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I wanted to check out Lake Dardanelle as I hadn’t been there in a while so Angie and I left the house early Saturday morning.  Following that axiom of land birds early, water birds later, we went to Holla Bend first.  Things were kind of slow there but I did walk down a short trail off the river section of the auto trail and found quite a few Ring-billed Gulls, cormorants and herons.  Later I was able to add Western Meadowlark to my state and year lists through their song.

At Lake Dardanelle, we saw many Ring-billed Gulls and American Coots, one Herring Gull, about 15 American White Pelicans, and a smattering of other birds.  Overall, it was kind of disappointing but better than sitting at home.

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We went to Magness Lake this afternoon; I was hoping to add Mute and Tundra Swans to my year list.  Unfortunately, neither was around.  I talked to a woman named Pat (I think), one of the owners, and she was very helpful.  She had not heard about the sighting of a Mute Swan earlier this week but had heard Tundra Swans several times recently.  There were about 75 swans there and I studied them all but all were Trumpeters.  No hint of yellow or orange in the bills.  I was glad to have them but I was hoping for a trifecta.

There were also one Ross’s Geese, one dark adult Snow Goose, one Snow Goose x Ross’s Goose hybrid, one Greater White-fronted Goose, about 100 Ring-necked Ducks, plus a smattering of more common birds.

I finished the year with 263 Arkansas species seen in 2009, 303 seen in Arkansas in my life list, 438 in my global life list.

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Species seen or heard:

• Greater White-fronted Goose
• Snow Goose
• Snow x Ross’s Goose (hybrid)
• Ross’s Goose
• Canada Goose
• Trumpeter Swan
• Mallard
• Ring-necked Duck
• Bufflehead
• Great Blue Heron
• Black Vulture
• Turkey Vulture
• Carolina Chickadee

Its sunny, cold, and somewhat windy when I arrived at the landing.  I was greeted by three Pied-billed Grebes at the first pond. Surprisingly, they swam toward me. This soon changed of course but I was able to get a few pictures before they got too far away.  At the backwater, I saw first two then three more small Canada Geese. I realized just how small when ducks swam nearby and then I realized I had five Cackling Geese.  However, after studying the pictures I realized I was wrong. As small as they were, the bills were too large.  After some study, I learned that the smallest Canada Goose can be smaller than the largest Cackling Goose.  Bummer.

I then proceeded to walk around the area. It was cold and windy but I saw a few birds, 26 species in all.

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