Category: Birding

I was offered the opportunity to participate in the “Legacy Cerulean Warbler Project” with the Kalamazoo Nature Center and the Army Corps of Engineers.  The project involves doing site surveys of several COE managed areas looking specifically for Cerulean Warblers.  Given the time of year, they would presumably be nesting if found.

I agreed to do five surveys of five sites in northwestern Mississippi – Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake, Askew WMA, Enid Lake, and Grenada Lake.  The four lakes all fall along I-55 so getting to them is pretty straight forward if a long drive from Little Rock.  The wildlife management area is closer to the Mississippi River that I-55 but still not hard to get to.

Time was of the essence, I had five sites and three open weekends before the deadline. My original plan had been to leave Friday evening 6/4 and stay two nights to do the first two lakes on the list but decided to leave early Saturday at 4 instead and stay over only one night.

I arrived at Arkabutla Lake at 7 AM.  This lake has a large COE area at the dam site on the west side with a small amount of COE area elsewhere.  My surveys are to be limited to COE areas.  I started at the southern end of the dam area and worked my way north on foot.  Long story short, I did find one Cerulean Warbler on the “Swinging Bridge Trail” at about 11 AM. Why its called that is anyone’s guess as the bridge is actually a boardwalk across a swamp and does not swing.  Later, at about 3 PM I heard what might have been another while driving but by the time I could park I could not find the bird.

I left just in time, an afternoon cloudburst drenched the area shortly afterward.

I went to Batesville, next to Sardis Lake, and got a hotel. After a shower, I went over to the lake for a quick check.

The next morning, I was able to get started at 6:30 and birded the lake’s dam area which had plenty of proper habitat. That took about three hours.  Sardis is way different than Arkabutla in that its long and skinny and has COE areas dotted all around it. So, I started around it.  I hoped to check as many as possible and I did but I soon realized that 5 miles in, 5 miles back, 3 miles over, and repeat over and over would add up quickly and I’d run out of time before covering just the west side of the lake.  So, I decided to pick just those areas that the COE thought enough of to place their brown signs for on the main highway.  I was able to check about 10 sites around the lake, driving and incredible 140 miles in, out, and over in the process.  Alas, no Cerulean Warbler were found at Sardis.

At the end of this long day, I headed home.

Next weekend, I intend to visit Askew WMA and the weekend after that wrap up with the remaining two lakes.

Friday evening, CAAS members met at Pinnacle Mountain State Park to hold a “private” start party for some people from Parks and Tourism and two vistors from Japan.  They were a lead party for a larger group who would be coming in a few months.  The seeing was acceptable but the full moon rose before long. The Japanese visitors were very appreciative.

I chose Cook’s Landing for my first Memorial Day weekend bird outing Saturday morning. I arrived at 7:15  and walked the big triangle from the first parking lot to the river, along the River Trail to North Shore  Trail, then back along the Isabella Jo Trail.  It was c=kind of a slow day with only 31 species spotted.

Sunday morning I went back to PMSP to walk the Rocky Valley and East Quarry Trails in search, primarily, for a Painted Bunting.  It was a good walk, about 3 miles, and I encountered plenty of Pine Warbler, several Wilson’s Warbler, a few Yellow-billed Cuckoo, plus assorted other common birds but no Painted Bunting.

Memorial Day morning I went to an area west of Highway 9 and south of Paron denoted as “Nance BBS” in eBird.  It looks like timber company land and the gate was marked Lee Creek P.O.H.C.  I was pleased to find the temperature to be about 5 degrees less than what it was in Little Rock.   In eBird, the area appeared to be a good place for Scarlet Tanager and Whip-poor-will, two birds I have yet to see this year.  I didn’t see them but was bombarded with Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo Bunting and Red-eyed Vireo.  I usually hear rather than see REVI but these were not shy.  I also heard four Prairie Warblers and saw one American Redstart, two first of year birds.  I rarely look to the Ouachitas for birds, probably thinking it is hot and dry, but I was pleasantly surprised by this place.  I’ll probably check it and other places in the area again.

As I left, I saw a “something something Hunt Club” on the gate across the road so I guess the POHC is something like “Privately Operated Hunt Club” but there were no posted, “keep out” or “no trespassing” signs so I figure they probably don’t care if I bird as long as I leave the deer there.  I wonder if the land is owned by Weyerhauser (whose name is prominent in the area) and they lease hunting rights to these clubs.

I decided to bird locally this morning so I decided on Allsopp Park and the Murrays, all know for their migrants.  Unfortunately, none were incredibly busy but I did hear Wood Thrush, Acadian Flycatcher, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, see two Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Allsopp.

Later, at Murray Park, I encountered a first of season Willow Flycatcher, two Pileated Woodpecker, a Great Crested Flycatcher, multiple Eastern Kingbird, and other more common birds.

Finally, at the lock and dam, I saw about 50 Cliff Swallow swarming on a puddle of water. It took a bit for me to realize what they were doing, when you make your homes from mud, you need mud.  By this time the temperature was in the mid-eighties and the bird life was diminishing. I walked to the small bridge, on the River Trail, over a small tributary whose name I don’t know.  While I was standing there alone on the bridge, it felt as if someone banged it with a massive hammer.  Less than a minute later, there was a series of vibrations in and on the bridge that made it cumbersome to walk.  That was 9:50 AM on 5/23/2010 and I wonder if there was an earthquake then.  I’ve never felt one but I know small earthquakes rattle Arkansas all the time.  Later I checked this site (http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/last_event_states/states_arkansas.html ) and learned that there was a 1.9 mag quake just 26 hours earlier and a 2.7 the day before. I plan to check back to see if this was one.