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I drove to Millwood Lake in SW Arkansas this morning where Charles Mills was nice enough to meet me and then help me out in my desire to add Tricolored Heron to my state list.  The day was overcast and the air was a bit hazy but there was no rain, at least then.  We walked down the Okay Levee and quickly came across first one then two more Tricolored Herons. I’m glad I had him to point them out.  I’ve seen them before, in Texas and Louisiana, but out there today they seemed tiny compared to the Great Blue Herons and I might have missed them. However, after a while I got were I could spot them easily enough.

We also saw 47 Wood Storks and 2 Roseate Spoonbills, two year birds for me.  There was also a number of American White Pelicans, a handful of Caspian and Forster’s Terns, one Sanderling, six Spotted Sandpipers, and one American Alligator.

The haze was less than ideal for photography but I had the camera so what else was I going to do?  Here are some images of pelicans and one of the Tricolored Herons.  Hope you like them.

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Species seen or heard:

• Wood Duck
• Blue-winged Teal
• Wild Turkey
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Little Blue Heron
• Tricolored Heron
• Roseate Spoonbill
• Wood Stork
• Turkey Vulture
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Sanderling
• Caspian Tern
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Phoebe
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• White-eyed Vireo
• American Crow
• American White Pelican
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Killdeer
• Least Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Blue Jay
• Carolina Wren
• Magnolia Warbler
• Anhinga
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Fish Crow

I’m taking the day off from work and went to Saul’s this morning.  I went to the same pond that housed the Red-necked Phalarope last weekend.  The pond was a bit drier and a lot slower but still had about two hundred birds.  The highlight was probably the Black-bellied Plover and some Dunlin.  Besides that there the usual Pectoral, Western, Semipalmated, and Least Sandpipers, Yellowlegs of both sizes, Forster’s terns, five species of swallow, plus three but only three Semipalmated Plovers and loads of Killdeer and egrets.

Here is an image of the non-breeding plumage BBPL and another of mixed peeps:

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Species seen or heard:

• Northern Shoveler
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Black-bellied Plover
• Semipalmated Plover
• Killdeer
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Western Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Forster’s Tern
• Mourning Dove
• Tree Swallow
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• Barn Swallow

I joined Karen Holliday, the Boyles’, and the Muellers for a trip to Bald Knob NWR Saturday morning.  Clear skies had been forecast but it was mostly cloudy but thankfully not rainy.  The refuge was rather slow but we did see a few uncommon birds like an American Avocet.

I had to take off early to pick up Samantha.  Later I got word of a Red-necked Phalarope and other neat birds at Saul’s Minnow Farm that they had seen so I filled up the cooler and grabbed the camera and took off with Angie.  We got there at about 5 PM and after an hour of scoping had seen all of the “good” birds including the Phalarope, Black-bellied Plovers, and American Golden-Plover.  There were also Caspian Terns which aren’t too rare this time of year but still cool to see any time.

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Species seen or heard at BKNWR:

• Mallard
• Blue-winged Teal
• Northern Shoveler
• Northern Pintail
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Little Blue Heron
• Green Heron
• Semipalmated Plover
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Least Sandpiper
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Mourning Dove
• Blue Jay
• Carolina Chickadee
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Common Grackle

Species seen or heard at Saul’s:

• Blue-winged Teal
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Little Blue Heron
• Green Heron
• Black-bellied Plover
• American Golden-Plover
• Semipalmated Plover
• Killdeer
• Black-necked Stilt
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Least Sandpiper
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Red-necked Phalarope
• Caspian Tern
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Belted Kingfisher
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Tree Swallow