Tag: Carolina Chickadee

Photos: Migration Season

May 9, 2023
Lark Bunting

I’ve been heavily birding the past few weekends to take advantage of the birds passing through Arkansas. And I’ve gotten lucky with my sightings so far. This past weekend, a Lark Bunting was spotted in Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge. Luckily, I was able to head that way about an hour or two after it was first reported. Boy, am I glad I headed that way. I went back the next morning and the bird could not be refound.

Lark Buntings are not common for Arkansas, but more to the mid-west of us. Think Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and moving up from there to parts of North Dakota, Montana, and Canada during the breeding season. Nonbreeding season is spent in Central Arkansas and parts of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Here are a few other birds – and animals – I was excited to find:

Swamp Rabbit
Bell’s Vireo
Blue-winged Teal
Bobolink
Carolina Chickadee
Chimney Swift
Common Yellowthroat
Couch’s Kingbird
Dickcissel
Eastern Cottontail
Grasshopper Sparrow
Gray Catbird
Lark Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Palm Warbler
Red-shouldered Hawk chased by Red-winged Blackbirds
Red-winged Blackbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Sora
Sora
Summer Tanager
Tree Swallow
White-eyed Vireo
Wilson’s Phalarope
Woodchuck
Yellow-breasted Chat
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Western Kingbird

PHOTOS: A Fork-tailed Flycatcher

November 27, 2020

A Fork-tailed Flycatcher – only the second of its kind documented in Arkansas – has been spotted in Desha County. Fork-tailed Flycatchers are typically found along the Atlantic Coast and migrate from southern South America. They can be found in savanna’s, grasslands and other open country with scattered bushes and trees, according to eBird. The one in Arkansas has been hanging out around a bridge over Boggy Bayou. It is an agricultural area with a paper manufacturing plant nearby. While I was there, the bird was easy to spot and, even when it flew away, it returned to the same trees. Others said it perched on a power line although it never did while I was there. Here’s some more photos (plus some of other birds I love):

Northern Flicker
Pied-billed Grebe
Carolina Chickadee

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

Oh Savannah …

February 1, 2013

Savannah Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow

I finally found a Savannah Sparrow and an Eastern Phoebe in Arkansas County as well as a few other well-known additions.

1-13 Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe

1-13 Lesser Scaup
Lesser Scaup

1-13 American Coot1
American Coot

1-13 Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Chickadee

 

Holla Bend eagle search

January 26, 2012


January is Eagle Awareness Month in Arkansas. To celebrate, I attended the Eagle Awareness Weekend at Petit Jean State Park. Bald Eagle numbers in the lower 48 states have now increased from 417 nesting pairs in 1967 to more than 10,000 nesting pairs in recent years. However, this still hasn’t helped me reach my goal of seeing an adult Bald Eagle.

The Bald Eagle gained federal protection in 1940 and its population was severely threatened by the widespread use of the pesticide DDT after World War II. DDT caused Bald eagles to lay eggs with weakened shells.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service changed the Bald Eagle’s status from endangered to threatened in 1995. In 2007, the Bald Eagle was taken off the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants.

One of the two juvenile Bald Eagles spotted within feet of each other.
The second of two juvenile Bald Eagles that we saw. I was unable to get closer.

To accomplish my goal, Petit Jean park rangers took a group including my aunt and I to nearby Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge, a 7,055 acre refuge that was established in 1957 as a result of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers navigation and flood control project. Continue reading “Holla Bend eagle search”