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.
Boyd Point Wastewater Treatment 11/6/2009
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.
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
