Bufflehead Bay – Memos for Me

Western Grebe

March 5, 2025

On Monday, a fellow birder discovered a Western Grebe and Pacific Loon at Bufflehead Bay, which is part of Lake Maumelle on the outskirts of Little Rock.

While I have already seen both, I decided it’d be interesting to try and relocate them. I never found the Pacific Loon. But I eventually relocated the Western Grebe at a nearby yacht club.

I’ve now learned there is a debate happening on whether this grebe could actually be a Clark’s Grebe – which would be a first for Arkansas.

Clark’s Grebes have brighter yellow bills with a dark line along the top. The black cap of the Clark’s does not extend down to surround the eye, as it does on the Western, according to All About Birds.

Once considered the same grebe, the Clark’s and Western were separated into two different species in 19985 after scientists learned the two “rarely interbreed (despite sometimes living on the same lakes), make different calls, and have substantial DNA differences,” All About Birds reported.

For now, we’re treating the grebe as a Western. Western Grebes are still rare to Arkansas (typically found west of the state), but birdwatchers typically find one or two within the state each year.

Photos: A Morning Hike

September 13, 2021

Earlier this week, I took advantage of a free morning to take a hike on a new, roughly 2.5-mile trail off Lake Maumelle. Not only was the hike relaxing, there were tons of birds singing along the way. My most exciting find wasn’t actually on the trail but soaring above it. I happened to look up just as the above pictured Osprey was circling above. I’ve never actually seen an Osprey in Arkansas, although these hawks are pretty common in central part of the state. I actually thought this one was a Mississippi Kite until I took a photograph and zoomed in closer to take a better look.

While the Osprey was a first for me, I also enjoyed practicing my bird call recognition. I’ve started using the sound ID section of the Cornell Lab’s Merlin Bird ID app. While it has listed a few birds as calling that I know are not found in Arkansas, the sound ID app has correctly ID’d quite a few birds that I didn’t recognize the calls of. Two such birds on this trip were the White-eyed Vireo and Yellow-throated Vireo.

The above-pictured Yellow-throated Vireo is actually the third one of its species that I have seen period. I found all three Yellow-throated Vireos within the past week – all thanks to the app’s Sound ID. I would record bird calls, the app would ID the bird call correctly as the Yellow-throated Vireo, and the bird would then respond when I played callbacks (each one has come out in the open, allowing me to get a picture). It’s pretty exciting. The Yellow-throated Vireo may be one of the most colorful members of the vireo family, but it can blend it pretty darn well.

Here’s a few other birds I saw along the trail:

Just a warbler or two

June 30, 2020

Yellow Warbler2 05172020 836a Bufflehead Bay — Yellow Warbler

A few weeks ago I visited Bufflehead Bay on Lake Maumelle, and it was warbler haven. While I saw favorites like the Pine Warbler and Summer Tanager, I also saw firsts for me: the Worm-eating Warbler and Yellow Warbler.

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. 🙂