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I was thinking about where to go birding, Pine Bluff for Eared Grebes or Lake Dardanelle for a trifecta of uncommon birds when I heard about a Western Tanager reported in Little Rock off Mississippi Road.

Sam and I joined some birders Saturday morning to walked the residential area but had no luck. Later however, I got a call that it had been seen at the Holy Trinity Church and we took off again. This time we found the very accommodating bird as it was being watched by a dozen birders.  State bird for me, life bird for Sam.

Sunday morning we went to Lake Dardanelle for that trifecta of Glaucous Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, and Surf Scoter.  Within 5 minutes we had the Glaucous Gull but another 70 minutes of scanning the lake failed to turn up the other two birds. At least the one gull was a life bird for Sam.

Finally it was Sunday afternoon and I wanted one more outing before starting a work week so I headed out to Lake Maumelle.  Nada at Loon Point but at the Hundley Bridge Causeway I could see some gulls including one pale bird about midway across the lake.  I knew this bird was unusual, it was as large as a nearby Common Loon but paler. The bill was light colored and there was a noticeable white patch around the eye.  He looked like a winter plumage Yellow-billed Loon but I knew that that had been seen in Arkansas only once before in 1991.  I knew I didn’t have enough data to claim it was one of those.  I took some poor pictures.  Once I posted my pictures and description to ARBird, I got responses from three respected birder speculating that it was a YBLO. That night 8 inches of snow hit and it was Tuesday before I could get back out.  No luck on Tuesday but on Wednesday, Kenny Nichols got out there and confirmed that he was a YBLO.  Sam and I got back out there that afternoon and was able to pick the bird back up so. This time he was even further away and so I didn’t even get poor pictures.  I hope to spend more time this weekend to get better pictures.
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It was the day after the first snowfall of the winter.  The day started with a temperature of 25F.   Not wanting to just sit there but not wanting to risk life, limb, or car, I bundled up and walked down to Rock Creek Trail to see what it offered.  There was no wind and so no wind chill factor so it was surprisingly tolerable on the trail.  I saw a few birds, about 10 species in 40 minutes, but Eastern Towhees were the only birds  I hadn’t already seen from my desk so I headed back home.

Home was a different story. It was pretty lively so I put out more seed liberally covering the snow covered ground with seeds.  It was pretty busy all day and I started wracking up species.  By about 1 PM I had gotten 25 species which is probably a daily (but who knows what happens when I’m not here to watch?) and two new yard birds, one Purple Finch and two Fox Sparrows.

Later, when the roads looks passable, I took Larry Witherspoon up on his offer to sit in the comfort of his house and watch for the Spotted Towhee that had been in his neighborhood for weeks and his yard that day.  It took about 10 minutes for her to make an appearance, but she didn’t stay long enough for a photo so I waited.  Over the course of an hour, she appeared four times never staying long but long enough to get some pictures through Larry’s windows.  I had first seen Spotted Towhees many years ago in Texas but not since so this is what I call a half-life bird and state bird 305.

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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.