Bitterns at Woolsey Wet Prairie day after controlled burn: Another report from Joe Neal

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE BLURRY IMAGE OF HAWK ON POWER POLE AT WOOLSEY WET PRAIRIE DURING CONTROLLED BURN ON MARCH 18, 2011.

Paraphrasing Edward Abbey, Seasonal wetland needs no defense, only more defenders. That was running through my mind after I had seen a fourth (possibly fifth) American Bittern yesterday at Woolsey Wet Prairie in Fayetteville. Woolsey had a prescribed burn on March 18. I walked the black yesterday evening.

Woolsey used to be just like tens of thousands of other low-lying former tallgrass prairie acres whose clay-rich soils retain so much water they are hard to plow. Unplowed or only plowed in the occasional dry year, they retain biotic aspects of tallgrass prairie. An anomaly, Woolsey is not ditched, drained, plowed, and covered with the endless ugly pursuit to turn every square inch into gold bullion. Unlike the lost tens of thousands, Woolsey functions to retain rain water and snow melt, protecting streams from flash floods. It does have migrating American Bitterns that eat what's in the shallows including bugs, fish, even snakes and small mammals, and terrestrial prairie crayfish whose burrows are much in evidence after the burn.

The wetland cells where I found bitterns didn't burn, of course, but higher areas did. Song, Swamp, and Savannah Sparrows were harvesting exposed seeds in the black. Swamp Sparrows have molted into the nesting season's bright plumage, reddish crown feathers contrasting blacken stubble.

Wetland mitigation cells function like shallow ponds. In these I found Blue-winged Teal (4), Green-winged Teal (2), Canada Goose (8), and one American Coot. Wilson's Snipe (15-20) flushed here and there. Chorus Frogs, Spring Peepers, and a choir of American Toads welcomed dusk.

It was a satisfying hour or so. I have never seen so many American Bitterns. It must be some kind of migration peak. But it is disturbing that we once held a fortune in functioning seasonal wetlands suitable for bitterns migrating through western Arkansas. That fortune has been thrown away. Today declining bittern populations face our bottleneck ? for what? You don't have to be a math whiz to see that greed driven sprawl contributes to this bird's population decline.

Too bad they don't make a bittern that eats ditching machines, drainage projects, plows, and real estate developers. And the next time someone calls you an environmental wacho because you prefer bitterns to mini-malls, tell them as I do that Noah loaded bitterns into the Ark. Who are we to say they don't belong here in our consumer paradise?

Again paraphrasing Abbey, American Bitterns need no defense, only more defenders.
--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Video recorded after 2010 Super bowl includes photos of birds feeding in February 2010 snow

2010 snow video shows Junco, Eastern towhee (orange-sided sparrow), fox sparrow, black-capped chickadee, other birds at edge of WPWP

March 10, 2011, opened simply enough. Joan Reynolds had part of a day  
for Devils Den State Park. We met in Fayetteville around 9, blasted  
off into bright sunshine, heading south on old Cato Springs Road. Joan  
spotted two Greater Roadrunners seeming to enjoy the same spring sun  
just north of Hog Eye. Birding was slow in the park, but sunshine  
energized patches of golden pale corydalis and toothwort. White  
dog-tooth violets poked up through brown leaves on a rocky hillside.  
We were back in Fayetteville by 2. Joan returned home to Rogers to  
pick up her kids from school, me to the house with a blinking  
answering machine.
 
Behind the blinks was the familiar voice of Mike Mlodinow. A guy  
hauling hay bales loaned Mike his cell phone so he could let us know  
about a Northern Shrike he was watching at Woolsey Wet Prairie in  
Fayetteville. The answering machine is just inside the front door. My  
birding gear, especially spotting scope and camera, were still in the  
car. As on Black Friday, if you snooze you lose. I spun for Woolsey,  
sudden acceleration from sunny slow birding and spring wildflowers to  
high drama of a second state record. No time for lunch, no time for  
noon nap.
 
Woolsey Wet Prairie is not huge. The formal wetland mitigation is 30  
acres give or take, but mounded former prairie occupies at least three  
times that, including a fine pioneer oak savanna. Where is the shrike?  
I pull up, park, scan fences and powerlines; in the past I have had  
Loggerhead Shrikes here. At the savanna edge is a deteriorating barn,  
remains of an old rock home, and dense fencerows. Scan tree tops, scan  
tumbling fences marked by tangles of multiflora rose and blackberries.  
No shrike, but here is the figure of none other than Mike Mlodinow! He  
is walking toward me; once there, informs me we are in the right  
place, thickets by the house remains.
 
By now it is 3 in the afternoon. Mike has spent the day here. He rode  
mass transit as far as he could, then walked the rest to Woolsey. That  
is his style. Now we walk some more.  

We scan and scan, thickets and house place, around the barn. And then,  
way on top of a catalpa tree, Mike spots the Northern Shrike: thin  
mask with the eye rising above it, bill large and strongly hooked.  
Reddish-brownish bars mark the soft gray of breast and under parts.  
This is a bird in the first year that has mostly molted to adult  
plumage. A real northerner, it may have been pushed south by two big  
snows of early February.
 
A visitor so rare exudes star power. Return flight north is  
inevitable, but maybe, just maybe, it will remain a few days for  
others attracted to so rare a sun. For those bitten by birding, it is  
not enough to see a picture.
 
 
-- 
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
 

A visitor so rare: Joe Neal's report from March 10, 2011

March 10, 2011, opened simply enough. Joan Reynolds had part of a day  
for Devils Den State Park. We met in Fayetteville around 9, blasted  
off into bright sunshine, heading south on old Cato Springs Road. Joan  
spotted two Greater Roadrunners seeming to enjoy the same spring sun  
just north of Hog Eye. Birding was slow in the park, but sunshine  
energized patches of golden pale corydalis and toothwort. White  
dog-tooth violets poked up through brown leaves on a rocky hillside.  
We were back in Fayetteville by 2. Joan returned home to Rogers to  
pick up her kids from school, me to the house with a blinking  
answering machine.
 
Behind the blinks was the familiar voice of Mike Mlodinow. A guy  
hauling hay bales loaned Mike his cell phone so he could let us know  
about a Northern Shrike he was watching at Woolsey Wet Prairie in  
Fayetteville. The answering machine is just inside the front door. My  
birding gear, especially spotting scope and camera, were still in the  
car. As on Black Friday, if you snooze you lose. I spun for Woolsey,  
sudden acceleration from sunny slow birding and spring wildflowers to  
high drama of a second state record. No time for lunch, no time for  
noon nap.
 
Woolsey Wet Prairie is not huge. The formal wetland mitigation is 30  
acres give or take, but mounded former prairie occupies at least three  
times that, including a fine pioneer oak savanna. Where is the shrike?  
I pull up, park, scan fences and powerlines; in the past I have had  
Loggerhead Shrikes here. At the savanna edge is a deteriorating barn,  
remains of an old rock home, and dense fencerows. Scan tree tops, scan  
tumbling fences marked by tangles of multiflora rose and blackberries.  
No shrike, but here is the figure of none other than Mike Mlodinow! He  
is walking toward me; once there, informs me we are in the right  
place, thickets by the house remains.
 
By now it is 3 in the afternoon. Mike has spent the day here. He rode  
mass transit as far as he could, then walked the rest to Woolsey. That  
is his style. Now we walk some more.  

We scan and scan, thickets and house place, around the barn. And then,  
way on top of a catalpa tree, Mike spots the Northern Shrike: thin  
mask with the eye rising above it, bill large and strongly hooked.  
Reddish-brownish bars mark the soft gray of breast and under parts.  
This is a bird in the first year that has mostly molted to adult  
plumage. A real northerner, it may have been pushed south by two big  
snows of early February.
 
A visitor so rare exudes star power. Return flight north is  
inevitable, but maybe, just maybe, it will remain a few days for  
others attracted to so rare a sun. For those bitten by birding, it is  
not enough to see a picture.
 
 
-- 
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
 

Honking Canada geese enjoy wet prairie on March 9, 2011, in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE.

Birdside Baptist and other books by Joe Neal available from publisher and from sources of both new- and used-book sellers online.

Birdside Baptist publisher's site.

Example of used-book site that offers Joe's book.

A couple of reviews on the Amazon site.

Joe Neal writes about native, wild white geese

For more of Joe Neal's work please see Birdside Baptist.
Please click on image to ENLARGE closeup of a Canada goose in Northwest Arkansas. I didn't have a handy photo of a white goose to illustrate Joe's essay, but I hope everyone enjoys seeing this friendly Canada a few feet from World Peace Wetland Prairie.

Joe Neal's illustrative photo below: Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Here in the western Ozarks we don't see many geese at mid-winter, but
the skies should be full of geese heading north anytime now. Got me to
thinking about two geese at Lake Atalanta in Rogers ? a white Snow
Goose and a white Ross's Goose. These birds are easily seen and easily
photographed and all of us who enjoy birding there have seen them many
times. But who are they, exactly?

I photographed them up close and personal by accident on December 5,
2010. In one image you can see their bills, legs, etc. With the images
up on my computer at home, what strikes me is their similar size and
shape. Compared to Ross's in the same image, Snow Goose has the
obvious grin patch, heavier/larger bill. The legs of the Snow Goose
are thicker. I am puzzled by how close they are in size, but didn't
get any further with it until Doug James and Elizabeth were up there
recently and Doug noticed the exact same thing: if you are close
enough to see the grin patch, you can separate them by that widely
accepted field mark, but the size is so close that no real difference
is apparent.

Species accounts in the Birds of North America (BNA) series help
expand the mystery. To begin, these geese have a close genetic
relationship. That is, they are basically sisters. Snow Geese that
winter in Arkansas are mainly assignable to the subspecies called
Lesser Snow Goose. There is additional geographic variation in body
size and other characteristics related to growth conditions during the
prefledging period in the Arctic. For example, one study cited in BNA
demonstrated that early-hatched goslings had access to more food and
presumably better growth opportunities. So what happens on the ground
in the Arctic must influence the size of birds we see in Arkansas.

In terms of Ross's Goose, they are rarely found with the form called
Greater Snow Goose, but often with Lesser Snow Goose. DNA analysis
shows that Ross's is a sister species with Lesser Snow Goose. So the
sisters migrate into Arkansas and maybe that is who is at Lake Atalanta.

My conclusion in all of this is that apparent size similarity may be
reconciled as follows:
1. The Snow Goose at Lake Atalanta is the form Lesser Snow Goose
2. This Lesser Snow Goose may be even smaller than other Lessers
because of various ecological conditions in its prefleging growth
3. Male Snow s are modestly larger than females, so our Snow may be a female
4. Male Ross's are heavier than females in winter, so our Lake
Atalanta bird may be a male

By juggling all of this stuff, it is possible to logically squeeze
these two real live wild birds at Lake Atalanta into the same size
frame: a small female Lesser Snow Goose and a large male Ross's Goose.
Like we used to say in the Forest Service when confronted by the
unexplainable, That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Something special for birds: Night before Streamside Ordinance was passed by City Council, it was discussed during Ward 4 meeting

Joe Neal points out points of interst for the March 26, 2011, Audubon outing

The next Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society field trip is on Saturday  
March 26, 2011. This is an outstanding opportunity to go birding in  
mature shortleaf pine habitat (and also mature hardwoods) in the  
Shores Lake area of Ozark National Forest and adjacent Fern community.  
It is also a unique opportunity to go with trip leader Bill Beall,  
veteran birder from Ft Smith who had studied birds in western Arkansas  
for six decades. We will be especially on the look-out for  
Brown-headed Nuthatches and other birds typical of pine forests. The  
Shores Lake area is one of the few spots in the Ozarks where these  
nuthatches still occur, but finding them is not assured. Expect a Pine  
Warbler deluge. Meet at 9 AM at the Shores Lake picnic area entrance  
on the west side of the lake. You can show up earlier if you wish! We  
may try to do some car pooling from Fayetteville if anyone is  
interested. Shores Lake is just north of Mulberry. For more  
information, contact me at 479-521-1858. If there is time we may also  
head down toward Frog Bayou WMA for a different kind of birding. More  
information and directions to the Shores Lake-Fern-Frog Bayou areas  
here: http://www.nwarkaudubon.org/id17.html
 
-- 
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
 

Joe Neal: Devil's Den vultures and Phoebes on March 1, 2011

The early bird supposedly gets the worm, but maybe the lay around  
birder gets the close-up look at a vulture? I went down to Devils Den  
State Park this morning and got there for the blue sky, the brilliant  
sun. Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures were still lazing about in  
roost trees. One Turkey Vulture is perched in an oak just budding,  
fully wing-spread and soaking up rays. My point: early is not required  
for extraordinary.
 
Sitting on Lee Creek bridge, looking up toward a typical Ozark ridge,  
the bluff line has a shallow saddle shape. Is this real or illusion?  
Is it just the brilliant sun or the shapes of leafless trees. While I  
puzzle over this I notice a line of dark green cedars and above that,  
an intricate lace of leafless limbs. And above that, a blanket of blue  
sky with a thin feathering of clouds, a drifting kettle of 10 Black  
Vultures, spring peepers in the back ground, chorusing.
 
The day is so beautiful I forget to use my binoculars. In fact, I  
forget to stay awake. I forget everything and prop up against a big  
smooth rock alongside Lee Creek. When I wake I think a titmouse is  
pulling at gray hair sticking outside my cap. Am I dreaming or what?  
My hair as lichen; maybe the titmouse thinks it will work to line a  
nest. Or maybe I have finally lost my mind. Yes, the smooth cobbles  
alongside the creek are real and forgiving.
 
So I am back up and walking around looking at stuff. Best sightings of  
the day are White-breasted Nuthatches, walking the trees. They stop,  
look out, and survey the scene from gravity-defying upside down. They  
call and keep looking. They see what we cannot see unless we bend down  
and look from between our knees. I am considering such wild things in  
view of the various courses, the various back-and-forths, the various  
stops-and-starts, the various backing-ups, in my own life. And to  
think we always talk about them walking upside down!
 
It was a good phoebe day in the Den, too. In our neck of the Ozarks we  
do see phoebes at times during winter. Today there are at least a  
couple of pairs in the park. Doesn't matter to me what the calender  
says. A pair of phoebes makes a spring.
 
 
-- 
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas