Tag: Atkins Bottom

A Golden Eagle

January 31, 2024

It took about a decade but I finally saw my first Golden Eagle.

While Golden Eagles are spotted in Arkansas every year, these sightings are not plentiful and the eagle is typically long gone by the time another birder arrives to get a look. They are more common out west.

That is until this winter. A Golden Eagle has been hanging around Atkins Bottoms with regular sightings since January 1. After a local shared a great photo of the eagle on Facebook, a friend and I decided to make today our day to see a Golden Eagle.

Arriving early morning, we finally caught up to our Golden Eagle as it was lazily soaring high above fields and stirring up a great flock of Red-winged Blackbirds. We watched it for a good 10 minutes before it finally disappeared from sight.

The Golden Eagle, which has gold feathers on the back of its head and neck, is the largest raptor in North America. It looks similar to a juvenile Bald Eagle so you have to look closely for those gold feathers as well as study the amount of white on the wings. Golden Eagles have less white on the wings than juvenile Bald Eagles.

Photos: Inca Doves

June 5, 2023

I’ve seen Inca Doves in Costa Rica, but not in Arkansas. I chased reports of this rare dove in the state for years with no success to the point I stopped trying when I saw random reports of one being spotted.

However … I’ve been seeing reports of an Inca Dove being spotted at Lake Atkins in Pope County for over a week. I was piddling around the house Saturday when I saw a report of one being spotted at Lake Atkins roughly an hour before I saw the report. I couldn’t resist – and, well, I wanted out of the house.

At Lake Atkins, I slowly drove down the streets in the reported area for close to 30 minutes with no success (at least with an Inca Dove spotting). I was on my final loop and prepared to leave when two doves landed in the driveway I was passing. It was two Inca Doves.

Inca Doves are pretty common from the southwestern United States to far western Panama. There are reports of sightings within Arkansas each year. Inca Doves are ground doves with red eyes, a long tail and scaly-looking feathers. They blend in well with the gravel roads and lots I’ve always seen them walking on. One interesting tidbit: their call sounds like they are cooing “no hope.”

While searching for the Inca Doves, I also found:

Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks
Cliff Swallow
Killdeer