List of some of Fayetteville's Earth Day activities starting Friday, April 16, 2010

Scissor-tailed flycatcher (formerly Muscivoria forficata but now Tyrannus forficatus)

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE and see Scissor-tailed flycatcher on April 7, 2010.
Use live link to read about Oklahoma's state bird:

Bluejay busy feeding on north edge of World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of bluejay on April 4, 2010.

April 10 and April 17 outings announced and described by Joe Neal; all welcome

There are two upcoming field trips of the bird-wildflower-All Of Nature- variety upcoming in the western Ozarks, April 10 & April 17. All are free & open to the public. Mis-information I typically share on such trips also comes free of charge. Casual and hopefully fun is the goal.

On Saturday, April 10, we are joining Joy Fox and others from Wattle Hollow Retreat Center, just north of Devil's Den State Park, for an exploration of the fine Boston Mountains forest, small farm, and stream environments.

www.wattlehollow.com

 You can meet the group along highway 170, where you turn into Wattle, at 8 AM for the leisurely & birdy stroll down to the retreat center. Or, if you sleep in, just get to the retreat center at 10 AM and we'll head down the hillside forests & creek. Pot luck lunch at noon. Here are directions to Wattle: 

From Fayetteville take HWY 540 south to the Devil's Den exit at the West Fork exit #53. Turn right (west) towards the park, following HWY 170 (Devil's Den Road) signs for about 14 miles. At the sign that says" Devil's Den State Park, 4 miles, " continue on Hwy 170 another half mile, there will be a 'Wattle Hollow' sign on the left, just before the driveway (there is a stone cairn also on the left, and a small white house with mailboxes on the right). This is the meeting place at 8 AM. If you are in the 10 AM group, go left down the driveway; after 1 mile, take the (only) right fork in the drive which is well-marked, and continue to the end of the road.

Type Wattle Hollow Retreat Center into Google to explore Joy's web page.

On Saturday April 17, Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society hosts a field trip to Ninestone Land Trust in Carroll County.

sarawittenberg.blogspot.com/2009/05/ninestone-land-trust.html

 Meet at 9 AM. Everyone is welcome! You do not need to be an Audubon member or an experienced observer to participate. Lunch will be pot luck style, accompanied by the waterfalls, so bring your lunch or something to share. 

There is a fine Ozark stream and exceptional habitat for birds, plants, and other species. Habitats: a series of fine waterfalls over sandstone kettles, Piney Creek, classical Ozark upland fields, sandstone glades, soaring blufflines (we’ll see them from on top and see them from below), stands of both mixed hardwood species and native shortleaf pines, and the Ozark birds and transients associated with the many different habitat types. This property is being preserved to protect its unique values. 

Ninestone is located just south of Berryville, off highway 21, about one hour drive east of Fayetteville. Depending upon weather conditions, there could be several shallow creek crossings. If you have rubber boots (Muck boots, barnyard boots, etc), they might be helpful. The creek, a traditional body of water in the Ozarks, also gladly accepts tennis shoes & bare feet. 

This field trip works quite well regardless of your mobility condition. If extensive walking & hiking doesn’t work for you, there is plenty of high quality scenery right where we park, at the home of Don Matt & Judith Griffith. The amazing waterfalls are easily seen there and heard as well. Piney Creek is just below, with its waterthrushes plus migrants passing through the Ozarks. So you don’t need to be very mobile to enjoy all of this, plus the big native pine grove and farm yard. This is all fun & fulfilling stuff to do while everyone else is “off to the woods & fields.” We’ll all rejoin for a pot luck lunch.

Directions to Ninestone:

1.For those coming from Berryville or north- directions from intersection of Hwy. 62 E & Hwy. 21 S just east of Berryville: From Hwy. 62 east of Berryville, take Hwy. 21 South for 10 + miles to the Cedar Creek Country Store on the RIGHT. IMMEDIATELY after the store & parking lot, turn RIGHT onto a gravel road. The gravel road is CR 512, but is not well marked, so just turn RIGHT immediately after the store. Do not cross the bridge over Cedar Creek! Continue on the gravel road for 1 MILE, staying to the LEFT at any choices.
You will pass 3 mailboxes on the LEFT, one is a large blue mailbox. Continue on to our log cabin on the LEFT.

2.For those coming from Fayetteville or south- directions from intersection of Hwy. 412 & Hwy. 21 N: From Hwy. 412 take Hwy. 21 North for about 7 + miles. Cross the Cedar Creek Bridge first & turn LEFT onto the gravel road (CR 512) before you get to the Cedar Creek Country Store on the LEFT. Continue on the gravel road for 1 MILE, staying to the LEFT at any choices. You will pass 3 mailboxes on the LEFT, one is a large blue mailbox. Continue on to our log cabin on the LEFT. Judith Griffith & Don Matt, Ninestone Land Trust, 
870-545-3559 waterfall@hbeark.com.

John Bame and Fayetteville High School students look at old rail trestle and discarded rail ties blocking construction of city trail through old tunnel under existing Arkansas & Missouri Railroad

I might not have discovered this for some time had not John Bame brought some FHS students to World Peace Wetland Prairie and then taken them on a walk of the Pinnacle Prairie Trail and the part of Tsa-La-Gi Trail as yet uncompleted from the Hill Place Apartments through the old rail tunnel to the west to Razorback Road and beyond. Thanks to the environmentally aware students for caring and wanting to learn more about the delicate geography and geology of our city. Please click on image to enlarge view of railroad ties over mouth of tunnel and then watch video below the photo to learn reaction of workers when they learned that the ties should not be dumped there.

Rail ties being dumped in mouth of tunnel in Fayetteville AR Aubrey james | MySpace Video The Fayetteville city trail administrator telephoned the railroad manager in Springdale an hour later and the railroad official confirmed that the ties were not to be dumped there but were to be dumped at Cato Springs Road. Rail ties are creosoted and very dangerous to human beings and other living things when the chemicals leach into the watershed.

Bluebird alone on stem in midst of tall native grass on Pinnacle Prairie on March 28, 2010, in top phoro. Bluebird and friend in thicket in January 2009

Please click on images to ENLARGE

Robins share waterhole west of World Peace Wetland Prairie with cedar waxwings in winter 2009

Audubon magazine says plant milkweed for monarchs or they may disappear

Audubon Magazine online Please click on image to ENLARGE for easier reading. If that isn't big enough, please use the zoom function on your tool bar to ENLARGE further.

Image below is the front of a poster included in the most recent March-April 2010 issue of the Audubon magazine. The back of the poster is displayed above. The poster is worth the price of a year's membership in the National Audubon Society.

Restore clean-water act to original strength Now!

Please double-click "view as webpage" link near top right to see full post.

March 22, 2010  View as Webpage | Forward | Subscribe   Dear Aubrey, If you think the Clean Water Act protects your drinking water from pollution, think again. Please take action today to ensure fundamental safeguards for clean water in our streams, rivers, and lakes. A confusing 2006 Supreme Court decision on the Clean Water Act has left the fate of 60 percent of the nation’s stream miles -– that provide drinking water for 117 million Americans –- in legal limbo. As a result, as reported in The New York Times, polluters are now claiming complete exemptions from reporting what they dump into local streams. Congress can resolve this problem by passing legislation to restore full federal protection for all our waters. Help us ensure that all of our nation’s waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. Urge your representative to support introducing and passing the Clean Water Restoration Act today. Thank you for your support. Sincerely, Katherine Baer Senior Director, Clean Water Program

To contact American Rivers, email us at outreach@AmericanRivers.org. To update your profile or change your preferences click here. To unsubscribe click here.  American Rivers ©2010

I would like to express grave concern over the loss of protection for many of our small streams that provide clean drinking water for 117 million Americans in communities across the country. Supreme Court decisions in the Rapanos and Carabell cases have made it confusing and burdensome for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect small streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act.

As a result, enforcement actions against polluters have declined sharply the EPA estimates that over 1,000 cases have been shelved or dropped altogether. More recently it has become clear that some polluters are using the decisions as a justification to avoid any permitting and reporting requirements for discharging pollutants into our waters.

For the Clean Water Act to fulfill its goal of restoring the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters, all waters must receive protection corresponding with Congress' original intent when passing this landmark law. Upstream waters must be protected from pollution and destruction if we expect downstream waters to be fit for swimming, drinking, and fish and wildlife, and downstream communities to be safe from flooding.

I urge you to act in the interest of preserving clean water for healthy communities and wildlife. Please support introduction and passage of the Clean Water Restoration Act, which would clarify the definition of waters to eliminate uncertainty and ensure clean water in accordance with the goals of the Clean Water Act.

Thank you for your consideration.

Joe Neal shares his thoughts as a snowstorm slows waterfowl migrating north through the Ozarks

Geology I enjoy involves what we see & how it got that way, a distant past imagined. Massive roadcuts through once scenic mountains become opportunities to study the earth’s ancient history, rock layer after exposed rock layer. 

On March 20, 2010, I’m thinking about this & migrating ducks, at the edge of a pond, in a cold rain with some sleet mixed & big snow promised, behind Walmart near I-540 in Benton County. I saw ducks on the pond while driving. I finally figured out how to get near them. Now, crouching under a golf umbrella, with cover provided by last year’s blackberry thicket, I have views of Canada Goose (2), Wood Duck (3), Gadwall (4), Mallard (2), Blue-winged Teal (8), Northern Shoveler (30), Green-winged Teal (5), Bufflehead (2), Pied-billed Grebe (5), American Coot (4), and 16 Ring-billed Gulls; in short, a small pond big with ducks & water birds. 

These migrants are held up in their northward journey by a storm. I’m old enough to remember a past with celebrations of the vernal equinox here in the Ozarks of western Arkansas featuring snow up to the blooming daffodils. Now we have another. Today my yard is a white plain polka dotted by yellow trumpets.

In honor of this spring gift, I’m trying an angle novel for me on duck migration. Instead of endless Jeremiads of frustration against “growth” & “development” & the destruction of all nature straight & true, I’m determined to think like a geologist: imagine the way it was and see how we can go forward.

Back before our kind began our plunder in the 1820s, Blue-winged Teal had fewer choices to rest & loaf as they headed north through here. There were no true ponds & no lakes. Our grasslands in the western Arkansas Ozarks did have extensive low areas whose clay-rich soils held water. So around the vernal equinox, when came big rains & occasional deep wet snow, these low fields held scattered shallow pools of water, forming playas. Here’s where teal & their brethren weathered a spring storm.

In cold & sleet out behind Walmart & 540, I’m imagining how our landscape serves migrating teal, even as we plunder on. For northwest Arkansas, we could include the shallows of Lake Fayetteville & many other area lakes, older farm ponds midst open grasslands, the concentration of 16 fish ponds at the state hatchery in Centerton – all that sort of thing. Shallow pools created at Woolsey Wet Prairie in Fayetteville have been much favored by teal. The success of Woolsey – a project funded as mitigation for wetland loss – has spurred interest elsewhere in northwest Arkansas, as more natural habitat is lost to “growth” & “development” & planners seek opportunities to mitigate the ongoing habitat plunder.

These are some thoughts for the vernal equinox. As in the much distant past, there are Blue-winged Teal passing through western Arkansas and, thank goodness, many places to view them. A big old farm pond behind Walmart is not as romantic as a rain & snow filled playa, but the real teal are out there, resplendent in spring plumage, indomitable in their quest for the future.

World Peace Wetland Prairie spider milkweed, false indigo bush, dogbane, blue-eyed grass and cottontail rabbit photographed on May 21, 2009

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view of a sample of what you won't see on Earthday at World Peace Wetland Prairie but may see again if you visit in May. Native wildflowers and tall grass emerge later than the typical nonnative species found in many gardens in Arkansas.

Photo above reveals view northwest with Amorpha fructicosa bush in bloom. Also known as false indigo or indigo bush on May 21, 2009, at World Peace Wetland Prairie. Cottontail rabbit reluctant to leave his grazing area and hoping photographer will back away on May 21, 2009, at World Peace Wetland Prairie.

In photo above, the tiny blue-eyed grass is seen growing near a tall dogbane or Indian Hemp plant.

Above, Asclepias viridis, also known as spider milkweed or antelope horns, is nearing full bloom. Viridis is the earliest of the milkweeds to bloom in Northwest Arkansas. Above is an instance of a tall dogbane or Indian hemp plant with a shorter spider milkweed at right. Dogbane seems always to pop out of the ground before the milkweed and the leaves of the two are similar. Both are plentiful at World Peace Wetland Prairie. For more photos of wildflowers at WPWP, please see WPWP wildflowers

Tom Schuessler's video of desecration of Mountain Creek, a tributary of the Mulberry River, off Arkansas 23

KUAF on Sunday is to air report on February woodcock outing

Joe Neal reports: http://www.kuaf.org/ozarksatlarge.html 

I received the message below from Jacqueline Froelich at KUAF. She went out on our NWAAS woodcock field trip February 20:

"My story on the American Woodcock dance party will air Sunday March 7th on our weekend news magazine, "Ozarks At Large" at 9am. I will post the story on our website on Sunday at KUAF.com...And thanks very much for allowing me to tag along with the bird enthusiasts!! I really enjoyed it. And learned a great deal!"

http://www.kuaf.org/listenlive.html

The Listen Live button is the place to go at 9 a.m. Sunday. The top link may also work at that time but it is the archive where the show will appear later if you miss it live.

Hawk surveys Pinnacle Wet Prairie for prey on sunny day

Walking Pinnacle Prairie Trail at the end of Twelveth Street southwest of World Peace Prairie offers wildlife views. Please click on images to ENLARGE view of hawk on March 4, 2010,

72 Hours for American Clean Energy!
Call Your Senators Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday

Dear Aubrey,



Urge your U.S. Senators to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation now.

Rising sea levels. Stronger storms. Melting ice caps. Less wildlife. Birds shifting their ranges — if they can.

This doesn't have to be our future — or our legacy.

With leadership from the Senate, we can change our future. Please join with millions of Americans and call your Senators today. Our planet is in peril and we need the Senate to act on passing comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation this year.

Please call your Senators now. We want to make sure the Senate understands the urgency to get moving on climate legislation NOW. It will only take a few moments and every call is important. Every call will make our point loud and clear.

Today, we are joining with dozens of organizations representing millions of Americans, calling on the U.S. Senate to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. We can't let special interests and a few Senators who want to stop this bill sink our chances for a better future for our children and the wildlife we speak for.

Take action with our step by step instructions and simple message. These measures will help create jobs, get us off foreign oil and secure our nation and our future. Tell your Senators you want comprehensive energy and climate change legislation now.



Do you know someone else who cares about protecting our future? Help us to spread the word:
Tell-a-friend!

Trouble with the "Take Action" links in the message? Try cutting-and-pasting this link into your web browser: www.audubonaction.org/ClimateCalls




Audubon
1150 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 861-2242 | audubonaction@audubon.org

Update your profile | Modify your email preferences or unsubscribe

Owl slide show March 7 and Shores Lake field trip March 27 highlights of the month

The next Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society field trip is on Saturday March 27, 2010. 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. 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 many decades. We will be seeking 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. 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.

Dr. Doug James to present free slide show and lecture on hawks and owls at Nightbird Books on March 7

Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society will sponsor a special program on “Raptors: hawks and owls of Arkansas” on Sunday March 7, 4 PM at Nightbird Books, 205 W. Dickson Street in Fayetteville (bookstore phone: 479-443-2080). The slide and lecture will be presented by Doug James, a founder of Arkansas Audubon Society & professor at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Doug is chief author of Arkansas Birds (U of A Press, 1986) and many technical articles. He has now taught ornithology and ecology to more than two generations of students, and he has been an inspirational leader of field trips throughout Arkansas, the United States, and overseas. He is also currently president of NWAAS. This will be a chance to hear Doug on a specialized topic in the relaxed & intimate setting of Nightbird Books, adjacent a deli that also serves bottled beer. There is no cost for the program. Everyone who attends will be part of a drawing for a bird book (field guide) of their choice from Night
bird, awarded at the meeting.

Big white heron, mallard ducks flock together on the Illinois River when ponds in watershed were frozen

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Illinois River waterfowl on January 6, 2010.

Joe Neal says woodcock outing set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday, February 29, 2010, at Wedington management area

This is a friendly reminder about the Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society-sponsored field trip to view mating rituals of American Woodcocks. We are meeting woodcock expert David Krementz of the UA-Fayetteville, at 5:30 PM, Saturday February 20, near the Ozark National Forest’s Wedington Small Game Management Area, west of Fayetteville and just east of Siloam Springs. Besides woodcocks, a highlight will be Dr Krementz’s guiding & explaining what’s going on. Road and bridge access from last year are repaired and little walking will be required. Please bring a flashlight (since we will be there until early dark) and a folding chair if you wish. I have previously sent out directions for the meeting place, but I’ll send them again if needed. Email me or call 479-521-1858 for more information.

Great Backyard Bird Count today through Monday: Click this headline for detail

Great Backyard Bird Count began today runs through Monday. Just received the Northwest Arkansas Audubon Newsletter in today's mail. Sorry for late notice.
For information go to Backyard Bird Count

Towhee sits for portrait 10 feet from fence of World Peace Wetland Prairie but finally goes for the corn on February 11, 2010

Please click on images to ENLARGE view of towhee on February 11, 2010, at World Peace Wetland Prairie.

Close encounter with trumpeter swan: the Joe Neal report

JOE NEAL reports:
An astonishing bird day February 10, 2010, began when I went with Doug James to Holla Bend NWR for the release of Iowa-reared Trumpeter Swans. Karen Rowe of Arkansas Game & Fish has been working with Iowa Department of Natural Resources to move Trumpeters to Arkansas. This is part of a daring experiment called reverse migration imprinting. The idea is that young swans will use their instincts to return north for nesting and later, return south for the non-breeding season.

The ground was snow covered in Fayetteville when we left and snow covered at Holla Bend two hours later. I had my binoculars, but yikes (!) forgot my coat. Doug loaned me a light blanket, which I stuffed indecorously under my fuzzy shirt. When we got near the Arkansas River to the release site, Karen was rounding up folks to carry swans from cages to water’s edge. I was soon honored by a close encounter with Trumpeters -- 25-30 pounds of swan & it’s pleasantly warm down, in my arms.

You first must hold their feet tightly – web feet the size of my hands. You firmly hug ‘em to keep that 8-foot wing span closed. Then there is the famous trumpet, a very, very long neck, with an anxious, intelligent dark-eyed creature winding it around your neck, over your head, serpent-like, watching all, honking and hissing, way, way ready for release. Even standing in the snow and coatless, I was quite warm and fully employed hanging on to my swan!

When Doug and I worked on the book Arkansas Birds in 1986, there had been no certain Trumpeter records for the state since the early 1900s. Due to efforts by folks like Karen, Iowa DNR, and others, Trumpeters are coming back. For example, the flock now wintering each year at Magness Lake is a frequent topic of interest among birders in Arkansas.

In tough times with lots of bad news, it is easy to feel, as Mark Twain put it, that we are just “the damned human race.” Yet, 16 Trumpeters found their freedom in Arkansas yesterday. Maybe this is not a banner line for Fox News, but it fairly reflects our hopes and aspirations. We are willing to put our amazing brains to work to put right what, in the case of loss of our wintering Trumpeters, had in past years unintentionally gone wrong.

Birding trip to Trinidad now open to general public

JOE NEAL REPORTS:

Doug James requested that I post this information about a birding trip:

Doug James and Ragupathy Kannan have organized a biology student trip this
coming May to the Asa Wright Nature Centre in Trinidad, a nation in the
Caribbean. The Centre is a world famous destination for tropical birding.
The trip is coordinated by the combined University of Arkansas campuses in
Fayetteville and Fort Smith. The details given below is the text from the
fancy flier for the trip.

Students have not fill all the slots for the trip so now we are opening
the opportunity to the general birding public in Arkansas.

You will have to go through the motions of registering as a student at the
University of Arkansas in Fort Smith. One hour credit is earned for just
participating in the trip. If you might want 2 or 3 hours credit, contact
Drs. James and Kannan for descriptions of added work required.

If you do not have a passport, application forms are available at the
local Post Office. If you need to hasten the process that can be
requested.

*TROPICAL FIELD BIOLOGY -- MAY 2010*

*TRINIDAD, WEST INDIES*

*For University of Arkansas-Fort Smith and Fayetteville students*

*Apply for and register with University of Arkansas-Fort Smith*

*Course Name-- **SPECIAL TOPICS: TROPICAL FIELD BIOLOGY BIOL 420V (1-3
credit hrs.)*

*Credits can be transferred to UA Fayetteville as electives*.

See Dr.Kannan's article about last year's trip at:
http://asawright.org/visitors/course.html

*Course fee: $1500 (excluding tuition). Includes airfare, accommodation
and all meals at the Asa Wright Nature Centre.

*Dates: 9 to 15 May 2010 (five days plus two days for travel)

*Faculty leader: Dr. R. Kannan (UA Fort Smith). Dr. Douglas A. James (UA
Fayetteville) will accompany if enrollment reaches 16 students.

*Deadlines: $1500 program fee February 26, 2010 (not refundable after
that date)

Register with UA Fort Smith and pay tuitio%yn (about $200/cr. hr)
by February 26, 2010

� Five days in the world famous Asa Wright Nature Centre, one of the
world�s best and well-known birding destinations

� Over 50 tropical bird species right from the veranda, including
about a dozen hummingbirds

� Daily hikes into the rainforest to observe and study exotic
tropical flora and fauna with trained local naturalist guides

� A trip to the caves to see the unique oil birds

� Boating among mangrove forests at dusk to view the spectacular
aggregation of hundreds of scarlet ibises

� A night trip to a secluded beach to see the ancient ritual of
1000-pound leatherback sea turtles nesting

� Resort style accommodations with sumptuous local food served
buffet-style

*Additional expenses: Travel health insurance required for the
duration of the trip (obtained on line by each participant)

It is advisable, but not required, to take vaccinations as
recommended by CDC (check www.cdc.gov)

*Biology majors will enjoy first priority; a waiting list of others will be
compiled to fill any vacant slots; all must register for the course at UA
Fort Smith. (There are now vacancies)

FOR REGISTRATION FORMS AND MORE INFORMATION: Dr. Douglas James (UA
Fayetteville) 575-6364; Dr. R. Kannan (UAFS) 788-7616.
James , Kannan

OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology invites all to open house from 3 to 6 p.m. today

View Larger Map



OMNI Center for Peace Justice and Ecology opens new house to all TODAY!
Office Phone: (479)935-4422
omni.center.for.pje@gmail.com
“OMNI Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology
educates and empowers people to actively
build a non-violent, sustainable and just world.”
Saturday,
February 2010
3:00—6:00 PM
3274 N. Lee Ave
OMNI CENTER for PEACE, JUSTICE & ECOLOGY
You are invited to celebrate the dedication of
OMNI Center’s new building! Enjoy music, re-
freshments, good fellowship, speakers, and
tours! Learn more than 35 ways to be involved
in OMNI. Help build a culture of peace in an
earth restored, that includes everyone.
Children
Welcome!
Handicap
Access
Refreshments
Will Be
Served!
Open House!

January 31, 2010, birds of World Peace Wetland Prairie searching for bare ground and free seed

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view of assorted birds. Many more species are around today, such as red-winged blackbirds, bluejays, cardinals and many others whose names and photos are more difficult to collect.

Weekend birding report from Joe Neal offers great news on January 17, 2010

Andrew Scaboo, doctoral candidate at UA-Fayetteville, has been watching a big field where up to 8 Northern Harriers have been roosting for at least the past few weeks. That is not big news in parts of Arkansas where harriers are usually numerous, but it is significant in northwestern Arkansas, where in mid-winter we see none or at most a scattered bird or two. Leesia Marshall-Rosenberger, also a UA doctoral student, followed up with the sighting of a Short-eared Owl in this same field on January 10. Subsequently, she, Andy, and others have counted as many as 6 flying owls at dusk. Prior to these sightings, we have had only local, sparse, and scattered Short-eared Owl records for more than a half-century. So, ornithologically-speaking, this is big news for us.

The habitat in use by harriers & owls is a low-lying, former Tallgrass Prairie field marked by impressive prairie mounds. We have been calling these seasonal wetlands; the areas between the mounds are wet from snow melt & retain shallow standing water. Though the field has been heavily fescued, it retains significant Tallgrass Prairie flora, including the chief grasses: big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass, switchgrass, & cordgrass in broad patches. Other prairie forb & grass species are also visible, even at mid-winter. My assumption is that if this Tallgrass Prairie flora remains, the prairie small mammal community has survived. It would explain the attraction for harriers and Short-eared Owls. Habitat patches like this survive because they are literally “too wet to plow.” It has become a very rare habitat in western Arkansas, and the loss makes its unfortunate contribution to rangewide declines in grassland birds.

The owl field is immediately east of Woolsey Wet Prairie, adjacent Fayetteville’s Westside wastewater treatment plant. Habitat-wise, it looks exactly like Woolsey prior to the ongoing restoration efforts.

A group of us (including Leesia, Andy, Carolina Monteiro, Brandon Schmidt, and Jacque Brown) linked up last evening (Jan. 17) to look for American Tree Sparrows at Woolsey (~50 in one singing flock!), then crossed Broyles Ave. to walk the owl field. We found 6 Short-eared Owls roosting on the side of a big prairie mound, out in the wide-open middle of the big field. So we got great looks at the birds. Jacque Brown collected fascinating images of flying owls. We discovered Tallgrass Prairie attributes that remain. It is as good as any I’ve seen in northwestern Arkansas.

At dusk we linked up with Sam Holschbach & Dan Scheiman, fresh from their birding loop through northwest Arkansas. A thin gray ground fog begin to form, but we could still see several Short-eared Owls working the old former prairie fields, gliding up and down among mounds. Overhead, in the dark sky, there was just a sliver of moon, and nearby, bright Jupiter, with thee moons visible through the bins. There was just enough light to silhouette overhead flocks of Mallards (& probably shovelers and Gadwalls) as they flew into the shallow ponds and flooded grasslands at Woolsey Wet Prairie.

Flower, garden and Nature Society to hold annual roundtable discussion Saturday, January 16, 2010

1
From the President........
Out with the old, in with the new! It's 2010, a new year. We
computer programmers tend to count from zero rather than
one like normal people, so I could even make a case for it
being a new decade, too, but I'd probably just confuse
people even more than I usually do.
I hope your holidays were happy ones, and that you're
looking forward to our FGNS programs and activities in
2010 as much as I am. If you'll let me wax philosophical
for a moment, I've said often that our membership is our
biggest asset, and in thinking about that I feel it's because
we have such a wide variety of people, with a huge range
of interests and talents and even opinions. What's really
remarkable is that our group seems to be so open and
friendly that all of these different people and views and
opinions can not only coexist peaceably but work together.
If you're a part of very many volunteer-driven groups you'll
realize just how unusual that is!
As I mentioned in December, Lynn Rogers has put together
another great year of programs (well, the November
speaker looks a little suspect, but that's months away and
maybe he'll shape up by then). It's become a tradition that
our January program is a round-table discussion, and they
are always fun. It's always amazing to see, from the
questions that are asked and the
answers given, all the things our
members know and want to know.
See you on Saturday,
Steve
January 2010
Volume 15 Number 1
We come from the earth
we return to the earth
and in between
we garden.

THE FLOWER, GARDEN, AND NATURE SOCIETY OF NORTHWEST
ARKANSAS
FGNS Officers
Steve Marak
President
3460 Roma Drive
Springdale, AR 72762
H 479 271-5278
samarak@cox.net
Heather Cook
Vice-president
4436 Highland Knolls Rd
Rogers, AR 72758
H 479 366-9067
aacook@cox.net
Joyce Mendenhall
Secretary
689 Winbaugh Lane
Fayetteville, AR 72703
H 479 466-7265
joycemendenhall@yahoo.
com
Sharon Haley
Treasurer
1 Red Bluff Road
Hindsville, AR 72738
H 479-789-2127
wareaglesharon@gmail
.com
Gail Pianalto
Past President
P.O. Box 444
Tontitown, AR 72770
H 479 361-2198
pgp31@cox.net
___________________
Paula Marinoni
Founder
617 W. Lafayette
Fayetteville, AR 72701
H 479 444-6170
pm@paulamarinoni.com
Join us Saturday
January 20
for the annual
Roundtable
Bring a favorite garden
tool for show and tell.
**Location**
Northwest Technical Institute
709 South Old Missouri Rd
Springdale, AR
(1/2 mile South of Jones Center on
Hwy 265) Enter at south door.
Inside
President's Message p. 1
Botanically
Speaking p. 2
New Officers p. 3
In The Greenhouse p. 3
Calender p. 4
What's On the Web p. 4
2010 Speaker List p. 5Red-bellied woodpecker
on our feeder.

Joe Neal describes birding trip in Maysville area on January 6, 2010

The Ozarks in western Arkansas had a short interlude in winter yesterday. The fields are all still covered with a glaze of snow & ice, and much more so just north of Fayetteville. But, temps got into the 40s and Benton County road crews managed to plow gravel roads. So I tried a trip up to Maysville. There are lots of old prairie fields along Arkansas 102 from Decatur toward Maysville. I saw my first Horned Lark flock in Decatur, dodging poultry feed trucks, farmers hauling big round hay bales, and me, and then found flocks right on the roadside in the most open areas to Maysville. Lapland Longspurs were associated with several of these flocks. Horned Lark flocks: 47 (3 Laps), 20, 46, 10, 19 (1 Lap), etc. Flocks of Savannah Sparrows were even more numerous and more widespread. American Pipits in 5 spots, including several birds bobbing on the snow before dashing to the open roadside. Besides these: American Tree Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Harris’s Sparro
ws, Dark-eyed Juncos, big meadowlark flocks, starlings, etc. – all along the roads. The reason is obvious: Benton County prairies constitute the epicenter of the northwest Arkansas poultry universe, and grain dedicated to commercial birds gets spilled along these roads-- hard times food for hungry mid-winter sparrows and lots of other birds.

The big flock of Lapland Longspurs in a harvested broom sorghum field north of Maysville (~0.4 miles N of the intersection of Wet Prairie & Leonard Ranch roads) has grown in size. I first saw this flock Dec. 27 and estimated it at ~175. I would say yesterday the number was closer to 250-300, but there were such swirling masses of birds there (American Pipits, Lapland Longspurs, Savannah Sparrows, meadowlarks, and hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds & and a few Brewer’s) I could be off by a lot + or -. The attraction is obviously a lot of waste seed from a late harvest. The grain goes into silage for dairy cows (the Crawley dairy farm is nearby).

I photographed a SAY’S PHOEBE that was working the edges of poultry houses of the Va-Meng Simmons poultry farm on Wet Prairie Road, 0.1 mile south of the sorghum field, or 0.3 miles N of the intersection of Wet Prairie & Leonard Ranch Rds. There were Savannah Sparrows, American Pipits, etc in the same place. Poultry houses, which are heated, must provide some buffer from low temps, plus there is that spilled grain there, too. Besides the roadside itself, thawed grounbd around chicken houses is about it. I have no idea what the phoebe was eating, but it was closely working the edges of poultry houses, so maybe some insects make it there, too.

Finally, I saw what I first thought & hoped was a big white falcon, but turned out mostly all white under the wings. I was all jumping up & down until I realized it was an immaculate male harrier, the white in its underwings magnified & intensified by the snow covered fields. We see few of them here, so it was a wonderful in an aesthetic way.

Beaver Lake and Hobbes area to be site of birding activities on January 16, 2010

Joe Neal reports:
Since we have now moved into 2010, this is a reminder that the first Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society field trip is Saturday, January 16. We are meeting at Hobbs State Park - Conservation Area, 20201 E. Highway 12, Rogers at 9 AM. We will pack into as few cars as possible and drive the 5 miles down to Rocky Branch on Beaver Lake to view winter waterfowl and hopefully find land birds in the cedar and shortleaf pine stands adjacent. The productivity of mid-winter waterfowl trips to Beaver varies immensely -- from a waste of time & gas to rarities like Pacific Loon or Western Grebe. We will be hoping for a day with little or no wind, or if slight wind, from the south. Dress warmly -- but we will never be far from cars. (Note: no bathrooms are open at Rocky Branch now). After Rocky Branch we will return to Hobbes State Park & can bird some more there for anyone interested and picnic. At 2 PM, I'm presenting a program on winter birds in the Hobbes-Beaver Lake Area as part of the
park's lecture series. I am told there will be snacks (not lunch) provided at the park as part of this activity. The field trip & lecture are free & open to the public. You do not need to be a member of NWAAS or be an experienced birder to participate in this or any other field trip. If you have additional questions, call me at 479-521-1858.