Posts

Susan at Pinnacle Mountain State Park had offered to take ASCA members on a free bird cruise to reward us for some help they received from Dan last spring.  The boat could only support a maximum of 10 or 12 but Dan & Samantha, Karen & her parents, Sam & I, and another woman whose name I don’t made the excursion.  The weather was great, sunny with a temp of about 50.  However, while there was little wind on shore that was not true when Susan opened it up to get across the lake.  The wind chill was tolerable as I had bundled up but an extra coat would not have been too much.

We did a circuit from Jolly Roger Marina west to Look & Vista Points then along the north side back in about two hours.  We saw many ducks who seemed to think we were chasing them and two Braddys who were scoping for birds at Vista Point.  We had a good time.

Back on shore, we retrieved our electronics and realized that Dennis had seen a Red-throated Loon while we were playing on the water so we saddled up and went to the Hundley Road Causeway and after a bit spotted it as well.  Year bird 109 for me, life bird for Sam.

That was actually Sam’s second life bird for the weekend.  The day before, the same crew had gone to Mel White’s neighborhood to look for the Spotted Towhee that he and Larry Witherspoon had reported over the last several weekends.  We were there for about an hour but both of the individual were kind of reclusive.  However, everyone got a look at one time or another. Everyone but me.  I left thinking I had seen one, adding it to my state and year list but then I realized I couldn’t be sure I had not seen a female Eastern Towhee so I scratched it off.  Sam however did see the real thing which is the important thing.

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!

40614058412140674064407040794076407340854082

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.

4049