Posts

I appeared to have the entire park to myself today.  It could have something to do with the 20 degree drop in temperature and the rain.  Whatever the reason, no one was there.

Birding started off with a bang when I heard and then saw an Osprey as I started off.  Normally, I might see one Osprey per year but I’ve seen three in as many weekends.  They could conceivably be the same one but since they are migratory that doesn’t seem likely.

The birds, like people, were subdued by the rain but I did see a larger than normal groups of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Eastern Bluebirds. Usually, I see just a few and not in big groups.  I also saw about 50 Chimney Swifts overhead. They won’t be here much longer and maybe they were heading not East but down river. I don’t know what their migration path is.

The coolest thing I saw was a House Wren.  It was unusual in that it has flank stripes and a weak eye stripe.   Those features could be a sign of a Winter Wren but this bird had a longer tail than a WIWR, a bifurcated bill, and was the right color for a House Wren.  It was in the east-most of the two big plum thickets north of the paved trail.

34.813763
92.399050

Species seen or heard:

• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Egret
• Osprey
• Cooper’s Hawk
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Chimney Swift
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Eastern Phoebe
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Tufted Titmouse
• Carolina Wren
• House Wren
• Eastern Bluebird
• Northern Mockingbird
• Brown Thrasher
• Common Yellowthroat
• Song Sparrow
• Indigo Bunting
• Red-winged Blackbird

I visited Holla Bend and Lake Dardanelle Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  I did not see large numbers of birds but I did see a variety of hawks including three unusuals plus a few first of seasons.  In Dardanelle, near the high school I saw a Peregrine Falcon as I drove by.  Later, at Holla Bend, I saw what I originally thought was another Peregrine but which turned out to be a juvenile female Boreal (or Taiga) Merlin eating a meal on the wing.  Thanks to everyone who helped with the identification.  I think the meal might be a Brown-headed Nuthatch.  Later I saw a very pale Red-tailed Hawk.  I initially thought it was a Krider’s Hawk but later had doubts. I email William S. Clark (author of several hawk books) and he told me it was not a Krider’s or light morph Harlan’s but just the palest of “normal” Red-tailed Hawks.  I also picked up five first of season Northern Pintail ducks.  At the Lake Dardanelle Dam I saw first of season Ring-billed Gulls (2) and Herring Gull (1).

309830773086308030833101

Species seen or heard at Holla Bend NWR:

• Mallard
• Northern Shoveler
• Northern Pintail
• Great Egret
• Green Heron
• Turkey Vulture
• Northern Harrier
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Merlin
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Eastern Phoebe
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Gray Catbird
• Northern Mockingbird
• Northern Cardinal
• Indigo Bunting
• Eastern Meadowlark

After getting up at 3 yesterday to go to Boxley, I decided to sleep in (till 5) today and bird local.  I visited Allsopp Park first, starting at 7:30, then visited Murray Park and finally Murray Lock and Dam.  The highlights were as follows:

• At Allsopp Park, I saw a Wilson’s Warbler.
• At Murray Park, I saw an Osprey, an Acadian Flycatcher (one week late), a molting juvenile European Starling, and a 1^st winter female Common Yellowthroat.
• At Murray Lock and Dam, I saw a kettle of about 150 American White Pelicans circling over and drifting slowly down the river.

3034303130283010

Species seen at Allsopp Park:

• Mourning Dove
• Chimney Swift
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• White-eyed Vireo
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Tufted Titmouse
• American Robin
• Gray Catbird
• Pine Warbler
• Wilson’s Warbler
• Northern Cardinal

Species seen at Murray Park:

• Osprey
• Rock Pigeon
• Mourning Dove
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Acadian Flycatcher
• Eastern Phoebe
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Fish Crow
• Carolina Wren
• Eastern Bluebird
• Northern Mockingbird
• European Starling
• Common Yellowthroat
• Northern Cardinal
• House Finch

Species seen at Murray Lock and Dam:

• American White Pelican
• Great Egret
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Rock Pigeon
• Eastern Phoebe
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Bank Swallow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Tufted Titmouse
• Carolina Wren
• Eastern Bluebird
• Northern Mockingbird
• European Starling
• House Sparrow