Harrier, Merlin, and American Pipit.

Savannah Sparrow -- Catahoula Lake

Snowy Egrets and Plegadis ibis sp. -- Catahoula Lake

   Driving Diversion Canal Rd on the way out, I spotted a Bald Eagle. I stopped to photograph it, and at the same spot got my FOS Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Bald Eagle -- Diversion Canal Road

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

   From the point where Diversion Canal Rd crossed LA-28, its less than a mile northeast on LA-28 to Camp Bayou Road, which goes through three miles of Dewey W. Wills WMA on the south side of the highway. There's not a self-clearing kiosk at Camp Bayou Rd, so if visiting this road on the WMA you'll need to sign in at the self-clearing station at Diverison Canal Rd or at Dewey W. Wills Rd.

Camp Bayou Road habitat shots...

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Bull Bayou

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   Birding on Camp Bayou Rd was good and I added Winter Wren to the list of FOS species seen this day. Thankfully the roadsides had not been mowed here either and the weeds held a good many birds, including Indigo Bunting, Common Yellowthroat, House Wren, and Swamp Sparrow.

male Common Yellowthroat

   A couple of late summer/migrant species were seen: Northern Parula and what appears to me to be a Summer Tanager (definitely a tanager -- Summer and Scarlet presumably the two most likely options). The terrible lighting made diagnostic photos hard to get, but I got a couple of poor quality images of the tanager.

presumed Summer Tanager

presumed Summer Tanager

   A Barred Owl by the roadside...

Barred Owl

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Barred Owl

   Below are the bird lists for these three locations. After that is a run-down of some of the other wildlife seen on this outing. Following that is an account of birds and other wildlife seen on October 30 at Catahoula NWR Headquarters Unit.

Catahoula Lake Rec. Area, 10/28/2019
8:14 a.m.; 1 hr, 6 mins; 1.3 miles
Conditions: 61 F.; overcast; near calm

Wood Duck - 1
Great Blue Heron - 1
Great Egret - 65
Snowy Egret - 15
Turkey Vulture - 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 4
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 4
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1 (FOS)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
House Wren - 3 (FOS)
Carolina Wren - 3
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Hermit Thrush - 1 (FOS)
White-throated Sparrow - 4
Swamp Sparrow - 5 (FOS)
Eastern Towhee - 2
Common Yellowthroat - 4
Northern Cardinal - 12
Blue Grosbeak - 3
Indigo Bunting - 3
passerine sp. - 2
additional species, detected at 11:15 a.m.: Bald Eagle - 1; Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1 (FOS)


Catahoula Lake, 10/28/2019
9:21 a.m., 1 hr, 33 mins; 1 mile
Conditions: low 60's F.; overcast; calm, light breeze

Northern Pintail - 24 (FOS)
duck sp. - 100
Black-necked Stilt - 9
Pectoral Sandpiper - 3
Greater Yellowlegs - 9
Great Blue Heron - 3
Great Egret - 15
Snowy Egret - 3
Plegadis ibis sp. (White-faced or Glossy?) - 40
Roseate Spoonbill - 10
Northern Harrier - 1 (FOS)

Northern Harrier -- Catahoula Lake

Bald Eagle - 2
Northern Flicker - 1
Merlin - 1 (FOS)
Eastern Phoebe - 2
American Crow - 1
Tree Swallow - 4
Barn Swallow - 4
American Pipit - 2 (FOS)
Savannah Sparrow - 14 (FOS)
Swamp Sparrow - 1
Red-winged Blackbird - 8
passerine sp. - 1

Dewey W. Wills WMA, 10/28/2019
11:32 a.m.; 1 hr 37 mins; 3 miles
Conditions: 63 - 64 F.; overcast; calm, light breeze

Great Blue Heron - 1
Black Vulture - 2
Turkey Vulture - 4

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Barred Owl - 3

Barred Owl

Red-headed Woodpecker - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 12
Downy Woodpecker - 5
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 5
Northern Flicker - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 11

Eastern Phoebe -- Camp Bayou Rd

American Crow - 7
Carolina Chickadee - 19
Tufted Titmouse - 15
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 2
House Wren - 7
Winter Wren - 3 (FOS)

Winter Wren -- Camp Bayou Rd.

Carolina Wren - 18
Brown Thrasher - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Hermit Thrush - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 4
Swamp Sparrow - 4
Common Yellowthroat - 5

male Common Yellowthroat -- Camp Bayou Rd

Northern Parula - 1
*Summer Tanager - 1
Northern Cardinal - 21
Blue Grosbeak - 1
Indigo Bunting - 14

Indigo Bunting -- Camp Bayou Rd

   Not a whole lot was stirring besides the birds. A few Fox Squirrels were out and about in various locations. I saw a spotted White-tailed Deer fawn at Dewey W. Wills WMA. With the clouds and cool temps., butterflies were understandably not very active. I saw a few Common Buckeyes and a Common Checkered-Skipper on Catahoula Lake.

Common Checkered-Skipper -- Catahoula Lake

Butterflies were starting to fly a little more while I was at Camp Bayou Rd. Species here included: Common Checkered-Skipper, Little Yellow, Sleepy Orange, Red-banded Hairsstreak, Gulf Fritillary, and Pearl Crescent.

Little Yellow -- Camp Bayou Rd

Red-banded Hairstreak -- Camp Bayou Rd

Pearl Crescent -- Camp Bayou Rd

   As far as moths go, there were what appeared to Epipagis fenestralis [formerly huronalis], Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth, and Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth, among others that I didn't recognize.

Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth ventral view -- Catahoula Lake

Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth dorsal view -- Catahoula Lake

   Some wildflowers...

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) -- Camp Bayou Rd.

false foxglove sp. (Agalinis sp.) -- Camp Bayou Rd.

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   I went to Catahoula NWR Headquarters Unit on 10/30. I birded driving the length of the refuge loop, making many stops and taking a few short walks along the road.

north end of Duck Lake

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west leg of the refuge loop (recently reopened after repairs to flood damage), which parallels Cowpen Bayou

Cowpen Bayou

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one of the sloughs/backwater areas along south leg of the loop

woods along east leg of loop

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   Birding was moderately good this trip, though water bird numbers and diversity were very poor (two individual ducks!). Likely this has changed greatly since the big Halloween cold front.
   Winter land birds were in better numbers. Many of the expected woodland winter species had arrived, if still in small numbers: species such as Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Winter Wren, and Hermit Thrush.

Hermit Thrush

I did not detect any Gold-crowned Kinglets, though they are a very common species on the NWR once they've arrived in full force. I haven't had Brown Creeper and Blue-headed Vireo -- two more members of the winter woodland mixed flock club that are pretty easy to find on the NWR -- yet this season.
   Skulking in the weeds were a few sparrows, though in much lower numbers than what could be/ will be present. Because of recent mowing of roadsides, there was also less habitat for these sorts of birds, though enough weedy and brushy areas remained to attract some. I saw my FOS Orange-crowned Warblers, as well as several House Wrens and Common Yellowthroats, in weedy/brushy areas beside the lake and the backwater. A few Indigo Buntings were in the weeds as well.

 (video: Orange-crowned Warbler foraging -- north end of Duck Lake)

   I did get lucky and have a couple of nice long looks at birds of prey on this day as well. These were a Merlin at the north end of Duck Lake and a Barred Owl along the west leg of the refuge loop.

Merlin

Barred Owl

Barred Owl

   Below is the bird list for this trip to Catahoula NWR HQ Unit, followed by lists of some of the other wildlife seen while out there.

Catahoula NWR HQ Unit, 10/30/2019
9:14 a.m.; 3 hr, 28 mins; 9.1 miles
68 - 73 F.; overcast, then cloudy with occasional breaks of sun; wind calm to light breeze

Birds
Wood Duck - 1
duck sp. - 1 (Blue-winged Teal?)
Mourning Dove - 2
Killdeer - 2
Greater Yellowlegs - 1
Anhinga - 1

Anhinga -- Cowpen Bayou, a reliable place to find these birds throughout the winter season at which time they can be scarce in this area of the state

Great Blue Heron - 9
Great Egret - 3
Snowy Egret - 1
Turkey Vulture - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Eastern Screech-Owl - 1
Barred Owl - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 5
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 5
Northern Flicker - 9
Merlin - 1

Eastern Phoebe - 26
Blue Jay - 6
American Crow - 9
Carolina Chickadee - 18
Tufted Titmouse - 13
Tree Swallow - 9
Barn Swallow - 2
swallow sp. - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 5
House Wren - 6
Winter Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 9
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Hermit Thrush - 2

Hermit Thrush

Chipping Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 1
Savannah Sparrow - 2
Swamp Sparrow - 1
Eastern Towhee - 1

Eastern Towhee

Red-winged Blackbird - 5
Orange-crowned Warbler - 2 (FOS)
Common Yellowthroat - 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 3
Northern Cardinal - 17
Indigo Bunting - 3

Mammals
Eastern Fox Squirrel, Northern Raccoon

Herps
Green Treefrog; American Alligator, Pond Slider

juvenile American Alligator

American Alligators

Butterflies
Long-tailed Skipper, Common Checkered-Skipper, checkered-skipper sp., Little Yellow, Cloudless Sulphur, Monarch, Gulf Fritillary, Pearl Crescent

Long-tailed Skipper

Common Checkered-Skipper

   As always, if you spot any incorrect IDs or have suggestions for those that I'm unsure about, feel free to let me know.

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