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I went to this treatment facility in Pine Bluff today joined by Delos. We didn’t see anything that hasn’t been reported there recently but that included 20+ Eared Grebes plus many hundreds each of Ruddy Duck, Northern Shoveler, and Franklin’s Gulls.

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Species seen or heard:

• Canada Goose
• Gadwall
• American Wigeon
• Blue-winged Teal
• Northern Shoveler
• Lesser Scaup
• Bufflehead
• Hooded Merganser
• Ruddy Duck
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Horned Grebe
• Eared Grebe
• American White Pelican
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• American Coot
• Killdeer
• Franklin’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Fish Crow
• Eastern Bluebird
• Northern Mockingbird
• White-throated Sparrow

Samantha and I joined 6 other intrepid birders to brave the blue skies and mild temperatures and bird Millwood Lake Saturday morning.  We started Beard’s Bluff Recreational Area, then moved to the state park to search for the Rock Wren that Charles Mills had discovered (found it), then to Beard’s Lake for a mosquito survey, and finally a wrap up back at Beard’s Bluff.  We didn’t cover a lot of ground but we had a full day of lovely weather and my pedometer read 19,000 steps by the end of the day.

Here are some images from the day or go here for my recent images.

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Species seen or heard:

• American Avocet
• American Coot
• American Crow
• American Pipit
• American White Pelican
• American Wigeon
• Bald Eagle
• Belted Kingfisher
• Black Vulture
• Blue Jay
• Brown-headed Nuthatch
• Canada Goose
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren
• Chipping Sparrow
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Eastern Bluebird
• Eastern Phoebe
• Fish Crow
• Forster’s Tern
• Franklin’s Gull
• Gadwall
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Greater Scaup
• Horned Grebe
• Killdeer
• Mourning Dove
• Northern Flicker
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Osprey
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Pine Warbler
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Redhead
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Ring-billed Gull
• Rock Pigeon
• Rock Wren
• Ruddy Duck
• Tufted Titmouse
• Turkey Vulture
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• White-crowned Sparrow
• White-throated Sparrow
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

I went to TRP Saturday morning because I needed to be close to home and then again on Sunday because I just couldn’t get excited about going anywhere.  Maybe the seemingly constant cloud cover had something to do with that.  Since I had just been there, I decided to try another part of the park.  Instead of the main trail and big field surrounding it where I birded Saturday, I parked at the next area and walked toward the confluence of the two rivers.  Right at the start there is a field of tall grass and I could hear birds so I went in.  The grass was eye level but not difficult.  I followed deer tails as much as I could and soon found perhaps 30 Sedge Wrens.  They did not seem at all concerned about me and many times they landed too close for the camera.  Eventually I emerged from the tall grass and walked the rest of the length of that trail and there got a good view of an Osprey.  The interesting thing is I’ve seen an Osprey at TRP or Cook’s Landing each of the last four weekends.  Since they are in migration, I expect it’s not the same one but since this bird is not symmetrical he should be easy to spot again.

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Species seen or heard at TRP on either Saturday or Sunday:

• American Crow
• Bald Eagle
• Belted Kingfisher
• Blue Jay
• Brown Thrasher
• Canada Goose
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren
• Common Yellowthroat
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Downy Woodpecker
• Eastern Bluebird
• Eastern Phoebe
• European Starling
• Gray Catbird
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• House Finch
• House Wren
• Indigo Bunting
• Killdeer
• Lincoln’s Sparrow
• Mourning Dove
• Northern Cardinal
• Northern Flicker
• Northern Mockingbird
• Osprey
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Sedge Wren
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Snow Goose
• Song Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• Turkey Vulture