I saw my first Blue-winged Warbler today at Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge in Saint Charles.
The Blue-winged Warbler migrates through Arkansas each year. Cool fact per All About Birds: the oldest recorded Blue-winged Warbler was a male that lived at least 9 years and 11 months. The data was collected during banding operations in Ontario that had the captured, banded, and released.
I was taking a photo of a Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs (pictured at the bottom of the above photo) when a Sora casually walked out of the rice and began walking around. I definitely wasn’t expecting that to happen. I was snapping photos when, all of a sudden, a second one appears.
Soras are a secretive marsh bird that can be found throughout the United States at various points in the year, according to AllAboutBirds.org. They can be found in Arkansas during migration season. However, they aren’t expected to be sighted at the moment in Arkansas.
I was waiting for food to be delivered to my car when I happened to spot several birds flying overhead. Since it was nighttime, it kind of threw me off. Those birds turned out to be Common Nighthawks. A swarm of them – eight in total – flew overhead, catching flying insects drawn to the nearby street lights.
Common Nighthawks roost during the day, and can typically be found in the early mornings and evenings. According to Arkansas bird experts, I likely caught a migrating group as they passed through Little Rock. I best recognized the birds by the white patch close to the bend of their wings.
Seven Magnificent Frigatebirds have been found in Arkansas as Hurricane Ida continues to head through. Magnificent Frigatebirds are large seabirds that skim fish from the surface of the water or chase other birds to steal food. They are typically founding around the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. I wasn’t taking any chances of missing them so I took off to find them at Lake Grand in Chicot County. I got lucky.
Despite it being a cloudy and rainy day, there were quite a few birds, like the below Bank Swallows, to be found. I also got lucky and found four rare White-winged Doves as well. White-winged Doves are typically found in desert habitat in the Southwest and in cities and suburbs of Texas and the coastal Southeast, according to AllAboutBirds.org. They have been turning up in Arkansas more and more.
We currently have an Eastern Bluebird family visiting our feeders. Bluebirds are one of our favorite birds and we have 3-4 at our feeders typically year-round. (Yay!)
There are two types of crows – the American and the Fish. They look alike so they way to tell them apart is by their call. It’s easy to hear and then photograph the American Crow. Not so much the Fish Crow, but I was finally able to do so recently at the Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge.
Today’s a state holiday and we’re snowed in. So, it was the perfect day to birdwatch. We had 23 total bird species visit our feeders today – and that doesn’t include some birds we typically see like the American Crow and White-breasted Nuthatch (both were present yesterday but not today 🤷🏼♀️). Here’s a few of my favorite visitors today:
No, I didn’t spend all day simply watching my feeders. There was also tax work and a walk around the neighborhood. I’ll let you guess which one was my favorite.
I finally photographed a Purple Finch.
I can’t tell you how excited that makes me. It comes after years and multiple attempts of me thinking I finally found one – only for a more experienced birder that I trust to come forward and say, “that’s a House Finch. Good try.” 🤷🏼♀️
The Purple Finch I correctly identified was hanging out with American Goldfinches. It’s was a bird-filled yard. Below, I included another photo of the Purple Finch and American Goldfinches as well as my other favorite photos of the trip: one of a pair of Northern Cardinals and one of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
An Anna’s Hummingbird was reported in Vilonia yesterday. Luckily, the homeowner who reported her allowed me to stop by today to see her! 😍
Anna’s Hummingbirds have iridescent green feathers (males have rose-pink throats although the females have a tiny red throat patch – females of most species have none). They are typically found along the western coast and in New Mexico and Arizona. According to AllAboutBirds, unlike most hummingbirds, they either don’t migrate or migrate a very short distance to find better places to eat. Cool fact: during courtship, the male will fly up to 130 feet in the air and dive down to produce a burst of noise through their tail feathers. This takes the male about 12 seconds to do.
Today marks the THIRD hummingbird species I have seen in Arkansas since Dec. 3! Pretty impressive – and odd – seeing as I’ve only seen the Ruby Throated Hummingbird and the Rufous Hummingbird since I started birding years ago. Hopefully it won’t be the last!
For the past eight years, I’ve had Mississippi Kites nest near my home. In Jonesboro, the kites could be found in trees in my front yard and my neighbor’s back yard. In Little Rock, the kites can be found soaring leisurely above our house. Mississippi Kites are one of my favorite birds – and I look forward to seeing them again in a few months. Cool fact about Mississippi Kites: the oldest one was at least 11 years old. It was banded in Kansas in 1984 and was later found in Texas in 1995, according to AllAboutBirds.org.
Rediscovering Arkansas with a few detours.
We preserve, conserve, and study the native plants of Arkansas
Our Nicaraguan Journey
Rediscovering Arkansas with a few detours.
Think left & think right & think low & think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!" -Dr. Seuss
I previously worked as a news and sports photographer. Recently I have been enjoying wildlife photography. My approach toward bird photos is similar to sports photography. I attempt to capture mostly action and hopefully a unique perspective.
Urbanites in the woods, doing all our own stunts.
WILD IN FLORIDA: Exploring and Photographing Florida's Threatened Ecosystems, Wildlife, and More
by Jo Woolf
Rediscovering Arkansas with a few detours.
Rediscovering Arkansas with a few detours.
Rediscovering Arkansas with a few detours.
Memos for Me 