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I headed for Two Rivers Park Sunday morning hoping to spy an Osprey by the river and/or a Mississippi Kite over the big field.  I failed in that respect but otherwise had a productive birding session.  I spotted 39 species in all, including the following year birds:  Great Crested  Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and Yellow-breasted Chat.  These were all along the paved trail that starts at the soon to completed real bathrooms and goes through the swampy area.

I walked Rock Creek Trail in West Little Rock Thursday morning in between rain episodes.  After all the rain the creek was way up from the last time I was there just four days ago.  At the lowest point in the trail, it was just eight inches or so above the water.  The best bird of the morning was a Northern Waterthrush , a first of year for me and first for the trail according to Ebird records.  I distinguished it from the more likely Louisiana Waterthrush by the finer breast streaks, the less prominent eye stripe and the song.  Also found were Blue-winged Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, and a Nashville Warbler but no other migrants.

I took the morning off and visited Burns Park Wednesday morning.  Heavy thunderstorms came through the area the night before and I was hoping for a good turnout.  I walked the River and White Oak Trails for 3 hours and while there weren’t great numbers of individuals, I did encounter 48 species and picked up eight first of year species.  Included in the first of years were Yellow-throated Warbler, Dickcissel, Warbling Vireo, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Chimney Swift, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, and Semipalmated Plover.  Other interesting birds included Swainson’s Thrush, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike,  and White-crowned Sparrow.