Weston Lake Loop Trail

At Naturefest, I had talked with Marcus Houtchings about a couple large oaks accessible from the Weston Lake Trail--he said they were quite close to the western "arm" of Weston Lake slough and not difficult to find. I have had several over-scheduled weekends lately, so I took a little time off from work to find the oak trees, do some birding, and try out our new camera. The Ovenbird I had heard along the entrance road during Dawn Chorus was still there, though the Kentucky Warbler has finally stopped singing. There were several Richland One school buses in the parking lot, and things were lively around the Visitor's Center. I headed down Sims Trail to Weston Lake on a warm humid Spring day; bird song was plentiful, though I never did encounter much in the way of migrant species other than Black-throated Blue Warblers, which seem to spread themselves throughout the park during migration.

The hunt club clearing had an impressive number of American Snouts on the road surface, along with a few Question Marks (look for a new feature on these journal entries--butterfly lists!); the Indigo Bunting that's usually present wasn't singing, but I did see a male and female bunting working their way through the foliage at the eastern end of the clearing, and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird was gathering nesting material from the meadow.

I hiked down Weston Lake Trail to the point at which Cedar Creek rejoins the trail; I then backtracked halfway to where the slough crosses the trail and quickly found a very large Swamp Chestnut Oak; a large Cherrybark Oak was just a little farther southwest. It's easy to understand why John Cely organized a big tree walk in this area; there are plenty of large attractive oaks and sweetgums to see. The hike back was uneventful, though thunder threatened and it was hard to find a good crossing close to Weston Lake with plentiful water still in the slough.

Bird List

• Turkey Vulture 1
• Mississippi Kite 3
• Red-shouldered Hawk 2
• Mourning Dove 1
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo 4
• Barred Owl 4
• Chimney Swift 9
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
• Red-headed Woodpecker 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker 9
• Downy Woodpecker 3
• Pileated Woodpecker 4
• Eastern Wood-Pewee 3
• Acadian Flycatcher 12
• Great Crested Flycatcher 16
• White-eyed Vireo 12
• Yellow-throated Vireo 1
• Red-eyed Vireo 29
• American Crow 1
• Carolina Chickadee 12
• Tufted Titmouse 8
• White-breasted Nuthatch 3
• Carolina Wren 15
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 18
• Wood Thrush 2
• Northern Parula 71
• Black-throated Blue Warbler 4
• Yellow-throated Warbler 11
• Pine Warbler 3
• Prothonotary Warbler 13
• Ovenbird 1
• Louisiana Waterthrush 1
• Hooded Warbler 1
• Summer Tanager 7
• Northern Cardinal 19
• Indigo Bunting 3

Butterfly List

• Palamedes Swallowtail 1
• Black Swallowtail 1
• Zebra Swallowtail 1
• Red-spotted Purple 2
• Common Buckeye 1
• Spring Azure 1
• Carolina Satyr 4
• Gemmed Satyr 1
• Southern Pearly-eye 4
• Question Mark 2
• American Snout 36
• Pearl Crescent 1
• Clouded Skipper 1
• Emperor species 1