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I took the morning off and visited Burns Park Wednesday morning.  Heavy thunderstorms came through the area the night before and I was hoping for a good turnout.  I walked the River and White Oak Trails for 3 hours and while there weren’t great numbers of individuals, I did encounter 48 species and picked up eight first of year species.  Included in the first of years were Yellow-throated Warbler, Dickcissel, Warbling Vireo, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Chimney Swift, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, and Semipalmated Plover.  Other interesting birds included Swainson’s Thrush, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike,  and White-crowned Sparrow.

I had trouble deciding between going to Bell Slough WMA or Gillam Park in SW Little Rock this morning. Finally I decided on the latter and I’m glad.  I hadn’t gone too far into the park when a Hooded Warbler made an appearance. He was soon joined by a couple more and a Worm-eating Warbler.  Further down, after the second gate I found a Louisiana Waterthrush, a Red-eyed Vireo and single Indigo Bunting.  All five were first of season for me.  I walked all the way down on what I consider the main trail and then back via the orange trail following the creek.   I picked up 35 species in all plus four turtle, two making whoopee, all of the same as yet undetermined species, plus 9 species of butterfly and four species of dragonfly that I need to identify when I get a chance.  Gillam is a great place and I don’t think I have ever been disappointed going there.

Karen Holliday and I made the second in a series of trips to BKNWR Saturday.   In a previous post I explained the survey and so won’t do so again.  This time the temperature was warmer and much windier, gusting to about 20MPH.   The total numbers of birds were down from last week, but hopefully that will turn around soon.   In the 3.5 hours we were there, we saw 43 species of bird including the following first of season birds (for me at least):  Peregrine Falcon, Black-necked Stilt, Willet, and Prothonotary Warbler. Outside of the survey, I also saw first of season Green Heron and Chimney Swift.