Category: Birding

I decided to track down reports of Laughing and Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Lake Dardanelle this morning with the option of going to Holla Bend afterward. I got a late start due mainly to sleeping in but got to the Lake Dardanelle Dam at around 9:30. Then I went to Delaware Park where I ran into the Nichols. The funny thing about that was I was spying on and photographing this odd looking and large gull, which I took to be a 1st winter Herring, when an email arrived on my cell phone. It was from Kenny to AR-Bird announcing he was at Delaware Park scoping a Thayer’s Gull. So I walked over the small hill separating us and continued to bird with Kenny & LaDonna.

After finishing there, I decided to head home with a stop at Lake Conway on the off change that there would be a Black-legged Kittiwake. Alas there was not but there was what I believe is a Common Goldeneye x Hooded Merganser hybrid.

Species seen or heard:
Lake Dardanelle
• Ring-billed Gull
• Northern Cardinal
• Dark-eyed Junco
• American White Pelican
• Great Blue Heron
• American Crow
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Laughing Gull
• Northern Mockingbird
• Eastern Phoebe
• Canvasback
• Turkey Vulture
• Herring Gull
• Lesser Black-backed Gull
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• American Coot
• Ring-billed Gull
• Thayer’s Gull
• Bufflehead
• Black Vulture
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren
• European Starling
• Pied-billed Grebe

Lake Conway
• Ring-billed Gull
• Great Egret
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Bonaparte’s Gull
• Common Goldeneye x Hooded Merganser Hybrid
• Bufflehead
• Common Goldeneye
• Belted Kingfisher
• Mallard
• Turkey Vulture

I went to the lake this afternoon hoping to get pictures of the recent rarities there. I was prepared to walk along the shore east of the Southern Rest Area where I had seen them then other day to get closer. Today however, I did not see the rarities at all and there was nothing over on that side of the bridge so it would gain little. Instead, I walked along the lake shore west and had the luck of seeing birds come to me. I saw a pair of Greater Scaup swim by. Not rare though perhaps uncommon compared to their “Lesser” cousins. I usually see them at a distance and realized today why they are “Greater”. She especially looked like a Dreadnought-class duck as she swam by. I saw a lot of Common Goldeneye as well and assortment of other avian life forms.

Species seen or heard:
• Lesser Scaup
• Common Goldeneye
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Ring-billed Gull
• American Crow
• Greater Scaup
• Common Loon
• Pileated Woodpecker

I decided to start 2009 with a trip to Two Rivers Park. It was clear, sunny, and cold this morning so I wait until 9 to get started hoping the birds felt the same way. Luckily there was little or no wind. As I often do, I walk northish along the backwater and then into the grassy field on the north side of the main trail and then to the horse trail. Before long I found that flooded and frozen for that matter. I decided I didn’t want it that bad and turned around. I left the park after 2 hours with a decent start on the new year.

Species seen or heard:
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Northern Mockingbird
• Canada Goose
• Mourning Dove
• Killdeer
• Carolina Wren
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• White-throated Sparrow
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Mallard
• American Robin
• Northern Flicker
• Northern Cardinal
• Carolina Chickadee
• Pine Warbler
• Fox Sparrow
• Lincoln’s Sparrow
• American Coot
• Tufted Titmouse
• Pileated Woodpecker
• American Kestrel
• Chipping Sparrow
• Savannah Sparrow
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Turkey Vulture
• Lesser Scaup
• Eastern Bluebird
• Ring-billed Gull
• Song Sparrow
• European Starling