Tag: Horned Lark

Photos: Kibler Bottoms

April 24, 2023
Swainson’s Hawk

Saturday marked my first time to Kibler Bottoms in Crawford County. Kibler Bottoms is a roughly loop drive that goes south into agriculture fields in the bottoms of the Arkansas river Valley.

While there, I got my first glimpses of Swainson’s Hawks. The three Swainson’s Hawks we found were in adult light morph, meaning they had darker heads, white on the upper part of the underwings. The underwings were darker moving down and out. Typically found in grasslands, range maps on allaboutbirds.org show they are typically found in the United States during breeding season. Their breeding season range is more west of Arkansas, but I’m told Kibler Bottoms is a great place to spot them around this time in Arkansas.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Another rare bird found was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper that foraged in a field alongside American Golden-Plovers, a Horned Lark. A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was also sitting in the field nearby. The migration range of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper just passes through western Arkansas so we didn’t expect to see one Saturday. This sandpiper is typically found in dry, grassy habitats according to allaboutbirds.org. They nest only in the High Arctic of northernmost Alaska and Canada and then migrate to South America.

Overall, we found 218 birds of 24 species. Here’s photos of some of the other birds spotted:

American Golden Plover
Bald Eagle
Horned Lark
Savannah Sparrow
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Turkey Vulture

Photos: Atkins Bottoms

March 24, 2023
Western Meadowlark

This winter, I began visiting the Atkins Bottoms area in Pope County. My goal was to find Tundra Swans. While I haven’t found a Tundra, I did come across a Western Meadowlark during a recent trip. I’m more used to the Eastern Meadowlark, which have darker head stripes. It helped that the Western Meadowlarks were very vocal, making identification easier. Recent trips have been filled with birds, including Horned Larks, Lapland Longspurs and even a Merlin. I especially excited to see Lapland Longspurs – a first for me.

Fish Crow
American Kestrel
American White Pelican
Gadwall
Horned Lark
Lapland Longspur
Merlin
Northern Pintail
Red-winged Blackbird
Snow Geese, Greater White-fronted Geese
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Trumpeter Swan
Trumpeter Swan
Lapland Longspur

Photos: Birds of the Past

January 20, 2020

Saw-Whet Owl Banding 01 at Ozark Natural Science Center 110815.JPG
Saw-Whet Owl

I was off work today (yay!), although my family still kept me busy most of the day. In my downtime, I continued going through photos on my computer to cut down the numbers. Here’s a few gems that I found and realized were not marked off my bird list as found.

Just FYI, the above one of a Saw-Whet Owl is my favorite. In 2015, I went to a banding workshop where a University of Arkansas student put out nets to catch and band Saw-Whet Owls. I was lucky – he caught and banded one the first night I went. I went to another banding workshop a few years later, although unfortunately no birds were caught that night. His work is pretty incredible. Saw whet owls are one of the smallest owl species in North America, and are one of the most common (and seldom seen) owls in forests across northern U.S. Arkansas is in the Saw-Whet Owl’s non-breeding range (although sightings are scarce). In Arkansas, only a dozen sightings were reported between 1959 and 2010 before the UA student and his professor captured and documented one in 2015.

Here’s some more finds from over the past few years:

Horned Lark 011416 wynne.jpg
Horned Lark (Funny story – I was at my hometown’s Sonic with my parents one day when I looked out at the neighboring field and discovered Horned Larks all over the place. I was thrilled and it really tickled my Dad.

Black-crowned Night Heron 083014.jpg
Black-Crowned Night Heron

Scarlet Tanager 042118.JPG
Scarlet Tanager