Butterfly Garden

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There were butterflies galore during a visit to the flower beds that the Craighead County Master Gardeners maintain at Arkansas State University near the farmer’s market area.

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New Finds: Northern Bobwhite, more

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Northern Bobwhite

During a recent drive back from Greenbrier, I stumbled across a Northern Bobwhite just hanging out on a fence. It was a pleasant surprise, especially since I had just spotted my first Black Vulture as well! Below are photos of the Black Vulture and other birds I found. 🙂

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Black Vulture
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Indigo Bunting
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Least Sandpiper
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (male)

A Sora and wildflowers

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Sora

I was excited to find a Sora foraging about earlier today at Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge. Pictured below are other finds, along with some Purple Martins and a House Sparrow that hung out in a bird house near my aunt’s pool in Jonesboro.

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Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal
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House Sparrow, Purple Martins
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House Sparrow, Purple Martins

Providence!

I finally made it to Rhode Island! My Aunt Jo will be presenting at a conference this week so a second aunt, Cindy, and I decided to tag along.

  (Above: Sunrise as we take off from Memphis)

It meant today involved an early, but quick flight, shopping at the mall attached to our hotel to avoid the heavy rainfall once we arrived, and lunch at P.F. Chang’s.

 (Above: My new shoes) 

We won’t be here long but Aunt Cindy and I still adecided to take the day easy. The best part was hands down picking up Aunt Jo and heading to dinner. 

  (Above: Sightseeing while heading to dinner)

We ate at Kabob and Curry, Fine Indian Cuisine. I’ll admit I would never have ate there if my aunts hadn’t been with me. I would have missed out.
We had Nimboo Soda, a tradional Indian lemonade with mint and roasted cumin, and I ordered a sampler plate that allowed me to try a variety of dishes including vegetable samosa – a crispy turnover, seasoned potato and pea filling, a mango and mint chicken curry bowl, dal makhni – black lentils, red beans, ginger and tomato, and rice pudding for dessert.

   (Above: starter dish)

  
We all ended up getting a second helping of the rice pudding to take to the hotel for later.

 

Office visit

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This “Oregon” Dark-eyed Junco visited my work this week during a cold wave in Northeast Arkansas. The junco seemed unfazed as a gust of wind would ruffle its feathers every so often.

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An icy weekend

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Our first winter storm blew into Arkansas early Thursday afternoon keeping me at home this past weekend. I’m not complaining — I enjoyed it. Outside ice-covered everything and we had few visitors except for cardinals, a finch, an American Robin and dozens of White-Throated Sparrows.

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House Finch

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White-Throated Sparrow

Vulture circling

Turkey Vulture

A lone turkey vulture circled Branson as we conducted some major shopping at Tanger Outlets. The weather was perfect and we stopped at Garfields Restaurant and Pub along the river for lunch/dinner.

Yum and what a view. I watched a heron fly by along with five or six geese. House sparrows perched above the stores lining Garfields.

We ended up stopping by Cakes and Creams Desserts for the Ozark Mountain Sundae or the funnel cake with fresh strawberries with ice cream. It was the perfect ending to the day (well, along with a stop by the hotel’s pool and hot tub)! The only downfall was that the sundae and funnel cake was too good – we were completely full by the time we left. We’re planning a second visit before we leave!

Our sole other stop was to the Festival of Lights. Slightly disappointed by it, but still interesting. My aunt and grandmother loved it.

Here’s some pictures:

House Sparrow
House Sparrow

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Branson arrival

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We arrived in Branson, Mo., late last night for a four-day getaway with my aunt and grandmother.

The decor at the Stone Castle Inn tickles me. The hotel is jammed packed. Christmas lights are already going up and, while traffic is busy, it’s not too bad.

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For once, we have no plans. It’s off to shop and visit a nearby state park.