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Sunday morning, Allan & Kathleen Mueller, Jane Gulley, Karen Holliday, Samantha,  and I traveled the Mississippi Levee Road from almost the Louisiana border to the Lake Chicot Pumping Station. Though long and hot (104 degrees at about 2PM) it was well worth the effort.  Among the commoners, we saw 3 Roseate Spoonbill, 10 White-faced Ibis, 2 Mottled Duck, 3 Upland Sandpiper, 7 Wood Stork, 1 Snow Goose.  Our most common bird of the day was probably Cattle Egret of which we saw about 500.  The White-faced Ibis was a hard call, we studied them in scopes for about 10 minutes before deciding they were the one and not the similar Glossy Ibis.  However, some glimpses of red eyes convinced us.  We all agreed that this road trip was well worth doing again.
Here are some images from the day.
Roseate Spoonbill
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5855
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5852

White-faced Ibis
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5858
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5846
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5843

Upland Sandpiper
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5840
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5837

Wood Stork
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5849

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5834

Bonus!
Bumblebee
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5861
https://jamesdixon.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=5864

I started the landing at a quarter to 7, about 25 minutes after sunrise, trying to beat the heat.  I was partially successful.  Though a popular spot with cyclers and runners, the park seemed busier than usual.  I walked a big loop from the backwater parking area, to the dam, along the River Trail to NorthShore Trail, along NorthShore Trail to almost the ADEQ building, then along a gravel utility road back to the parking lot.  I didn’t really see anything notable, perhaps the most notable thing was that all of the Cliff Swallows had vacated their homes under the Big Dam Bridge.  I did not see a one. I did have a good view of a Great Blue Heron preening in a tree, a close up of  Green Heron, and a Variegated Fritillary.  The loop was about 3.2 miles around and took 2.25 hours.  By the time I finished it, the temperature was about 90 on its way to a predicted 103.

I visited BKNWR Saturday morning. I stuck the to central area, around the grain bins, there were at least three areas to the north, northwest, and west of the bins that were busy with shorebirds and/or almost all of the heron/egrets species to be found in Arkansas.  Almost right off the bat, I saw two of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper that were reported here earlier in the week.  I saw Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and Black-crowned Night-Heron, leaving only Green Heron and Tricolored Heron lacking in that department.  For shorebirds, there were Semipalmated Plover, Black-necked Stilt, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher,  the aforementioned Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and of course Killdeer. The Snow Goose and Northern Pintail that have been seen there recently were still hanging around.   I also saw one Mink and one Cottonmouth Water Moccasin who may have been getting ready to shed his skin.  I drove up on him as he lay in the dirt road circling the Wood Stork patch. He wasn’t moving as I got out and seemed oblivious to me. I took several pictures before he tried to leave and then seemed to struggle with the tall grass once he got there.  I think the pictures show that the transparent scale over his eyes were occluded, shedding would explain that.

Below are some images from the day.