Tag: Osprey

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

May 18, 2025
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Yesterday, I joined some bird-watching friends visiting Stone Prairie Wildlife Management Area near Mayflower. It was my first time hiking this WMA, which consists of 989 acres with seven miles of gravel roads. It is known for its restored prairies, savannas, and oak-hickory forests. It was previously part of Camp Robinson’s World War II-era field training area.

While it will likely never become my favorite WMA to visit, it was a peaceful walk that netted us sightings of several interesting birds, such as a Painted Bunting, Prairie Warblers, an Osprey, and a Broad-winged Hawk.

Barn Swallow
Blackburnian Warbler
Broad-winged Hawk
Osprey
Painted Bunting
Prairie Warbler

We later ventured across the road to the Camp Robinson WMA and Camp Robinson Special Use Area. I’m always excited to find Northern Bobwhites here, and we discovered my first Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (pictured above).

Flycatchers in the Empidonax genus are notoriously hard to identify, but the Yellow-bellied is one of the easier ones due to its yellowish underparts and bold eyering. It helped that two of the people in our group excel at identifying them. The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher migrates through Arkansas. While common, it was my first time seeing this flycatcher, so it was my bird of the day. That was saying something because we continued to hear and see an interesting assortment of birds, such as those below.

Chestnut-sided Warbler
Least Flycatcher
Orchard Oriole
Summer Tanager
Swainson’s Thrush
Warbling Vireo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-throated Vireo

We also found the cutest Rough Greensnake and butterflies.

Photos: A Morning Hike

September 13, 2021
Osprey

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.

White-eyed Vireo
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:

White-breasted Nuthatch
Summer Tanager
Red-headed Woodpecker
juvenile Red-Headed Woodpecker
Pine Warbler