My inbox had a deluge of 45 bird-related emails today, almost all
Arkansas birds. Welcome to spring excitements. So I am not kidding
myself that with so much birding, many of you have no time for
literary rambles. Here is my Executive Summary for you busy busy
birders.
I went down to Frog Bayou WMA and nearby West-Ark Sod. At Frog one of
my first birds was a Tricolored Heron flying out of Unit 5. Soras were
singing at dawn in Unit 3. One of the last birds was a Willet in Unit
2. Unit 2 also had 12 Greater Yellowlegs that looked puny next to
lordly Willet. Sod had Horned Larks singing to a south wind and my
first of the spring Grasshopper Sparrow, handily perched and singing
alongside the road. Such an apparently tiny creature, but when it
throws back that big bill and sings that lusty insect trill, it owns
the world of open fields, the only reality that matters.
Before closing the Executive Summary, let me note that at a distance,
and in the hopeful heart, an exquisitely ruddy female Northern Pintail
bears a certain likeness to a juvenile male Cinnamon Teal that has not
quite acquired full glory of the breeding season. Throw in some
aquatic vegetation, distance, white light, a drop or two of sweat on
the old bins, and voila! You have yourself a rare bird, or so you
think, for oh so very brief and sweet a while. But I reveal too much.
Allow me to draw the curtain on anxious moments and my disappointment,
and move on to birding gear.
Frog is laid out in a series of shallow moist soil units, essentially
marshes that mimic wetlands that once existed along the Arkansas
River. If you are like me, you are sure the next cattails, that next
big patch of sedges, that far corner will surely have even more
interesting birds. And thus, one marches deeper and deeper into the
heart of Frog. And, of course, there is the required walk back. That
walk would be one thing, if we were in the olden days, when we just
shoved a field guide in the back pocket and threw bins around the
neck. Birding light. Well, those days are long gone, gone as dollar
gas gone.
So I am at Frog all geared up. The sun is higher, the wind is sharper,
and the spotting scope, tripod, field guide, water bottle, MP3 player
with speaker, binoculars, rubber Muck boots have not gotten lighter.
Did I forget anything? Is there any other gear I just cannot go in the
field without? Oh yes, the Sony sound recorder. All hauled in, cattail
patch after cattail patch, and will be hauled out. On foot.
But today I brought my bicycle with me, now all tricked out with two
big wire baskets and very ugly in an aesthetic sense. I stuffed those
baskets full of gear and off I went, wobbling down the levees around
the units, flushing a very surprised abundance of Savannah Sparrows. I
saw Brian Infield of Arkansas Game and Fish. He did not openly laugh
at my outfit. In fact, he was cordial and rather sympathetic, telling
me that duck hunters also get loaded down with tons of gear, so much
in fact that many now pull little two-wheel carts full of shotguns,
decoys, stools, ammo, and what have you. I have seen those two wheel
tracks in the mud and wondered what creature had made them.
The American Coots had no idea what to make of me, so off they went.
Pied-billed Grebes promptly sank under water. The Blue-winged Teal
watched a while, started peeping, and off they went, too.
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Please click on image to see full view and read details. Please come to WPWP after your morning of birding and enjoy the music of Still on the Hill, Toucan Jam, Pete Howard and his group as well as Dan Dean and several other local musicians. Please check the poster for a few of the many activities for kids and adults packed into three hours of intense action that requires nothing but hanging out and enjoying.
