Two Rivers Park and Lake Maumelle 11/15/2009

With the idea that Two Rivers Park is best in the early morning and birds at Lake Maumelle might last longer, I started at TRP at 8.  I got off to a good start at the swampy area at the start of the paved trail with a Virginia Rail.  Unfortunately that was the highlight of the visit.  There weren’t many sparrows or much else for that matter.  At Lake Maumelle, there wasn’t much going on either – 2 Common Loon, 2 Horned Grebe, 2 Pied-billed Grebe, 2 American Crow. Seeing a pattern, I looked around for an arc but could not find one.

As I was about to load up the spotting scope, I saw something new fly in.  A quick look showed something weird.  Closer scrutiny showed similarities to a Long-tailed Duck but the head was too light and the bill too heavy (or so I thought).  After sharing my images with AR-Bird, all agreed it was a Long-tailed Duck.  The LTDU is an “uncommon Winter Visitor” and a life bird for me.  Apparently it was enough to stir some activity as I know of at least two people went to chase it.

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