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Joined Dottie & Doris, Karen, and Dale & Craig for a trip to Craighead Forest Park. Left at 5:05, was birding at 7:25 AM. Trip time was about 2:10 and was about 130 miles. First we birded a softball field south of the lake then took a paved trail to the nature center. There are some good looking trails from there but we did only one. The Bay-breasted Warbler, Mourning Warbler, and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher were life birds for me.

Species seen or heard:
• Bay-breasted Warbler **
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Magnolia Warbler
• Tennessee Warbler
• Yellow-bellied Flycatcher **
• Great Crested Flycatcher
• Mourning Warbler **
• American Redstart
• Philadelphia Vireo
• American Robin
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Pine Warbler
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Tufted Titmouse
• Northern Mockingbird
• Northern Cardinal
• Eastern Bluebird
• European Starling
• Mourning Dove
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Turkey Vulture
• White-eyed Vireo
• Common Grackle
• Chimney Swift
• Indigo Bunting
• Carolina Wren
• Eastern Kingbird
• Mississippi Kite
• Swainson’s Thrush
• Summer Tanager
• Mallard
• Great Blue Heron
• Canada Goose
• Chipping Sparrow

Arrived at 6:51 AM. I saw an unusual bird, that could only be an Orchard Oriole but had yellow where there should have been burnt yellow. He had the black head and back with yellow underneath and above the rump where the burnt orange would be. Left the area at 7:25.

Species seen or heard:
• Canada Goose
• Dickcissel
• Mourning Dove
• Northern Mockingbird
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Red-winged Blackbird
• American Crow
• Barn Swallow
• Orchard Oriole
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Cedar Waxwing
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Wood Duck
• Eastern Phoebe
• Northern Cardinal
• Fish Crow
• Carolina Wren
• Eastern Bluebird
• Brown Thrasher
• Blue Jay

Arrived at about 7:45. It was sunny, mid-50s, and very windy. Saw a single Mallard on Lake Conway and nothing else. In Bell Slough, I went past what I always considered the end of the levee (where the mud always gets bad) to see what there was. I found that the road continued though as a muddy no-gravel kind of road. This wound around staying close to Palarm Creek for a while. Then I found a similar but straight road jutting away from it. I had no compass but based on the Sun’s position, I’d say it ran close to North-South. I followed it a good ways and began to wonder if it was the same road I had previous seen at Bell Slough East. I didn’t want to find out and then walk all the way back and when I got to a marker warning that there was an underground line there I decided to turn back. However, instead of backtracking I took off into the woods knowing that I would eventually run into the road or Grassy Lake. There was little underbrush and the going was not hard. This was the best decision of the day as this is where the warblers were hiding. After a while the soil got much wetter though I never ran into the lake proper. Finally I found myself at what I had considered the end of the road until today. In all I spent 3 ½ hours there at Bell.

Species seen or heard:
• American Redstart
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Blackburnian Warbler
• Magnolia Warbler
• Prothonatory Warbler
• Osprey (with fish in talons)
• Swainson’s Thrush
• Veery
• Common Yellowthroat
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Mallard
• American Robin
• Northern Mockingbird
• Blue Jay
• Canada Goose
• Common Grackle
• White-eyed Vireo
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Indigo Bunting
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Barn Swallow
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Turkey Vulture
• Black Vulture
• Fish Crow
• American Goldfinch
• Orchard Oriole
• Green Heron
• Tufted Titmouse
• Eastern Wood-pewee
• Wood Duck
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Northern Cardinal
• Downy Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• American Crow
• Eastern Kingbird
• Bank Swallow
• Cliff Swallow