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It was a dark and stormy Thursday afternoon.  I received an ARBird post from Kenny Nichols.  Despite, or perhaps because of, the weather he was out at BKNWR birding and seeing all kinds of notable birds including Hudsonian Godwits, Whimbrels, plovers, sandpipers, and five species of tern.  I had planned to go there Saturday morning but his sightings made me think I ought to go Friday evening instead.  The rain was supposed to last till the early morning and conventional wisdom said that the weather ought to keep the birds on the ground until the night after the rain stops.  So there was a reasonable chance they would be here till Friday evening.  Then at about 3 PM, the Sun came out.  I knew the birds would like fly away tonight so I decided to make a speed run up there after work despite the rush hour traffic. Sam elected to go with me.

We got there about 6:20 PM. There wasn’t time for a extensive survey so we went to the best spots I was familiar with.  In short order, we saw plenty Dunlin, Black-necked Stilt, Black Tern, Least Tern, one Wilson’s Snipe, and after an hour’s review 4 Whimbrel and as we were leaving one Hudsonian Godwit which was a life bird for both of us.

We then went home and watched the season finale of Friinge, DVR’d from earlier in the evening.

I went to BKNWR Sunday morning hoping to see the  Fulvous Whistling-Duck reported there.  No luck on that front but I did see plenty of other birds including migrants and stragglers.   I saw 8 Bobolinks, 5 Dunlin, 8 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Solitary Sandpiper,20 Black-necked Stilt, 1 Semipalmated Plover, 25 American Golden-Plover, 3 Black-bellied Plover, 6 Little Blue Heron, 1 Canvasback, 10 Northern Pintail,  and 1 Gadwall among the migrants and stragglers. In all, I encountered 47 species of bird and 1 mink.

I then went to Steve Wilson/Raft Creek WMA to see what it offered.  The road to it has very recently been flooded and much of the WMA appears to still be flooded.  I didn’t make it to the main entrance as the road was too soft.  However, I did see many egrets and herons plus more Black-necked Stilt and Little Blue Heron.  I pick up FOS Common Nighthawk and Semipalmated Sandpiper there.

From there I drove south on AR-11 toward Saul’s Fish Farm keeping an eye open for flooded fields.  I finally saw some shore birds in such a field about 2 miles north of Saul’s.  There I found more Dunlin and a single Black-necked Stilt as well as 2 Western Sandpiper and one Stilt Sandpiper.

At Saul’s there was not a lot going on but I did a quick and incomplete tour of the north end ponds.  The fifth or so pond due east of the entrance was freshly drained and looks promising.  It was about 1 PM and things were slow but I saw another Black-necked Stilt and 4 Dunlin and about 20 peeps. Heat shimmers kept me from making a better identification.  I also found two more ponds due east of there toward the eastern end that had been drained. The farthest looked freshly drained but I didn’t see anything it in.

I dropped Sam off at a Girl Scout thing and then went to Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts to join an unofficial field trip organized by Donna Haines.  If you didn’t know, they have recently changed their policy to allow free entrance when they are open and there is not some special event going on.  I don’t know how many trails they have but there is one that loops around their lake so that is what we took.  The sky threatened rain and occasionally delivered a small amount but it wasn’t bad.  We saw 25 species including Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Yellow-throated Vireo, and Magnolia Warbler.  One notable sighting was an American Crow carrying a Blue Jay chick in his beak with two Blue Jays in hot pursuit.  The wild is not always a safe place to live.

Later, I walked the Rocky Valley and East Quarry Trails at Pinnacle Mountain State Park.  I heard a first in state (for me) Olive-sided Flycatcher plus a FOS Ovenbird and a few other nice birds such as a Louisiana Waterthrush, Summer Tanager, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

Finally, so far, I heard that the Western Kingbirds had returned to the river port area so after dinner I went down there.  I saw a pair in a nest at Custom Metals at the intersection of Fourche Dam Pike and Frazier Pike just like they were last year.