Category: Birding

I went to BKNWR Sunday morning hoping the storms had forced migrants to seek shelter.  One thing is for sure, the area has much more water than it did last weekend.  The gravel roads were passable but soft in places and many fields had standing water.  The creek that runs through there was close to overflowing. It looked like shore bird heaven to me but there weren’t really that many shore birds there.  I saw 45 species in all with the FOS Dickcissel, Bobolink, and Blue Grosbeak being the best. The two Wilson’s Phalarope that have been seen there were still there.  I also saw one Great Blue Heron work a snake to death or close before swallowing him and another with a fish.  I saw about 200 Bobolinks in the swampy area where we see the night-herons on a regular basis but don’t drive in there unless you want to walk out.

My original plan had involved Treadways & Saul’s but eBird indicated that BK had 5 times as many species in May as they did so that decided it.

I had planned to go shorebirding at Treadways & Saul’s but the forecast changed my mind. I decided to use the predicted lull in rain to bird Cook’s Landing instead.  I walked parts of the River Trail, the Northshore Trail, and the Pfeiffer Loop trail. Over a 2 hour period, I saw 42 species in all which included three first of years – 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee, and 1 Yellow-breasted Chat.  All of these were along the River Trail.
The forecast is for more storms tonight but not Sunday morning. Maybe tomorrow will be a good day for shorebirding.

I blew off blogging for an entire month so instead of trying to catch up, I decided to just summarize the month.  First, I had my best birding month ever, surpassing last year’s April count of 148 species with 153 species this year. At the same time, more than one birder thought the migrants were late so maybe May will be as good.

I made trips to Rock Creek Trail, Knoop Park, Allsopp Park, Murray Park, Two Rivers Park, Gillam Park, Treadways, Lake Maumelle, Lake Conway, Frog Bayou WMA, Bell Slough WMA Camp Robinson SUA, Bona Dea Trails, Bald Knob NWR, and maybe more.

I picked up one life bird, a Sprague’s Pipit, just north of Treadways Minnow Farm.

Of the 197 Arkansas year birds that I had by the end of business on April 30^th, 60 were first seen in April. I don’t think there were any that were notable, except for the Sprague’s Pipit.  Well, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were I guess.

All in all, a great month and now I’m looking for more