Karen Holliday was nice enough to let me tag along on her quest for the American Tree and Harris’s Sparrows Sunday. We left early and met up with Dan and Samantha and then Andrew Scaboo at Woolsey Wet Prairie. We got the American Tree Sparrow in short order and then headed for Lake Atalanta for the rumored Common Mergansers. At the lake, there were a number of pretty tame ducks and geese so I was able to get a few good shots up close. The Common Mergansers did make an appearance but weren’t as obliging so those pictures aren’t as sharp. Later, we headed to a so called “Wet Prairie Road” north of Maysville. Lots of Bald Eagles along the way, more than I’ve seen in a long time. As Karen & I left Wet Prairie Road, we spied two Harris’s Sparrows just this side of the state line. As we drove south we must have ventured into Oklahoma as we were welcomed back into Arkansas as we turned east. Finally we decided to drive through Centerton, even though it was not our bet way home, to see if we could pick up some Great-tailed Grackles. We did and how, a couple miles south of the fish hatchery, seeing at least 50. By day’s end, my 2010 Arkansas List stood at 107 species, 16 picked up between Saturday and Sunday. I know it’s got to slow down but that sounds like a good start. For all of the rarities I saw this weekend, Rough-legged Hawk, American Tree Sparrow, Common Merganser, Harris’s Sparrow, they felt like life birds but they were even state birds. My poorly kept records indicate that I’ve seen them all before in Arkansas between 1987 and 1991. I’ve learned my lesson, keep good records!
Holla Bend NWR 1/16/2010
I joined Karen H, Dan S & Samantha H, for a trip to Holla Bend this morning. My own Sam was away. We got there at 9 AM joining the DOBC group. Target birds were American Tree Sparrow, Townsend’s Solitaire, and Rough-legged Hawk all of which had been reported on the Holla Bend CBC. It was cloudy all day but the temperatures were moderate, especially after last weekend’s 20+ degree weather. Long story short, we spent 6 hours there mostly walking around but saw neither the sparrow nor the solitaire but literally at the end of the day we saw at a distance the Rough-legged Hawk. He disappeared when we tried to get close but we saw all the field marks including the diagnostic dark patches at the wrists. According to my records, I saw one in Arkansas in 87 but I don’t recall it so it’s almost like a life bird and was a life or state bird for the rest of us.
We also saw about ten armadillos (most alive), two opossums, and one skunk. The skunk was funny, he came jogging down the other fork of a trail we were walking on like he was late for something. Completely oblivious to us. We decided it would be best to leave him alone. He did become aware of us at about 50 feet and the walked off into the grass. We were all thankful since we had no tomato juice with us.
ASCA Field Trip to Heber Springs and Magness Lake 1/9/2010
Sam and I joined ASCA this cold Saturday for a no expense paid tour of the waste water treatment ponds and Magness Lake for swans. It was cold, sunny but well below freezing all day long, the coldest day of winter so far and probably the coldest day of the entire winter to come.
We arrived at the sewage ponds at 12:30. All but one of the ponds were completely frozen over and that one was mostly frozen. Ducks and geese were mostly walking around on the ice. No extraordinary finds but we did have 51 Hooded Mergansers, about 50 Ring-billed Gull, abound 20 each of Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, and Common Goldeneye, plus smaller numbers of Shoveler and Black Vulture.
Later we arrived at Magness Lake. As expected there were many Trumpeter Swans (good), plus many Ring-necked Ducks and Canada Goose which are also regulars. Unusual birds there were 1 Canvasback, 1 Mute Swan, 1 maybe more Cackling Goose, 4 Ross’s Goose, 1 Snow Goose (who knew there was ever just one?), 1 Wood Duck, and 1 American Wigeon.
Due to the early date, I picked 17 year birds bringing that list to 88 by day’s end.
