This Thanksgiving morning, I put the turkey in the oven and then headed to Bell Slough WMA for a few hours (leaving people at home to watch the bird). Figuring that hunters might be less plentiful at the main entrance, especially on Thanksgiving, that is where I went. There was one vehicle there and I had birded for over 30 minutes before hearing my first shotgun blasts and those were in the distance. I walked the big waterfowl rest area first then took to the trail after the rest area seemed rather slow. I did hear what might have been a hunter’s duck call in the rest area but the birds weren’t distressed nor was there ever any shooting going on. It was mainly Coots. I can’t say I saw anything exotic. Later after the meal and processing pictures from the day, I went to Lake Maumelle to see if there were anything exciting there. Again it was kind of slow there.
Two Rivers Park 11/20/2009
I had Friday off and started the day with a visit to probably my favorite urban destination – Two Rivers Park. The birds were busy along the back water. I parked in the area beyond the main trail and it took me an hour to walk back to the main trail head. I saw a first of season Fox Sparrow and Marsh Wren.
Two Rivers Park and Lake Maumelle 11/15/2009
With the idea that Two Rivers Park is best in the early morning and birds at Lake Maumelle might last longer, I started at TRP at 8. I got off to a good start at the swampy area at the start of the paved trail with a Virginia Rail. Unfortunately that was the highlight of the visit. There weren’t many sparrows or much else for that matter. At Lake Maumelle, there wasn’t much going on either – 2 Common Loon, 2 Horned Grebe, 2 Pied-billed Grebe, 2 American Crow. Seeing a pattern, I looked around for an arc but could not find one.
As I was about to load up the spotting scope, I saw something new fly in. A quick look showed something weird. Closer scrutiny showed similarities to a Long-tailed Duck but the head was too light and the bill too heavy (or so I thought). After sharing my images with AR-Bird, all agreed it was a Long-tailed Duck. The LTDU is an “uncommon Winter Visitor” and a life bird for me. Apparently it was enough to stir some activity as I know of at least two people went to chase it.
