On December 23rd I heard that Don Simons, Park Interpreter at Mount Magazine State Park, found 4 Townsend’s Solitaires. These are thrushes like Bluebirds and Robins but looking more like Northern Mockingbirds from way out west. They are rare visitors to Arkansas and most of the Arkansas sightings are from Mount Magazine. Don didn’t just happen across them, the abundance of cedar berries this year led him to search for them. Don put out the word and the next day, Christmas Eve, Sam & Angie and I drove to see them. We did and now Sam has a new life bird and I have a new state bird.
Red Crossbills December 2012
Saturday, December 1, five central Arkansas birders made the long journey to the Fayyetteville Country Club and braved 35 MPH winds for three hours looking for these birds. In the end, they appeared in trees we had checked at the beginning so we’re very thankful to Karen for making sure we checked them one more time. In all, we saw 13 of these very rare for Arkansas birds fly out of the trees.
Sh*t Birders Say
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaX7i1Q7-Rw]
