Category: Birding

I started the landing at a quarter to 7, about 25 minutes after sunrise, trying to beat the heat.  I was partially successful.  Though a popular spot with cyclers and runners, the park seemed busier than usual.  I walked a big loop from the backwater parking area, to the dam, along the River Trail to NorthShore Trail, along NorthShore Trail to almost the ADEQ building, then along a gravel utility road back to the parking lot.  I didn’t really see anything notable, perhaps the most notable thing was that all of the Cliff Swallows had vacated their homes under the Big Dam Bridge.  I did not see a one. I did have a good view of a Great Blue Heron preening in a tree, a close up of  Green Heron, and a Variegated Fritillary.  The loop was about 3.2 miles around and took 2.25 hours.  By the time I finished it, the temperature was about 90 on its way to a predicted 103.

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.

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I birded Cook’s Landing this morning. I did it a little different this time. I walked down the service road just south of the first pond that heads to the I-430 bridge, then the next service road just before the park proper.  I found that it goes behind the ADEQ building and beyond.  Finally I went to the end of North Shore Drive looking for Donna Haynes’ Black-bellied Whistling Duck.  He was still there. I saw 38 species including the BBWD and 5 American Kestrel, a species I haven’t seen in several weeks.  I’m used to seeing those as singles, not a group but they were.

Here are some pictures from the weekend if you want to look.