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There were few birds found recently on Pinnacle Mountain State Park’s Arboretum Trail (and only 1 other person – we stayed far away from each other), but the ones I definitely made the trip taken between rain showers count. I found a Carolina Wren feeding its babies, a Carolina Chickadee (not pictured) gathering food and a Swanson’s Thrush. A native Red Columbine flower also grew near the trail – a perfect celebration of this being Native Plant Week.

Carolina Wren PMSP 04192020.JPG — Carolina Wren

Red Columbine2 PMSP 04192020.JPG — Red Columbine

Photo: Orchard Oriole

April 23, 2020

Photos: Birds of Bald Knob’s refuge

April 19, 2020

Bald Eagles1 BKNWR 04182020.JPG — Juvenile Bald Eagles

This weekend, I visited Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge and, OH MY GOSH, it was a FANTASTIC weekend. I recorded a record number of birds in eBird that included some firsts for me. Here are my highlights:

Common Gallinule BKNWR 04182020_edited-1 — Common Gallinule

Yellow-headed Blackbird BKNWR 04182020_edited-1 — Yellow-headed Blackbird

Black-necked Stilt BKNWR 04182020 — Black-necked Stilt

Red-shouldered Hawk2 BKNWR 04182020_edited-1 — Red-shouldered Hawk

Common Yellowthroat BKNWR 04182020 — Common Yellowthroat

Bald Eagles2 BKNWR 04182020_edited-1 — Bald Eagles

Front-row seat

April 18, 2020

Eastern Bluebird2 BKNWR 04182020.JPG

Two Eastern Bluebirds have been feeding their young right outside of my front window for the past few days. Tonight, they sat in a feeder filled with mealworms and fed the youngster.

Eastern Bluebird1 BKNWR 04182020.JPG

Photos: 2 Butterflies and a Grasshopper

April 15, 2020

American Bird Grasshopper LR Audubon Center 04122020.JPG — American Bird Grasshopper

Did you know what an American Bird Grasshopper looked like close up? I didn’t before I photographed one this past weekend. I also found 2 more butterflies to add to my butterfly photography collection: Pearl Crescent and Eastern tailed-blue.

Eastern tailed-blue butterfly LR Audubon Center 04122020 — Eastern tailed-blue

Pearl Crescent butterfly LR Audubon Center 04122020 — Pearl Crescent

Photos: Gotta get out!

April 15, 2020

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher2 Bufflehead Bay 04112020.JPG — Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

On Saturday, we were going a little stir crazy at home so we decided to take advantage of the warm weather to grab some drinks at a nearby Starbucks and then visit local parks (while practicing social distancing of course and other guidelines advised by health officials).

The trip got off to a great start! Starbucks’ drive-thru line was long but there was a native Possum Haw tree/shrub that had about 15 Cedar Waxwings eating the berries on it.

Cedar Waxwing Little Rock 04112020 — Cedar Waxwing

We eventually visited Bufflehead Bay, the flower garden near Pinnacle Mountain State Park’s Visitor Center and Two Rivers Park. The clear winners of the day were the many butterflies we saw as well as a Northern Diamondback Watersnake that was sunbathing. Here’s a little of what we saw:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Pinnacle Mountain 04112020 — Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Northern Diamond-backed Watersnake Two Rivers Park 04112020 — Northern Diamondback Watersnake

Red-spotted Purple Admiral Butterfly Bufflehead Bay 04112020 — Red-spotted Purple Admiral

Red Admiral butterfly Pinnacle Mountain 04112020 — Painted Lady

Silver-spotted Skipper1 Pinnacle Mountain 04112020 — Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper2 Pinnacle Mountain 04112020 — Silver-spotted Skipper

Purple Martin3 Two Rivers Park 04112020 — Purple Martins

Flower1 Bufflehead Bay 04112020

Scissortail Flycatcher Two Rivers Park 04112020 — Scissortail Flycatcher

Currently loving: Common Yellowthroat

April 11, 2020

Common Yellowthroat3 BKNWR 040420 — Common Yellowthroat

I stumbled across a Common Yellowthroat during a recent trip to Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge. Not going to lie, it took me a good 20-ish minutes to finally spot/identify this little guy. I could see two birds sprinting around in the shrubs across a huge ditch from me, but they were moving too fast for me to see clearly at first. I finally caught the one pictured above just resting in a bush.

This morning trip fielded about 28 different species of birds for me. Some of my highlights are below:

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher1 BKNWR 040420 — Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Yellow-rumped Warbler3 BKNWR 040420 — Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher5 BKNWR 040220 — Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and a Red-bellied Woodpecker

Double-Crested Cormorant BKNWR 040420 — Double-crested Cormorant

Eastern Bluebird BKNWR 040420 — Eastern Bluebird

Walk it off

April 9, 2020

Pine Warbler3 032120 Bufflehead Bay — Pine Warbler

Recently, we took a walk at Bufflehead Bay near the Jolly Roger’s Marina to get out, enjoy the good weather and see what birds we could find. There were TONS of common loons as well as other little birds like the above Pine Warbler.

Just a note: We did practice social distancing. 🙂

Common Loon (male)

Common Loon (female)

American Crow

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Carolina Chickadee

Season of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers

April 6, 2020

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on nest Bufflehead Bay 04052020 — Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

During yesterday’s walk at Bufflehead Bay just west of Little Rock, I discovered a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on a nest. I’m pretty excited since the nest overlooks the main trail. I seem to be spotting a lot of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers this season. Thank goodness they are so darn cute. Another cool sighting: an Easter Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.