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The forecast was not too great for today, lots of rain and thunderstorms.  I had decided that if it looked good, I’d go birding at Anderson’s again and maybe Joe Hogan and if not then I’d go to the Hummingbird Banding event at Pinnacle Mountain State Park.  Samantha happened to have wakened at 4 AM and decided to go with me.  It looked like there was likely a window in the weather so we took off for Anderson’s.  We got there about 8 and had barely set up the spotting scope when the rains hit so we decided to head to PMSP with a quick drive through of Joe Hogan to check out the ponds.

We got to PMSP just in time for the event to start and to my surprise, it was packed.  Dan S & Samantha H were there and it Larry Witherspoon was the host and bander.  We stayed close to two hours and took lots of pictures, maybe some will be good, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Later after Sam crashed in the recliner while watching Doctor Who, there was another clearing in the weather and I decided to try Anderson’s again to see what could be seen.  Pretty much the same as Friday with the addition of Long-billed Dowitchers and more mud. My shoes weighed 5 pounds more as I returned to the car than they did when I started.  I tried my hand at digiscoping and they may turn out but I need to get a bracket if I’m going to be serious about it.

There wasn’t much going on at Joe Hogan but they have several drained or draining ponds so it might be a good idea to keep an eye on it in the next few months.  Actually, I had the same species count there as at Anderson’s with one tenth the effort but Anderson’s had cooler birders.

Check my previous post for a map to the pond at Anderson’s.

Species seen or heard at Anderson’s

• Mallard
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Green Heron
• Semipalmated Plover
• Killdeer
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Least Tern
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-winged Blackbird

Species seen or heard at Joe Hogan:

• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Green Heron
• Killdeer
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Mourning Dove
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Purple Martin
• Tree Swallow
• American Robin
• Northern Mockingbird
• European Starling
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Common Grackle
• Brown-headed Cowbird

After reading an ARBird post about some interesting birds at Joe Hogan, I decided to zip out there on the last day of the month to see if I could get my monthly species count to 100 (it was currently at 99).  As I was driving past Anderson’s I spotted a gaggle of birders by one drained pond and decided to stop and see what was going on.  Glad I did. The pond was full of shorebirds and terns, seven species of the first and three of the other.  Of primary interest was what I mistook for a Hudsonian Godwit but which turned out to be the still exotic but more likely Marbled Godwit.  Even so, I was able to puish my monthly count over 100 for the fifth month in a row.

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Species seen or heard:

• Mallard
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Green Heron
• Semipalmated Plover
• American Avocet
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Marbled Godwit
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Least Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Bank Swallow

I got a late start this morning, I was up late due to a public star party, but got to Treadway’s by 8:30.  I confirmed that if you can spot the Crossroads “exit” on Arkansas 13 you can trim about 3 miles off the trip as compared to going all the way to the water tower and then turning right.  Anyway, there were a fair number of species including some exciting changes of pace like Ruddy Duck (15), Black Tern (2), Forster’s Tern (5), Spotted Tern (1), Semi-palmated Sandpiper (2), and Least Sandpiper (35).  I found most of their ponds to be full but found one to be in the process of being drained so it may be worth keeping an eye on in coming weeks.  This pond is where most of the good action was to be found.

Here is that pond on map:

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On the way back, I stopped at Joe Hogan Fish Hatchery in Lonoke and found that the observation tower is gone.  It’s a shame but it was probably an insurance liability. I found three freshly drained ponds on the eastern side on the hatchery and all three had shorebirds.  Not great numbers but worth keeping an eye on until they dry up.  There I saw Sanderling (1), Northern Shoveler (1 female), Greater and lesser Yellowlegs, Semi-palmated Sandpiper (3), Pectoral Sandpiper (20) and Least Sandpiper (45).

Species seen or heard at Treadway’s:

• Ruddy Duck
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Little Blue Heron
• Turkey Vulture
• Killdeer
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Fish Crow
• Purple Martin
• Tree Swallow
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Eastern Bluebird
• Northern Cardinal
• Indigo Bunting
• Dickcissel
• Eastern Meadowlark
• House Sparrow

Species seen or heard at Joe Hogan:

• Northern Shoveler
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Green Heron
• Killdeer
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Sanderling
• Least Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Eurasian Collared-Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Belted Kingfisher
• Purple Martin
• Barn Swallow
• American Robin
• Field Sparrow
• Common Grackle