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| Gulf Fritillary - Willow Lake Unit |
Related Posts:
- Catahoula NWR Count 2019, with links back to previous years -
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We held the Catahoula NWR NABA Butterfly Count on August 1st this year. The count organizer was Craig Marks, and there were 9 participants: J. Clark, B. Kaufman, C. Marks, B. Moon, D. Patton, R. Seidler, J. Trahan, J. Trahan, P. Wallace. Due to the COVID situation, with did things a little differently this year. Parties traveling together on the count stayed in separate vehicles, and of course folks were careful to maintain a safe distance from one another when butterflying the same area on foot. The participants divided up into from 2 to 5 parties, depending on location and time.
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| Tropical Checkered-Skipper - Catahoula NWR HQ Unit |
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| Little Yellow - HQ Unit |
The count circle is centered at the NWR HQ and covers an area 15 miles in diameter in La Salle and Catahoula Parishes. This includes the Headquarters, Willow Lake, and French Fork Units of the NWR and portions of the Bushley Bayou Unit, as well as many areas not on the refuge. Much of the circle is bottomlands, with the habitats including bottomland hardwood forest, secondgrowth, fields, wetlands and bodies of water. There's also significant upland areas in the northern part of the circle, where the dominant habitat is "piney-woods"--largely pine plantation--with hardwood creek bottoms. Less of the upland area is accessible to the public, being mostly private land and with houses along much of the public roads. Areas we covered this year include the Headquarters, Willow Lake, French Fork (Muddy Bayou Rd) and Bushley Bayou (Minnow Ponds Rd and Dry Bayou Rd) Units of Catahoula NWR, the Archie/Little River Recreation Area, and for the uplands Blade Loop Road.
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| Carolina Satyr - Blade Loop |
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| Ocola Skipper - French Fork Unit |
Habitat Shots:
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| HQ Unit - refuge loop - photo taken 7/25 |
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| ditto |
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| HQ Unit - Mosquito Bend - count day |
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| Mosquito Bend Rd - 7/25 |
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| HQ Unit - road to east side of Duck Lake - count day |
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| HQ Unit - refuge loop at N end of Duck Lake - 6/29 |
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| Willow Lake Unit - count day |
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| ditto |
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| Blade Loop - 7/25 |
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| Blade Loop - count day |
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| Bushley Bayou Unit - Minnow Ponds Rd - 7/25 |
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| BB Unit - impoundments/levees by Minnow Ponds Rd - count day |
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| ditto |
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| BB Unit - Dry Bayou Rd/Green's Creek bridge - 7/12 |
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| BB Unit - Dry Bayou Rd - 7/12 |
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| ditto |
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| French Fork Unit - Muddy Bayou Rd at LA-28 - count day |
This year's count had an inauspicious beginning, with overcast skies and a drizzling rain for a little while. Butterflies were generally hard to come by for the first couple of hours. However, the rain stopped soon enough, and before noon the skies were sunny. With the sun came the butterflies, and we ended up with a decent number of individuals and species.
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| bottom-to-top: Southern Dogface, Cloudless Sulphur, Horace's Duskywing - puddling at Willow Lake Unit |
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| Southern Dogface and Cloudless Sulphur - Willow Lake Unit |
Zebra Swallowtail, seen by the Trahans, was a new species for the Catahoula count. The 85 Gulf Fritillaries seen this time was a high count for this species on the Catahoula NWR count. Silvery Checkerspots (found in the upland area) were much less common this year than on the 2019 count when they were surprisingly numerous.
The complete list is below (compiled by Craig).
9:30 am - 5:00 pm
9 observers; party-hours 30, party-miles on foot 7
37 species, 950 individuals
Silver-spotted Skipper - 5
Long-tailed Skipper - 1
Horace's Duskywing - 42
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| Horace's Duskywing - Willow Lake Unit |
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| Common Checkered-Skipper - French Fork Unit |
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| Tropical Checkered-Skipper nectaring on Sida - HQ Unit |
Least Skipper - 7
Fiery Skipper - 80
Dun Skipper - 2
Ocola Skipper - 2
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| Ocola Skipper - French Fork Unit |
Pipevine Swallowtail - 7
Zebra Swallowtail - 1
Black Swallowtail - 5
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| male Black Swallowtail - French Fork Unit |
Spicebush Swallowtail - 1
Orange Sulphur - 1
Southern Dogface - 4
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| Southern Dogface - Willow Lake Unit |
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| Southern Dogface (and Cloudless Sulphur) - Willow Lake Unit |
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| Southern Dogface - Willow Lake Unit |
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| female Cloudless Sulphur - French Fork Unit |
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| Little Yellow - Blade Loop |
Gray Hairstreak - 4
Red-banded Hairstreak - 5
American Snout - 1
Monarch - 1
Gulf Fritillary - 85
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| Gulf Fritillary - Willow Lake Unit |
Variegated Fritillary - 16
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| Variegated Fritillary - levee of shallow water impoundments by Minnow Ponds Rd, BB Unit |
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| ditto |
Silvery Checkerspot - 6
Phaon Crescent - 35
Pearl Crescent - 82
Pearl Crescent - 82
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| Pearl Crescent - HQ Unit |
Question Mark - 9
Common Buckeye - 53
'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple - 41
Viceroy - 15
Goatweed Leafwing - 15
Common Buckeye - 53
'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple - 41
Viceroy - 15
Goatweed Leafwing - 15
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| Goatweed Leafwing on Goatweed - Willow Lake Unit |
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| ditto |
Hackberry Emperor - 6
Gemmed Satyr - 1
Carolina Satyr - 48
Birds (Jonathan Clark), all locations combined (did not go to Archie Rec. Area)
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Spotted Sandpiper
Wood Stork
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
White Ibis
Glossy/White-faced Ibis
Carolina Satyr - 48
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| Carolina Satyr - HQ Unit |
Birds (Jonathan Clark), all locations combined (did not go to Archie Rec. Area)
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Spotted Sandpiper
Wood Stork
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
White Ibis
Glossy/White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
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| Roseate Spoonbills - HQ Unit |
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Mississippi Kite
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Acadian Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
swallow sp.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Carolina Wren
Wood Thrush
Eastern Towhee
Common Grackle
Yellow-breasted Chat
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Northern Parula
Summer Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Turkey Vulture
Mississippi Kite
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Acadian Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
swallow sp.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Carolina Wren
Wood Thrush
Eastern Towhee
Common Grackle
Yellow-breasted Chat
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Northern Parula
Summer Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Other participants may have had additional spp.
Raccoons were out and about, with several seen including a mother with two kits. Video below is one seen on Mosquito Bend Rd on HQ Unit.
Herps detected include Fowler's Toad, Blanchard's Cricket Frog, Cope's Gray Treefrog, Green Treefrog, Squirrel Treefrog, Southern Leopard Frog; Pond Slider. Other participants may have had additional spp.
At a small spring-water stream in the upland area I spotted several fish species, including, madtom sp. (small catfish), Striped Shiner, Creek Chub, shiner/minnow (Cyprinid) sp., Western Mosquitofish, and either Blackspotted or Blackstripe Topminnows.
Raccoons were out and about, with several seen including a mother with two kits. Video below is one seen on Mosquito Bend Rd on HQ Unit.
Herps detected include Fowler's Toad, Blanchard's Cricket Frog, Cope's Gray Treefrog, Green Treefrog, Squirrel Treefrog, Southern Leopard Frog; Pond Slider. Other participants may have had additional spp.
At a small spring-water stream in the upland area I spotted several fish species, including, madtom sp. (small catfish), Striped Shiner, Creek Chub, shiner/minnow (Cyprinid) sp., Western Mosquitofish, and either Blackspotted or Blackstripe Topminnows.
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| madtom sp. |
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| tentative ID: young Striped Shiner |
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| Cloudless Sulphur (left) and Southern Dogface - Willow Lake Unit |
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