This annual review will be completed before the end of the year. Pinky promise! Once a month I serve a little church in St. Joseph, Louisiana. Occasionally, I leave after coffee hour, go just a tiny jog back south on Hwy 65 to head west on Hwy 4 to enter the southern most edge of Big Lake WMA and meander north toward home. So it was that September 7, 2025, the road ditches were full of blooming Ironweed (Vernonia spp.) and other wildflowers. Butterflies were everywhere. I did not actually count individuals, but a quick search of iNaturalist shows me…
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August: Butterflies Galore
It’s the hottest month of the year in Louisiana, and the butterflies love it! Actually, July is just as hot, but by August we’re really tired of it, so maybe it just seems worse. Whatever. Don’t get hooked on butterfly counting if you can’t take the heat. As August approached last summer, I set out to do some butterfly counting on my own. I had learned that Morehouse Parish, which neighbors my home Ouachita Parish, was “under-reported” when it comes to butterflies. In other words, not much butterfly counting has been done there and so the list of known species…
July: Fungi Frolic
Things to notice the next time you go into the woods: How some gilled mushrooms age and die quite beautifully by turning their caps inside out. Stray rays of sunlight filtering through the trees sculpt the exposed gills and provide a perfect mountain trail for a tiny red hiker. The Gulf South Mycological Society typically conducts a Summer Foray in July. I attend the Friday night & Saturday portions when I can, and join a bunch of other fun and interesting people crazy enough to go into the woods in July and sweat profusely whilst looking for mushrooms. Last summer…
June: The Best
For the past several summers, I have gone butterfly counting as often as possible. This year is no different. I’ll be back in Arkansas where I made this photo in a few weeks. Last year in June I was with the usual crew counting butterflies at the “Rick Evans” Grandview Prairie Nature Center near Hope, Ark. It was the best count ever! At least the best in my relatively short career as a butterfly counter. Prairies are wonderful butterfly habitat, and we saw lots. But the best sighting of the day, for me, at least, was this little beauty. Only…
May: Dauphin Island Adventure
In May, I spent a few days on Dauphin Island–always a good time! But that trip I had a cold that wouldn’t quit, so one afternoon, instead of walking beaches and bird sanctuaries and neighborhoods as usual, I went to the marina and got on a “Lighthouse, Shrimping, Dolphin” boat tour. Turns out the dolphins were all vacationing in the Bahamas and the sea was too rough to go out to the lighthouse. Nevertheless…. it happened that the smallish group on the boat included a family of seven: mom, dad, a babe in arms, and four kids ranging in age…
