Scouting Expedition: Goff Basin, Pascagoula WMA, 26 July 2014

IBWOH's:  Brian and Chris Carlisle.

Summary:  Crossing the Pascagoula River eastward from Benndale along Highway 26, one may see Crossroads Free Pentecostal Church.  Turning right there, onto Basin Road, Brian and I found this oxbow lake some miles to the south.  This part of the WMA off the east bank of the Pascagoula is called Goff Basin, really a series of oxbows that appear to flood with the spring rains.  The WMA map shows most of the lakes being private, but this one has public access.  An older gentleman was putting his boat in as Brian and I readied for our hike; by the time we returned some hours later, four or five others had joined him.  The surrounding forest is dominated by cypress, interspersed with many large oaks and hickories.  This is second- and third-growth, mixed bottomland; and while we encountered many good-sized trees, very few of them approach in magnificence Treebeard and Leaflock, in the Leaf Wilderness a bit farther north, or the dead Red Swamp Giant off the west bank.  Oaks are by far the biggest type here.  

     We saw no snakes or alligators, but crossed paths with no less than three box turtles.  Observed bird life was limited to great blue heron, little blue heron, what I believe to have been hooded warblers, cardinals, a yellow-billed cuckoo (first one I've seen in many years), and a lone white ibis.  A raccoon was the only mammal we came across.

     Insects included damselflies, large dragonflies, and a big beetle who was in a hurry to get somewhere.  We had no difficulty with biting insects, possibly due to the ubiquitous spiderwebs throughout the bottoms.  The day was not particularly hot, but the humidity was off the charts, bordering oppressive.

     We heard no kent-calls or double-knocks, and saw and heard nothing in response to our own crude DK's.

Water oak. 

Empty musselshells and crayfish carapaces litter the forest floor.  

 The bayou has dropped several feet since the Spring.  Old trot lines hung from the trees above our heads, indicating the entire area is submerged through much of the year.

Impressive cavity in a living cypress, one of few cavities I observed. 

 The going is easy this time of year, although the deep-channeled bayous and streams required us to take large detours upstream in search of suitable fords.

"Spiders, Gandalf..." 

 Orange fungus.

 Feeder stream flowing into the lake.  The water was quite cool.

Willow oak, the only mature one I have ever seen, though their saplings are abundant. 

 Sandy wash, near the Pascagoula.  

River birch, the only species of birch that grows this far southeast.  Goodly numbers of them grow in the sandy wash, among the cypress and sycamores.  We did not encounter them anywhere else in Goff Basin.

Reddish-brown stag beetle, Lucanus capreolus (Thanks to Fred Virazzi for the identification, and to Mark Michaels).

We spotted this heavily scaled dead tree in a nearby swamp as we were leaving. 

Brian using his inhaler.  Not really.  He was making owl-noises in response to a Barred Owl calling in the distance.     

Neither, hopefully, is the Lord God Bird.  (We are men of Reason, but also of Faith-based Ornithology.)  West of Lucedale, Hwy. 26, near Basin Central Rd.

Conclusions:  The Goff Basin area holds promise due not to any preponderance of large, dead and dying trees:  rather, I think it is both for the large number of oak and hickory (significant sources of mast), and for the openness of the bottomland forest itself.

     As I have mentioned before, the Pascagoula and its tributaries (the Leaf and the Chickasawhay) is the longest undammed river system in the lower 48 states.  As Brian and I meandered through the bottomland off its east bank, the significance of this for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker really became apparent to me -- significance which has, in my opinion, been a bit underappreciated, and should be a factor to be considered in any survey of potential IBWO habitat.  The annual flooding leaves considerable swathes of open woodland, of the kind that has elsewhere been mentioned as important for the IBWO flight manner, more free of saplings and brush that would otherwise obstruct its flight paths.  Jerome Jackson, in remarks about IBWO habitat in Cuba, stated, "The ivory-billed woodpecker has obviously existed in diverse habitats, the common threads being old-growth forest and extensive, unbroken forest.  I would add to these obvious characteristics the importance of open forest." (In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Chapter 10, p. 215:  "Cuba")  

     The freedom of the River to "breathe" may be what makes the Pascagoula system unique among potential Ivory-billed habitat.  I am glad I live close enough to make fairly regular surveys of this magnificent region, and every foray strengthens my hope that one day, I may see Ivory Bill.