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Sunday morning the sky was clearing for the first time in a long time.  I didn’t have the time or inclination for a long trip so I went to Two Rivers Park and was rewarded with a life bird – the Willow Flycatcher.  Yay!  I started by tramping through the field north of the paved trail to the unpaved horse trail then back for a change in footwear before walking the paved trail to its end and back. In all about 4 miles but about 6 miles worth of steps, according to my pedometer.  I found the Willow Flycatcher in the two large plum thickets in that large field.  The horse trail was submerged after a while so I couldn’t complete it.  Maybe the city would consider building up the low parts of the trail as it is often obstructed.

* = Life Bird

Species seen or heard:

• Canada Goose
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Turkey Vulture
• Osprey
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Mourning Dove
• Northern Flicker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Willow Flycatcher *
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Loggerhead Shrike
• White-eyed Vireo
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Barn Swallow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Tufted Titmouse
• Carolina Wren
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Eastern Bluebird
• Gray Catbird
• Northern Mockingbird
• Brown Thrasher
• European Starling
• Pine Warbler
• Mourning Warbler
• Northern Cardinal
• Blue Grosbeak
• Indigo Bunting

I joined ASCA for a field trip to this site Russellville Saturday.  It was very cloudy and looked like rain was likely which kept attendance down.  In the end, 10 people attended.  We arrived at about 8:15 and walked first the “Old Shorty” section before switching to the western end.  In all we walked about 2.5 miles over four hours.  We didn’t see a lot unfortunately.

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Species seen or heard:

• Wood Duck
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Green Heron
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Barred Owl
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Yellow-throated Vireo
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Fish Crow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Tufted Titmouse
• Carolina Wren
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Gray Catbird
• Brown Thrasher
• Blue-winged Warbler
• Northern Parula
• Magnolia Warbler
• Pine Warbler
• Common Yellowthroat
• Wilson’s Warbler
• Northern Cardinal

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