Any day that you see an Alligator with prey is a very exciting day! ULM Prof. Emeritus of Biology Dr. John L. Carr and ULM Biology students hit the crocodilian jackpot! The recent drought has drained many sloughs adjoining the Ouachita River, concentrating the Alligator population in the river for scientific observation and delectation!
This is an emergent article with multiple contributors’ perpectives – it may be updated further!
The Charles Allen Nature Preserve is a patch of protected and managed woodland habitat beside the Ouachita River near Columbia with varied habitats in a dramatic topography that powers the diverse flora, fauna and funga higher into the vertical column than most places in Louisiana, affording plenty of gradients and spring-fed hydration in the drought. The mighty Ouachita River serves as a wildlife corridor, connecting Louisiana’s varied biodiversity!
Led by students, faculty and subject matter experts such as eminent botanist Dr. Charles Allen, the event aims to showcase the Biology Department’s outdoor classroom, the Charles Allen Biological Station!
We found the trails to be very well-maintained and our legs well-exercised by our explorations on and from them!
Below is a screenshot that conveys the diversity that we collectively recorded. Additional observations from the day may be added.
View the project on iNaturalist here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ulm-bioblitz-2026 for insights into what we all observed!
ULM Prof. Emeritus of Biology Dr. John L. Carr recounts:
“On my way to the Wildlife Spectacle
I was expecting Saturday to be a typical BioBlitz day with lots of walking, getting tired, interspersed with hope of finding interesting and surprising things. But my expectations were down a bit given the extremely dry conditions that we have experienced the past several months. The herpetofauna can be very interesting at this time of year, but because of how dry it was I expected to have difficulty finding any amphibians and reptiles on the forest floor and along the dry pond and small stream.
In hopes I could rack up some views of turtles, I walked east from the entrance to the river overlook and found viewpoints of a number of fine downed trees on the opposite side of the river. Initially, I was in such a hurry, I took only my camera. I saw some turtles basking, and also an alligator on a log; this confirmed that the weather was great for basking reptiles, but with only my camera, I could not do that much in terms of identifying the turtles—I needed more power. Most of the turtles were at such a distance that even with the camera I had difficulty making species determinations; obviously turtles, but which species was another matter. With the photos I can examine them closely after the trip on a large monitor and better judge species identification and identify sex.
After lunch, I was determined to go back to the Ouachita River and assumed I could find some of the same animals basking. I asked permission to drive to the overlook; now armed with all my gear, a spotting scope, tripod, binoculars, camera, and my chair, I could sit along the bluff. In that position, I could study basking objects in the water from Sillars Bayou to Thompson Bayou.
I took Austyn with me. I set up my chair and spotting scope and scanned the same objects I had scrutinized a couple of hours previously—some of the same animals were still basking.
The alligator on the log was farther up the log, completely out of the water now. There was a map turtle at the top of that same log, in the same position. However, within a few minutes as I scanned toward the bank at other logs that are forming part of the large log jumble at that corner across the river, I saw something on the bank that was not there before.
I was intrigued as I studied another, larger alligator. This alligator was nearly 100% out of water up on the bank at an obtuse angle with what looked like a tail hanging out of its mouth. The more I considered it, I was convinced it was indeed a tail. It seemed a largely naked tail, with the only thing that I could imagination of that size and with that sort of coloration, was an opossum. I took many photos—there was not a lot of movement. The gator was sitting still and the opossum was limp. In fact, it sat so still for so long that I asked Austyn, if the gator was alive. It was not long after that it was obviously a living animal as it started to reposition the large dietary item it had in its mouth. The photos revealed that it was definitely no question about it, an opossum.”
“In a series of photos, over a few minutes, maybe a ten-minute span, the alligator was repositioning the body in its jaws to get the animal to slide down its gullet. The last picture in my series, it appears that the head is pointing down and the tail was hanging straight out of the mouth after it had been repositioned and the alligator pulled back into the water and had some water within its buccal cavity to be able to swallow.
Thereafter, I was distracted by others’ sighting of an armadillo in the forest area, so I broke off my observations of the river alligator and switched to follow the armadillo. Austyn and I watched it for some time—I got many photos and video of the armadillo.
It turned out the most exciting things that day were right there near the river overlook! The wild and savage spectacle of the large alligator that had attacked and grabbed an adult opossum right off the bank of the Ouachita River. What a sight!”
Charles Paxton’s account:
I owe my attendance on the day to my friend ULM Prof. Emeritus of Biology Dr. John L. Carr who kindly helped me to and from the Bioblitz. My excitement about the event mounted over the previous days when I assembled a light, but practical set of equipment including rubber boots, Panasonic G9 and telephoto lens, plus a mushrooming knife, collecting box and some ID slips from the Gulf Coast Mycological Society GSMS.
At 9.30 we were greeted enthusiastically by students from ULM’s Beta Beta Beta scientific fraternity at the registration table which had a Nature bingo game, and wildlife ambassadors, a Three-toed Box Turtle and a Hog-nosed Snake! Then the students showed us a Merlin App screen of birds that they’d logged, we signed in and then set off quickly into the woodland to start logging our observations.
Like everywhere in NELA and much of the rest of Louisiana now, most of the forest soil and leaf litter was crispy dry, so we were pleasantly surprised to see a spring-fed stream running through part of the research station to the right of the sign-in station!
Three ULM Biology students Riley, Maddie and Amelia, Dr. Carr and LMN-NE’s Nathan Green and I immediately set off along the stream for a short way and then to search around some spots for herps and fungi and pretty much anything that caught our eyes!
Students Riley, Maddie and Amelia, and I stopped frequently for lengthy observations of the fungi that Riley spotted, but were quickly drawn over by Dr. Carr’s and Nathan Green’s excited announcements “Copperhead! We have a Copperhead over here!”
That was a great start to the day. I very rarely see Copperheads and relish each encounter with these very pretty woodland pit vipers. After lunch, Dawn McMillian observed a second Copperhead, a younger individual with lighter color form, that Charles happily avoided stepping upon.
I enjoyed introducing mycological observation methodology to the students who were keen and sharp-eyed and asked plenty of questions! I didn’t expect that we’d find as much as we did due to the aridity! I thought they’d all be shriveled up, but not all! We had dry Calocera spp, Coltricia cinnamomea, Nigroporus vinosus, Resupinatus and Stereum spp, Trichaptum biforme and two fresh specimens, a Polypore beside the root of a very dry Sweetgum snag and an American Club-footed Lepidella growing beside a Bald Cypress. How they derived their moisture is mysterious proof of ectomycorrhizal lifestyle as the wood and soil were dry as a bone.
We met up with Dr. Bette Kauffman coming up from the river. Pink flags marked the presence of small mammal traps, sadly empty of rodents.
Riley Douglas racked-up two observations that look to be Parish records for Caldwell! I found more commonly-sighted species. My putative Brown Funnel Polypore was my best fungal find and could also be a Parish record.
When I first saw the veiled fertile surface I thought it might be a Cortinarius, but my friend Rees Cronce of GSMS quickly identified it. The bulbous root is highly diagnostic! This type of mushroom is scarcely reported from Louisiana on iNaturalist. It is a good find!
This year there was a food truck and I enjoyed my Rib Dog and fries very much!
ULM’s Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Ross Couvillon and ULM Biology students examining distinct red, green, and tan color forms of Blanchard’s Cricket Frogs (Acris blanchardii) found around the pond.
After lunch we set off in various groups focusing on particular reserve residents: plants with Dr. Charles Allen, Herps with Dr. John Carr by the river, and Insects and Fungi with Nathan Green and Charles Paxton etc.
Nathan found some good wasp activity around the Camphorweed at the pond, we took the purple trail up Joydeep Ridge through mixed pine and deciduous woodland and then went off-piste to the bayou for a different ambience altogether, an assemblage of wildlife drawn by fresh water, many revealed through their tracks! We connected with the Bette Kauffman Trail and worked our way back to the entrance with a fun observation of a Mexican Long-nosed Armadillo.”
It was a fun day of exploration with some great people!
