Category: Birding

A friend reported that as many as 12 White-winged Scoters were there Friday afternoon. Saturday morning there were fewer but I saw three. The light was terrible but I managed to get this shot of a male and female. You can see the namesake white wing and commas near the eyes of the male as well as the scoter-like schnozzola.

I was birding the Lake Maumelle Spillway Sunday morning. Brown Creeper was my target bird. If you are of a certain age, you probably hear “Creeper! Creeper!” in your head and picture Scooby Doo every time you think of that bird. Older or younger that that certain perhaps not. Anyway, as soon as I got close enough to see over the spillway I saw this Long-tailed Duck bobbing up and down. Though rare in Arkansas, I saw one at Lake Dardanelle yesterday and as many as three have been at Lake Beaverfork for about a month. By the way, I had to walk the spillway trail all the way to the end but I did see two Brown Creepers.

 

 

Sam and I joined the Audubon Society of Central Arkansas yesterday on a field trip to Southwest Arkansas looking for the elusive Cave Swallow.  Thanks to Charles Mills we found them at a place called First Old River Lake in Miller County. The lighting was lousy and I don’t think any pictures are salvageable but Charles had managed to spot one from a crowd of mixed swallows almost immediately. We all had good looks. Also on the wire were representatives of every swallow species in Arkansas save Purple Martin.  On the far side of the small lake were Roseate Spoonbills, a first for the year, Great Blue & Tricolored Heron, Great & Snowy Egrets, dark Ibis either Glossy or White-faced, Anhinga and Bald Eagles. Though dreary and threatening rain all the while it was a successful trip culminating in a new life bird for Sam and myself.