I visited BKNWR Saturday morning. I stuck the to central area, around the grain bins, there were at least three areas to the north, northwest, and west of the bins that were busy with shorebirds and/or almost all of the heron/egrets species to be found in Arkansas. Almost right off the bat, I saw two of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper that were reported here earlier in the week. I saw Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and Black-crowned Night-Heron, leaving only Green Heron and Tricolored Heron lacking in that department. For shorebirds, there were Semipalmated Plover, Black-necked Stilt, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, the aforementioned Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and of course Killdeer. The Snow Goose and Northern Pintail that have been seen there recently were still hanging around. I also saw one Mink and one Cottonmouth Water Moccasin who may have been getting ready to shed his skin. I drove up on him as he lay in the dirt road circling the Wood Stork patch. He wasn’t moving as I got out and seemed oblivious to me. I took several pictures before he tried to leave and then seemed to struggle with the tall grass once he got there. I think the pictures show that the transparent scale over his eyes were occluded, shedding would explain that.
Below are some images from the day.
