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Since I drove two hours each way yesterday, I stayed close to home today.  I arrived at 7:30, walked about a mile, and left at about 9 AM.  The birding was kind of slow and I remembered the Killdeer chicks at the commuter parking lot from yesterday and wanted to take pictures of them.

Species seen or heard:

Since I drove two hours each way yesterday, I statyed close to home today.  I arrived at 7:30, walked about a mile, and left at about 9 AM.  The birding was kind of slow and I remembered the Killdeer chicks at the commuter parking lot from yesterday and wanted to take pictures of them.

Species seen or heard:

• Eastern Meadowlark
• Killdeer
• Northern Mockingbird
• Carolina Chickadee
• Northern Cardinal
• Purple Martin
• Mourning Dove
• Fish Crow
• Blue Jay
• Eastern Bluebird
• Indigo Bunting
• American Crow
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Common Grackle
• Northern Bobwhite
• Dickcissel
• Orchard Oriole
• Brown Thrasher
• White-eyed Vireo
• Yellow-breasted Chat
• Carolina Wren
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Eastern Phoebe
• Great Blue Heron
• Northern Flicker
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Samantha and I and perhaps 28 other birders descended on this WMA near Hope Saturday.  Our targets were Purple Gallinule,  Common Moorhen, and hopefully an American Alligator.   We got there at about 9:30 and immediately saw the first two plus young and later saw an alligator, Samantha’s first wild gator.  We called it a short day and headed home around noon.  Unfortunately, my 200-400mm zoom started acting up and I had to put the camera away before the alligator showed up.  At the commuter parking lot, where the journey started and ended, we saw a family of Killdeer including two or three young ones.

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It started Thursday evening, the 2^nd.  Angie, Samantha, and I went to a Twilight stroll event at PMSP starting at 8:30.  James Mullins was the interpreter and we were the only public attendees.  We saw several bats in the gathering gloom plus one raccoon across the Little Maumelle River and then close up one beaver as he walked to the river.

Friday morning I went to Lake Conway to drive around in hopes of seeing the nesting Bald Eagles or Osprey that had been reported there. I found a new public access point but did not see those birds.

Friday evening, I took Jack, Sam, and her friend Brandon to PMSPVC to a paddleboat event and we paddled around the quarry lake for a bit.  I believe I heard a coyote and we saw a skunk on the way there.  It was fun.

Saturday morning, the 4^th, I birded Cook’s Landing.  There was nothing extraordinary there except one armadillo but I did get 36 species in 2 hours in July.

Saturday afternoon, I took the kids to the Clinton Presidential Library to see the space exhibit. It was fun but we were all ready to come home.

Sunday was the big event. Angie and I went to Mount Magazine State Park for a second attempt at the Rufous-crowned Sparrow.  It would be a state bird for me.  Luckily we arrived during an interlude between rain spells. With the help of park interpreter Don Simons, we found one.

Later Sunday, I was getting bored at home so when the Sun came out and the forecast looked good, I headed to PMSPVC again to bird the Rocky Valley and East Quarry Trails.  Despite the mild temperature the humidity seemed around 100% and I got soaking wet from sweat.  I did see some warblers though plus plenty of hummers at the feeders and one chipmunk.  Luckily I finished when I did though, while it seemed to clear up while I was hiking before I could drive home thunderstorms appeared from no where and drenched the area.