Colfax Rec. Area, Iatt Lake, and Kisatchie National Forest Grant Parish -- 1/12/2020

Loggerhead Shrikes at Colfax rec. area / lock & dam 3

Related Posts:
 - Kisatchie NF Grant Parish, 8/24/19
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/09/kisatchie-nf-grant-parish-and-camp.html
- KNF GP, 5/27/19
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/06/back-to-kisatchie-national-forest-grant.html
- KNF GP, 5/18/19
https://falloutbird2014.blogspot.com/2019/05/kisatchie-national-forest-in-grant.html
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   Colfax Recreational Area is one of those locations I've been meaning to bird but just never got around to until now. On January 4 Connie Guillory saw and photographed a male Vermilion Flycatcher at this location, as well as a couple of sparrow species that I'd not been able to find yet this winter season (Fox Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow). I figured this was a good enough excuse to head on over to the Colfax Rec. Area.
   The Colfax Recreational Area (including the RV park, the small picnic/rec area by the lock & dam, and the short road between LA-158 and the rec. area) is situated on the Red River and is divided between Natchitoches Parish and Grant Parish. This is west of LA-158 just north of Colfax. This location offers a nice mix of habitats (as seen in habitat shots below) and I was impressed with the birding there.

road to rec. area and lock & dam

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at the rec. area ...

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Fox Sparrow location

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crossing over to the "island" where the lock and dam is

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the part of the rec. area on the island

   I searched for the Vermilion Flycatcher first in the area it had been reported (around boat launch and northwest corner of rec. area) and occasionally played the audio of the bird's calls while I walked all around the rec. area and RV park. I did not relocate the Vermilion Flycatcher, but I did find the Fox Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows and a decent assortment of other birds, 46 species in total.

Fox Sparrow -- edge of brush at NW corner of rec. area

White-crowned Sparrows

White-crowned Sparrows

Below is the list for this location. After that, we move on to other Grant Parish locations.

Colfax Recreational Area
Natchitoches Parish and Grant Parish
7:50 am; 3 hrs, 50 mins; 1.5 miles
39-42 F.; overcast; cold breeze

Snow Goose - 845 (flocks flying upriver)
Pied-billed Grebe - 1
Rock Pigeon - 11
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 4
Mourning Dove - 4
Killdeer - 4

Killdeer

Double-crested Cormorant - 14
Great Blue Heron - 1
Great Egret - 3
Black Vulture - 8
Turkey Vulture - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 6
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
American Kestrel - 1

female American Kestrel

female American Kestrel

Eastern Phoebe - 3

Eastern Phoebe

Loggerhead Shrike - 4

Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike

Blue Jay - 3
American Crow - 20

American Crow

Carolina Chickadee - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3
Carolina Wren - 4
European Starling - 7
Northern Mockingbird - 9
Eastern Bluebird - 7
Cedar Waxwing - 24
House Sparrow - 2
American Pipit - 2
Purple/House? Finch - 2
American Goldfinch - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 3
Fox Sparrow - 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 1
White-crowned Sparrow - 4
White-throated Sparrow - 7
Savannah Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 10
Swamp Sparrow - 7

Swamp Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird - 130

Red-winged Blackbirds

Red-winged Blackbirds

Common Grackle - 13
Common Yellowthroat - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 10
Northern Cardinal - 10

   After leaving Colfax, I went to the Iatt Lake Dam site, located 2.8 miles down Iatt Dam Road, north of LA-8 a few miles east of Colfax in Grant Parish. I birded some along Iatt Dam Road, finding expected species.

Iatt Dam Road

Iatt Dam Road

   Once at the dam site, birding was quite good. I birded mostly on foot, covering the boat launch at the east end of the dam, and the dam down to the spillway, for a distance of a quarter of a mile. If birding here, please be mindful of the houses near the boat launch.

boat launch beside the dam

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Iatt Lake Dam

woods on downstream side of dam...

there were Winter Wrens and Song and White-throated Sparrows on the forest floor here; Pileated Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and Red-shouldered Hawks in the woods

Iatt Lake

end of the line -- Bayou Rigolette below spillway -- The weedy area on the left is where the Lincoln's Sparrow was.

the spillway

   There was an adult Bald Eagle soaring over the lake.

Bald Eagle

There were do ducks on the part of the lake that I could see, but other water birds included five Pied-billed Grebes hanging out close to shore, more than a couple of dozen Double-crested Cormorants dividing their time between feeding in Bayou Rigolette downstream from the dam and resting in trees far out in the lake, and a couple of Great Egrets and a Great Blue Heron.
   Land birds at the boat launch included four Inca Doves (a first for my personal Grant Parish list), a Common Yellowthroat in the brush beside the water, and White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. Traveling along the top of the dam, I could hear and see Winter Wrens, Song Sparrows, and other birds in the weeds and deadfall in the woods on the downstream side of the dam.

Orange-crowned Warbler beside the lake

 I walked down to the base of the dam near the spillway and bayou and found a good sparrow spot in the wet weedy area there. Besides the Song Sparrows and Swamp Sparrow, a different call alerted me to the presence of a Lincoln's Sparrow. These birds can be scarce in this part of the state during winter, so with a little pishing I drew it out of cover long enough to be photographed for documentation.

Lincoln's Sparrow

Iatt Lake Dam Site
Grant Parish
11:47 am; 1 hr, 40 min; 0.25 miles
47 - ~52 F.; sunny; some light breeze

Pied-billed Grebe - 5
Inca Dove - 4

Inca Doves

Killdeer - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 28
Great Blue Heron - 1
Great Egret - 2

Great Egret below the spillway

Turkey Vulture - 4
Bald Eagle - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 4
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
Northern Flicker - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Winter Wren - 2

Winter Wren

Carolina Wren - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 1
American Goldfinch - 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 9
Song Sparrow - 6
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1

Lincoln's Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 1

Common Yellowthroat

Pine Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 5
Northern Cardinal - 5

   I spent the rest of the afternoon birding in a familiar patch of Kisatchie National Forest between Bentley and Pollock in Grant Parish. I started at the Catahoula Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden and environs. Conditions were sunny and without much wind to speak of.

in the butterfly garden

open area west of garden

pines SW of garden

FS Rd 147 (Work Center Rd)

   I found the usual assortment of birds in the garden and adjacent weedy field and open big pines southwest of the garden. The weeds held Song and Swamp Sparrows, a Sedge Wren and House Wren; the pines were busy with a noisily foraging group of Brown-headed Nuthatches and other arboreal songbirds. I count Work Center Rd (FS Rd 147) as part of this location, and found additional species there. These included a Gray Catbird in the dense underbrush where the road passes through woods, and my first Pine Siskin of the season calling as it flew from a tree overhead.
   I continued down FS Rd 146, which connects FS 147 to Stuart Lake Road. Species here included a Northern Harrier patrolling over the rolling meadow and an Eastern Meadowlark singing in the edge of the pines on the east side or the road there.

FS Rd 146

FS Rd 146

   I birded Stuart Lake Rd from there to LA-8.

Stuart Lake Rd habitat shots...

Stuart Lake Rd

Stuart Lake Rd

Stuart Lake Rd

Stuart Lake Rd

The highlight of Stuart Lake Road was getting to watch a family of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. There was an active nest beside the road this past breeding season which I watched the birds at during late spring visits. The birds on this recent visit were calling loudly when I drew even with the nest tree. I got out and watched as four or these woodpeckers foraged in the pines on either side of the road.

   After a few minutes I saw one of the woodpeckers go into the nest tree (nest cavities also double as roosts) and not come back out. I realized about this time that the other woodpeckers had also gone silent, presumably having gone into some of the other marked trees nearby. This was at about 4:35 p.m.

the nest/roost tree

   Below is the list of birds from the Kisatchie NF portion of the day's birding.
 
Kisatchie National Forest Catahoula Ranger District
(three locations: Catahoula Hummingbird & Butterfly Garden environs including Work Center Rd, FS Rd 146, and Stuart Lake Rd)
Grant Parish
CHBG etc.: 1:48 pm; 1 hr, 37 min; 0.9 miles; sunny; 53 F.; some light breeze
FS 146: 3:25 pm; 30 min; 1 mile; 55 F.; sunny; not much wind
SL Rd: 3:55 pm; 1 hr, 30 mins; 3 miles; 56 F; sunny; near calm

Turkey Vulture - 2, 0, 0
Northern Harrier - 0, 1, 0
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1, 0, 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3, 3, 2
Downy Woodpecker - 1, 0, 0
Red-cockaded Woodpecker - 0, 0, 4
Pileated Woodpecker - 0, 2, 2
Northern Flicker - 1, 1, 1
Eastern Phoebe - 1, 1, 2
American Crow - 0, 1, 11
Carolina Chickadee - 1, 1, 3
Tufted Titmouse - 0, 1, 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3, 1, 0
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 7, 1, 6
House Wren - 2, 0, 0
Sedge Wren - 1, 0, 0
Carolina Wren - 5, 2, 9
Gray Catbird - 1, 0, 0
Northern Mockingbird - 1, 0, 0
Eastern Bluebird - 6, 1, 0
Hermit Thrush - 2, 1, 1
Cedar Waxwing - x, 0, 0
Pine Siskin - 1, 0, 0
American Goldfinch - 2, 1, 0
Chipping Sparrow - 1, 1, 0
White-throated Sparrow - 13, 0, 9
Song Sparrow - 3, 0, 0
Swamp Sparrow - 3, 0, 0
Eastern Towhee - 2, 0, 2
Eastern Meadlowlark - 0, 1, 0
Pine Warbler - 2, 1, 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 7, 3, 2
Northern Cardinal - 4, 0, 6

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