Gray catbirds rule World Peace Wetland Prairie thickets

Please click on images to view gray catbirds in World Peace Wetland Prairie on July 6. 2009

Joe Neal's new book now for sale

Please click on images to ENLARGE


Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society has published a new book, BIRDS in northwestern Arkansas, an ecological perspective. This venture is part of the ongoing re-launch of NWAAS. It narrates and summarizes a mass of
bird data from 9 counties in the NW corner of the state -- Breeding Bird Surveys, Christmas Bird Counts, records in Arkansas Audubon Society bird records database by many observers, Forest Service landbird point counts, field research by graduate students, etc. The book is $12.95 and is available at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville (205 W. Dickson). It is also available by mail by contacting our immediate past president, Joan Reynolds (joanreynolds@gmail.com)-- cost, 12.95 plus 3.00 postage. The book will also be available while they last (small press run) at society
functions, including the upcoming July 12 field trip to Chesney Prairie Natural Area -- bring the correct amount (if by check, make it out to NWAAS). Finally, if we sell 5 or more copies in one transaction, the price is $10 each (so get together & save more; this price would not include
postage, if the books are to be mailed). This is a not-for-profit venture. Hopefully, this will widen understanding of bird occurrences in this part of Arkansas and stimulate more birding!

Honeybee on butterfly milkweed on June 30, 2009

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of honeybee on milkweed on June 30, 2009, at World Peace Wetland Prairie.

Report from June 2, 2009, meeting of Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society

`Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society
June 2, 2009, 6pm
Henry Board Room, Fayetteville Public Library

Present: Sara Wittenberg, Joe Neal, Elizabeth and Doug James, Ann Paillet, Stephanie Cribbs, Joanne Patterson, Scott Michaud, Leigh Hunt

Minutes from April meeting were approved

Programs
Past Program numbers:
Field trip to Ninestone: 25
Field trip to Lake Fayetteville: 15
Clean-up at Wilson Springs: 20

Future Programs
Dates have not changed; see notes from previous meeting

David Nolan Photo Contest
The drop-off places include Collier Photography in Fayetteville and Bedford’s Photography in Fayetteville and Bentonville. There will be plans for approximately 100 entries and and entrance fee of $5 per photo. There will be 12 prizes: four categories with a first, second, and third place plus and honorable mention in each category. The deadline for entries is September 25th. Bedford has offered to mount and prepare the winning photos for display at the Shiloh Museum. Sally Jo Gibson will be consulted to help with advertisement and promotion of the contest.

Meetings
It was decided to drop future Bentonville meetings due to poor turnout. It was also decided that it would be beneficial to combine meetings with birding trips in the future.

Publications
Write-ups on field trips will be added to the newsletter as well as a Letter from the President; publication is due in August and will be emailed in its final form to Scott Michaud for the website.

Publicity
The NWAAS website is now out and looking BRILLIANT! There are currently nine web pages with additional ones to follow, including links to a birding list. It was decided to talk to Kimberly Smith about having the old website taken down.







Finances
Currently, NWAAS has approximately 3,800 in our checking account, 125 dollars on our tab at the Post Office,, and $13,000 in cash at Wachovia. We also have a new debit card and $13.53 a month will be deducted from our account to maintain the website. We should be receiving approximately $1620.25 from National Audubon as an annual
amount.

Tax status: It is necessary for organizations in good standing with the Secretary of State to file each year by May 15th to maintain that good standing and this can be done with a electronic postcard, the 990 Form. NWAAS has not filed in two years, so this will be looked into by Scott.

Donations
A $1000 check was written as a donation to the Morningstar rescue shelter after being unanimously approved

Education
Discussion was had on the Audubon Adventures packages, which are teaching tool kits made for the classroom and available for $20 per package; discussion was had on contacting Roy Fuller for email lists to help distribute these to area teachers who have shown interest. Discussion was also had on outreach to Gifted and Talent programs and home school programs in the area.

Book Publication
Joe Neal’s book The Birds of Northwest Arkansas is ready for publication; this will be done by a printer in town for somewhere between $6-8 dollars a copy at a cost of approximately $1600 for 250 copies. The cost is to be covered by NWAAS but should come back to the Society through sales of the book: it was decided that the price of the book should be double the cost of printing it, making the price between $12 and $16 dollars and books can be sold at local spots like Nightbird Books, Society events, and the Society booths at the Farmers Market when that it set up. The motion to cover publication costs was unanimously passed.

Next meeting is slated for August 4th at 6pm at the Henry Board Room

Create a butterfly garden in your backyard

Create a Butterfly Garden!
A water dish, flowers, lots of sunshine and an area with dark moist soil protected from the wind are
all you need to create a butterfly garden! Remember to:
o Check your lawn at various times throughout the day to see which area receives the most sun.
Butterflies, like all insects, need sunny spots to raise their body temperature.
o Avoid using pesticides around these plants. Butterflies are as affected by pesticides as much
as harmful insects.
o Provide the butterflies with a water source. Any type of shallow container will work.
Give fresh water often.
o Be sure to include plants for all life stages. This means nectar plants for adult butterflies
and host plants for caterpillars.
Good Butterfly Nectar Plants and Caterpillar Host Plants
Ageratum, Milkweed, Dill, Fennel, Parsley, Bee-balm, Coneflower, Passion Vine, Mustard, Hibiscus,
Marigold, Salvia, Day Lily, Mallow, Phlox, Zinnia, Dahlia, Asters, Lantana, Impatiens, Butterfly Bush,
Lilac, Snapdragons, Sassafras Tree, Cosmos, Blue Porterweed.
Where have all the butterflies gone?
Due to loss of habitat, butterflies are rapidly disappearing. Wild flowers are often confused as weeds
and are eliminated with herbicides. Butterflies depend on these flowers for food. When the flowers
die, butterflies have no food or place to lay eggs. Butterflies are also very sensitive to air pollution.
Even slight carbon monoxide from car exhaust can affect butterflies.
What Else Can I do to Help Butterflies?
o Learn about the butterflies in your area. Keep a journal of the different species you see
in your garden.
o Try to buy organically grown food at your local market. These butterfly friendly foods are
produced without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
o Use natural insect-controls such as predatory insects. Ladybugs and praying mantises are
nature’s pest control. As carnivores, they feed on many harmful insects and serve as great
protectors of your garden. Order these insects from your local garden center.
o Support organizations that are active in butterfly research and conservation.
o Reduce carbon monoxide by walking, carpooling or even purchasing a hybrid car and
help keep the air clean.
o Visit www.nwf.org to learn more about Backyard Habitats.
Butterflies go through a “complete” metamorphosis. This cycle includes egg, larva, pupa and finally
adult stages.
Build A Bat Box
TOP 7 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BUILD A BAT BOX
1. BATS EAT BUGS- without predators, insects would soon overwhelm the earth. Bats consume
enormous quantities. One little brown bat can consume 1200 bugs in an hour, often 2 in a single
second. A nursing mother (like your bat box will attract) will eat more than her own body weight
nightly – up to 4500 insects, including pests like mosquitoes!
2. BANANAS, PEACHES, AVOCADOS, FIGS, DATES, MANGOES, CASHEWS... - Bats pollinate
all of these fruits, which means they help these plants reproduce and grow more fruit.
No bats = No Fruit!
2

Chesney Prairie and Stump Prairie visit set by Joe Neal for Audubon members and guests

Chesney is Tallgrass Prairie near Siloam Springs, way way up in NW
corner of Arkansas. Everyone is welcome -- don't need to be a member.
We will meet around 8 AM (you can also come later & just look for us
out there in the native grass & flowers) at Chesney Prairie Natural
Area, bird & botanize til we can't stand it anymore, then make the 1
mile drive over to Stump Prairie and do it again (BUT doesn't take as
long 'cause there's less of Stump). Joe Woolbright is keeping good
mowed paths open in both places, so it will be easy walking and you
can cover as much or as little as you wish. Probably be hot & sunny,
so come prepared. Bugs aren't usually bad at all there. There's
usually plenty of good stuff to see unless you are looking for the
Grand Wazoo.

Location: near Siloam Springs, AR. How to get there: From
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, take highway 412 W to near Siloam
Springs city limits. At the intersection of 412 & 59, turn N onto 59.
You pass the Siloam Springs airport. Approximately 1 mile past the
airport, note an intersection: the road W is ?Chesney;? road E is
?Bill Young.? Take Bill Young Road E approximately 0.8 miles. At this
point there is a gravel farm road going N. Go approximately 0.5 miles
N on this road to the dead end at chicken houses and the entrance sign
to CPNA.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Peace-garden tour photos from Saturday June 13, 2009

Please click on images to ENLARGE view of Marie Riley's Julia Ward Howe Peace Garden with OMNI sign, great spangled fritillary at Ed Laningham's Glendale Garden and Amanda Bancroft at World Peace Wetland Prairie.



The great spangled fritillary, formally known as Speryeria cybele, was sighted at all six garden sites on Saturday. While the great spangled frit nectars on many species of flower, its caterpillers must have violets as host plants in order to mature.

Peace-garden tour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday June 13, 2009

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of OMNI Peace Garden Tour Poster.

Arkansas officials say 'Don't Do Fescue'

Arkansas “Don't Do Fescue" is theme of AGFC public campaign
JONESBORO - Tall fescue is a widely used forage crop. It is insect resistant, tolerates poor soil and climatic conditions well and has a long growing season. Unfortunately, tall fescue also has a downside.

With approximately four million acres of pasturelands planted in tall fescue, Arkansas has a great deal of this crop. According to David Long, agricultural liaison with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the agency is working diligently to help the public understand the shortcomings of this type of grass.

"The AGFC has developed a new tool in its effort to educate landowners about the toxic and negative effects of Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue to farm wildlife. A new bumper sticker entitled 'Don't Do Fescue' is now being distributed to agency employees and others interested in spreading the word," Long said. Tall fescue is a common forage grass that has been planted across Arkansas for over 40 years.

Estimates are that about 70 percent-95 percent or 4 million acres of the pasturelands planted with tall fescue in Arkansas are infected with an endophyte fungus. The fungus causes declines in bobwhite quail, cottontail rabbits, grassland songbirds and also limited other game populations such as white-tailed deer and wild turkey.

"The fact that the plant is actually toxic to both domestic livestock and farm wildlife species is accepted by agriculture extension specialists and wildlife biologists alike," Long said. "The plant produces chemicals causing the fescue to have very toxic qualities. The alkaloids are found throughout the plant, but are especially concentrated in the seeds and leaves," he explained.

In cattle, the fungus causes excessive body temperatures, elevated respiratory rates, loss of appetite, body weight loss, lowered fertility rates and abortion of fetuses. Dairy cows often show sharp declines in milk production. Horses are affected also with more aborted fetuses, foaling problems, weak foals and reduced or no milk production. The CES estimates that this endopytic toxin cost American beef producers up to $1 billion a year in lost profits.

"It's very important for private landowners who desire viable wildlife populations on their property to know the effects of planting fescue," Long noted. "Many species of wildlife would directly suffer these same negative effects if they were confined to the pasturelands as are livestock. However, since they are free ranging, they simply avoid the fungus infected fescue pastures, but nevertheless, this results in loss of farm wildlife habitat on these acres. You may have deer and turkey travel through tall-fescue pastures, but they rarely find food sources available they can utilize, since the aggressiveness of the fescue usually results in solid stands of the plant," Long concluded.

The grass is a sod-forming turf with thick matted growth that also limits movement of young bobwhite quail, turkey and cottontail rabbits, provides no nesting habitat for wild turkey or quail, and is extremely poor habitat for many declining grassland species of songbirds. "Bottom line, fungus infected tall-fescue pastures offer little food, cover or nesting habitat to a broad range of farm wildlife," he said.

"Tall fescue has been planted in an estimated 4 million acres of the 5.4 million acres of pasture scattered over the state and for all practical purposes is of no value to farm wildlife. With the widespread establishment of tall fescue pastures, a great loss of wildlife habitat for deer, turkey, quail, cottontails and grassland songbirds has occurred.

Many landowners now recognize this problem and are interested in eliminating tall-fescue on some or all of their acreage. However, many landowners continue to plant tall-fescue, not knowing the detrimental effects it will have to wildlife. (There is an endophyte-free variety of tall fescue available for planting but it is less viable and hardy, and still provides very limited habitat for wildlife.)

We want to educate all landowners regarding this fact because there are other planting options to providing livestock forage and wildlife habitat on their farms," Long explained.

Please help spread the word to landowners "Don't Do Fescue!" by requesting a bumper sticker to place on your vehicle. Especially if they have an interest in managing for wildlife on their farm. For more information contact David Long at 877-972-5438 or dlong@agfc.state.ar.us.

Which blue bird is this finding paradise on World Peace Wetland Prairie?

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of blue bird on World Peace Wetland Prairie on May 23, 2009.

Baby hawks play peep eye

Please click on image to view of fledgling hawks in nest in Fayetteville, Arkanas, on May 22, 2009,

Public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to consider rezoning sale-barn property to allow multistory apartment buildings next to National Cemetery

Please click on images to ENLARGE and read.

Annual War Eagle celebration Saturday near Huntsville

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Audubon Arkansas invitation to the third annual War Eagle celebration tomorrow at Withrow Springs State Park.

Joe Neal discusses Osage burrowing prairie crayfish and the diet of American bitterns

I found an American Bittern at Stump Prairie (near Siloam Springs)
during the Benton County IMBD May 9; was there today and saw it again.
In the last year, Woolsey Wet Prairie at Fayetteville has also
supported American Bittern(s). Both places are seasonally wet
prairies. They are not wetlands like those on the Gulf Coast, but
rather low ground rich in clay that holds water during wet seasons. So
what's attractive to the bitterns here? I suspect it may be the dense
populations of Osage burrowing crayfish (Procambarus liberorum). These
are terrestrial creatures that survive in the high water tables
associated with seasonal wetlands. Their mud chimneys are abundant in
both places. This crawfish species is endemic to a handful of counties
& can be surprisingly abundant, including in many places where,
botanically-speaking, the Tallgrass Prairies disappeared long ago. I
looked up this possible link in the Birds of North America series &
found that crawfish are important in the bittern's diet. Supporting
crawfish-friendly habitats is probably important to this and other
bird species. Maybe another piece of the big picture.
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
The American Bittern is a medium-sized heron with a stout body and a neck, short legs, and a white neck. The upperside of the bird is brown finely speckled with black. The undersides are heavily streaked with brown and white. There is a long black patch that extends from below the eye down the side of the neck.

Painted buntings and such in Fayetteville sighted by Joe Neal

I have found 2 males in 2 spots along the Scull Creek Trail, in
Fayetteville. One place is just northeast of where the trail crosses
North Street, in the regenerating backlot of Tune Concrete. The second
is a regenerating open space immediately southwest of where the trail
crosses Poplar. From a map, it is apparent these two places are fairly
close -- one could easily walk, bike, or roll to both from parking at
either end (or skateboard). Also, note how the creek & trail parallel
the old Frisco tracks, also decent Painted habitat within this urban
context. Painteds have been in this area (including the University
farm) for a long time. As always, knowing the song makes a 500%
difference in outcomes.

If all else fails, Painted have nested for years at the home of
Richard & Martha Stauffacher, in NW Fayetteville, and they are coming
to the feeders there now.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Cave Mountain and upper Buffalo River field trip Saturday June 6, 2009

Y'all are invited to join Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society on a
field trip to Cave Mountain & the upper Buffalo River in Newton
County. Everyone is welcome & you do not need to be a member to
participate. All ages & experience levels welcome. This is mostly
stops at various places with only a little walking -- no extensive
hiking.

TIME & PLACE: Saturday June 6, 2009, meet at 7 AM, intersection of
highway 21 & Cave Mountain Road where there is a bridge over the
Buffalo. Cave Mountain is south of Boxley on 21. Look at your Arkansas
map: using the intersections of Arkansas 43 & 21 as reference, the
Boxley Baptist Church is 0.5 miles south of the intersection; our
meeting point adjacent the bridge over the Buffalo is 1.2 miles south
of 21 & 43. If you are moderately late, head up Cave Mountain Road &
find us; if you are fashionably late, you may need to find us along 21
somewhere between Cave Mountain Road and the Ponca store (snacks).

Public lands in this area include the Buffalo National River, the
Upper Buffalo Wilderness, and the Ozark National Forest. There are
also private farms. What we will mainly look at are the fabulous
breeding birds -- warblers like Cerulean, Hooded, Worm-eating,
Redstart, Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush, etc.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Audubon outing on Mother's Day

Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society hosts a field trip to Ninestone
> Land Trust in Carroll County for Sunday May 10 (Mother's Day). Meet at
> 9 AM. Free & open to the public. Mothers are welcome! Everyone is
> welcome! You do not need to be an Audubon member or an experienced
> observer to participate. The field trip will be part of International
> Migratory Bird Day activities; observations will help document
> migration through Carroll County. Lunch will be pot luck style,
> accompanied by the waterfalls, so bring your lunch or something to
> share. Habitats: Piney Creek, classical Ozark upland fields, sandstone
> glades, blufflines, shortleaf pines, etc. and the Ozark birds and
> transients associated (Blue-winged Warblers, etc).

Joe Neal reports on May 6 bird-watching in Madison and Franklin counties

Judith Ann Griffith & I birded in Madison and Franklin counties May 6,
mainly between Brashears (intersection highways 16 & 23, Aka the ?pig
trail?) and Cass (on 23). I met Judith at Brashears. At the start, we
were in our local cloud forest. Through the fine mist we could hear
both Sedge and Marsh Wrens in a big hayfield & soon had both in close
view. I had already seen a first year male Orchard Oriole atop a
brushpile. When we returned in the afternoon, two Bobolinks perched
atop the brush and nearby was a flock of 10 Orchard Orioles.

The main focus was Cherry Bend in the Ozark NF. It?s half-way between
Brashears & Cass and involves about two miles of upper, east-facing
moist, mature hardwood slope. We parked in the small lot where the
Ozark Highlands Trail crosses 23, then walked up to Rock House, which
overlooks slopes below.

We saw bunting flocks along the whole drive between Brashears & Cass,
in both the private farmland and National Forest. Most involved 5-10
Indigos in all plumages, a few had 25 or so, and some included a few
White-crowned & Chipping sparrows. At Cass, we saw a fine male
Painted Bunting along them. We got the red around the eyes, both
greens, etc. I cannot image what the field & thicket-loving
White-crowned Sparrows felt when they awoke midst the shagbark
hickories & pawpaws of Cherry Bend!

In the Cherry Bend area we made several short stops & listens, and the
short hike up from the parking lot to Rock House. The native wild
azaleas are blooming & it?s hard not to stop in full blown admiration
for a fine male Black-throated Green Warbler when you have a flaming
pink bush extending over a high bluff, stream full & screaming below.
At Rock House we caught a crack of sunlight & at eye level a singing
male Cerulean Warbler. For those of us mainly used to butt shots of
Ceruleans high in the canopy, an eye level male in decent light makes
clear the bird?s name & its unique creation. I was just dumb struck &
that?s saying something in my case. We humans have fine sensibilities,
but they can be overloaded.

For the day, we recorded 21 warbler species. In the forests at Cherry
Bend, we had the following: Golden-winged (1), Tennessee, Nashville,
Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green (in 4 spots; they are likely
breeding birds at Cherry Bend now), Cerulean (12+; all along the 2
miles & best place I know in the Ozarks), Black-and-white, American
Redstart, Worm-eating, Ovenbird, Kentucky, Hooded, Wilson?s. These are
mostly common breeding birds at Cherry Bend.

Also at Cherry Bend, our highway workers are valiantly repairing giant
cracks and minislides in the asphalt. Bless their hearts; it?s a
critical road through our neck-of-the-woods. Gravity makes its claims
on highways, just as it does on us. Judith & I made our way carefully
along 23, spotting Swainson?s Thrushes and one Gray-cheeked Thrush
using roadsides. This old ?pigtrail? is steadily heading downhill &
one senses it has chosen return to its pre-1880 state as a pioneer
trail & Native American hunting track. We have smart highway folks &
I?ll bet they can keep it going for us who love birding & botanizing
Cherry Bend, not to mention all the Ozark towns and communities who
depend upon the feed trucks and freighters passing through, below Rock
House, where we are watching Ceruleans & wondering at the many
Hoodeds?and the virtually unimaginable resplendence of Scarlet
Tanagers in spring light.
--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

How close to Partner's Branch should development occur?

Frog songs from Pinnacle Prairie adjacent to World Peace Wetland Prairie

Joe Neal reports on Saturday's birding trek to Lake Fayetteville natural area

It rained most of the night & well into the morning: it amazes me that
even 12 showed for the NWAAS Lake Fayetteville field trip. We dodged
showers (AKA, liquid sunshine) from above & endured creeping dampness
& cold within. It would rain a while, and we'd walk for cover. We
stood under the eaves at the environmental study center during several
downpours and wonder if our boots could take more of it. Finally we
were all just soaked and took off on a long hike. When everything is
soaking, it's hard to see or feel difference. Between showers, we
found what we'd come for: 17-18 warbler species, 5 vireo species,
transient Gray-cheeked & Swainson's Thrushes, brilliant Baltimore
Orioles (illumination midst general rain glooms)...maybe "best bird"
(?)was Golden-winged Warbler (rare, hence a pleaser in w. AR), but we
exhaulted in good looks at Blue-headed Vireos, even with fogged bins,
even with water streaming down faces, etc etc.

...the coveted endurance award...to our very own SALLY JO GIBSON!!! In
the cold & rain, a few weeks after surgery, long hikes, good cheer,
good girlhood Ivory-billed Woodpecker story, as another shower swept
through, long drive home. Thanks SJ.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

FarmToTable theme of today's program in the Rose Garden of the Walton Art Center with renewable-energy lecture at Night Bird bookstore at 2 p.m.

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of OMNI Springfest poster.

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of poster.

Solar Power Struggle
Professor Richard Hutchinson of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston will speak on "The Struggle for the Solar Future" at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
An inquiry into environmental change and the obstacles and opportunities in the path of the renewable energy transition.
Sponsored by OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology.

Vegetable gardens don't need pesticides when birds are plentiful

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of bird watching for prey in Don Hoodenpyle's garden northeast of World Peace Wetland Prairie.

Louisiana Tech professor to discuss the struggle for the solar future Saturday afternoon at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of poster.

Solar Power Struggle
Professor Richard Hutchinson of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston will speak on "The Struggle for the Solar Future" at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
An inquiry into environmental change and the obstacles and opportunities in the path of the renewable energy transition.
Sponsored by OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology.

Quieter Saturday at Lake Fayetteville likely May 2 as bird-watchers gather at 7 a.m.

David Chapman, who will lead this field trip, below provides
additional information about plans for the day. Please note that there
are several ways to shorten the day if you choose, plus we will
shuttle folks back on the one long segment:

DIRECTIONS: For those not familiar with Lake Fayetteville, the park
lies on the east side of Hwy 71B between Fayetteville and Springdale.
The dam is clearly visible from 71B. From Fayetteville turn right
past Locomotion, from Springdale turn left a few hundred yards past
Outback restaurant. We will meet at 7 am in the parking lot on the
north end of the dam, just outside the marina gate (ball fields, dam,
and marina all in this immediate area).

ROUTE: We will first walk the dam birding the spillway area and
Veterans Park. We will return the same way (about 45-60 minutes) and
join any latecomers by the entrance to the boat dock, where cars are
parked. After briefly investigating the pines at the marina
(Yellow-throated Warbler, Pine Warbler etc) we will bird the northern
shore in an easterly direction (about 1 mile) to the environmental
study center. Brush up on Empidonax! Yellow-bellied and Alder
Flycatcher have been regularly recorded here (plus numerous warblers,
etc). If anyone has to leave at this point I will take them back to
the car park. For those who wish to continue we will follow the trail
through the woods and bottomland and then do the northern loop through
old field/former prairie habitat (1 mile). The latter is very scenic;
Chat, Painted Bunting, etc. are good possibilities. On return to the
environmental study center I can drive folks back to cars near the
marina lot.

CONDITIONS: Fairly flat, part hard top trail, part track than can get
muddy after overnight rain. Part of this is accessible for those with
walking impairments.

TALLY: a days birding in early May usually results in 80-90 species.

--
Posted for David Chapman by JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Blue-gray Gnat-catchers active at WPWP on April 23, 2009

Please click on images to ENLARGE and please hit comment button below and identify the Polioptila caerulea on World Peace Wetland Prairie on April 23, 2009. Several were spotted flitting about. Thanks to Joe Neal for identifying the bird.




South Dakota Birds and Birding
Devoted to birds, birding, and photography

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Polioptila caerulea
Length: 4.5 inches Wingspan: 6 inches Seasonality: Summer
ID Keys: Blue-gray upperparts, white underparts, bold white eyering, white outer tail feathers
While still an uncommon sight in most of South Dakota, the range of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher has been steadily expanding throughout the 20th century. Very small birds normally found in woodlands, they can sometimes be difficult to observe as they flit about the tree tops.
Habitat: Varies by region, preferring deciduous forests in the East, pine forests with a deciduous understory in the South, and shrubby habitat in the West.
Diet: Feeds almost exclusively on insects and spiders.
Behavior: Extremely active, foraging actively among trees and shrubs in search of insects. Will take prey while perched, hovering, or by flycatching and catching insects in mid-air.
Nesting: May and June
Breeding Map: Breeding Bird Survey map
Song: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Song
Migration: Summers throughout much of the United States except for the Pacific Northwest and the northern tier of states. Winters in the extreme southern United States and southward.
Similar Species: Similar to the other Gnatcatchers, but these other species (Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, California Gnatcatcher, Black-capped Gnatcatcher) all have normal ranges well to the south of South Dakota and have never been seen in this state.
Status: They have expanded in numbers and in range in the 20th century, an expansion that probably is still continuing.
South Dakota "Hotspot": Most common in the extreme southeastern part of the state, I've had very good luck finding them at both Newton Hills State Park, and the Big Sioux Recreation Area.
Further Information: 1) Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
2) Cornell University's "All About Birds - Blue-gray Gnatcatcher"
3) eNature.com: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Photo Information: July 1st, 2006 - Big Sioux Recreation Area near Brandon - Terry Sohl
Additional Photos: Click on the image chips or text links below for additional, higher-resolution Blue-gray Gnatcatcher photos.


South Dakota Status: Uncommon summer breeder in the extreme southeastern part of the state. Casual breeder and visitor in the Black Hills.

Additional Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Photos

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8


ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHTED. Click below if you have interest in any of these photos for:
Commercial Use Fine Art Print Personal Usage


SOUTH DAKOTA BIRDS AND BIRDING - LOCATIONS OF WEBSITE VISITORS



Please mail all comments/suggestions/gripes/complaints to: Terry L. Sohl
Click here for other references used to compile this page

Birder's Weekend May 3 at Devil's Den State Park

As part of its annual Birder's Weekend festivities, Devil's Den State
Park hosts guided bird walks during the peak-of-the-peak of spring
migration through the Boston Mountains section of the Ozarks in north
western Arkansas. I'm helping on Sunday morning May 3. There's no
cost. Meet us at the bridge over Lee Creek in the park (plenty of
parking here), at the leisurely hour of 9 AM. There are always lots of
migrants & a fall-out event can be crazy exciting. The walk only lasts
a few hours, but you also have at your disposal the rest of the park &
surrounding Ozark National Forest. The walk will be on both paved
surfaces and trails, so at least part is reasonably accessible to
those with walking impairments. None of it will involve strenuous or
extensive hiking.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

May 2 and May 10 birding outings announced by Joe Neal

Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society will host a field trip to Lake
Fayetteville on Saturday May 2. Meet in the parking lot on the north
end of the dam (the marina is near) at 7 AM. Leaders, David Chapman
and Joe Neal. The focus is on Neotropical migratory songbirds. Because
of many & varied habitats, Lake Fayetteville has proven a wonderful
spot for migrants. Chapman has been conducting bird surveys there for
several years, so participants will be able to tap into his wide
knowledge. Part of the trip will utilize the Two Turtles Trail, which
is accessible for those with walking impairment. We will try to
accomodate those with special needs.

More details will follow soon on the Sunday May 10 NWAAS trip to
Ninestone Land Trust in Carroll County (a good time & place to
celebrate Mother's Day!).

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Joe Neal recommends The Poets Guide to Birds

Here's a "birding" opportunity for folks in the northwest Arkansas
area when you can't be out birding, but are sort of
birding-in-the-mind and want company. The reading & reception are at
Nightbird Books in Fayetteville, at 205 Dickson Street (corner of
Church & Dickson -- old Smokehouse Bldg).

Van Brock and Geoff Brock - The Poets Guide to Birds
Reading, Reception, & Booksigning
Saturday April 25th 6 pm

Van and Geoff Brock will be reading their contributions in The Poets
Guide to the Birds, published by Anhinga Press and edited by Judith
Kitchen and Ted Kooser. After the reading, a reception catered by
Brick House Kitchen will follow.

The painter, Walter Inglis Anderson, once said that birds are the
holes in heaven through which man may pass. Many of us look upon birds
with the kind of awe and wonder Anderson's statement suggests. Here
are poems that might otherwise go unnoticed amidst the dense foliage
of contemporary poetry. --(slightly rephrased from Ted Kooser, U.S.
Poet Laureate 2004-2006)

Brown thrashers may be spotted at World Peace Wetland Prairie during Sunday's Earth Day celebration

Please click on image to Enlarge view of one of the many species of birds feeding and picking nesting sites on World Peace Wetland Prairie on April 17, 2009. The elusive brown thrasher is often able to slip into the thickets before a camera can capture its image. But the attraction of scattered brush piles and the excitement of mating season can make them a bit careless.

Buzzards rest on broken tree on World Peace Wetland Prairie on April 16, 2009

Please click on images to enlarge view of buzzards on World Peace Wetland Prairie on April 16, 2009.
When I spotted these two alighting only 30 feet off the ground, I had to check my own pulse to make sure I wasn't their intended lunch for the day.

Large wading bird eludes camera but mourning dove sits for portrait on April 15, 2009

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of mourning dove on the southeast corner of the Hill Place student-apartment complex being constructed on fill dirt in the former overflow area of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River about 250 feet from the Heritage Trail in south Fayetteville, Arkansas.

I had walked down to the northeast corner of the Hoodenpyle property after getting a call that a large heron or crane had sailed into the Town Branch. The big bird had drifted downstream from where it had alighted and, when I approached, flew out behind the riparian trees without allowing me an open view for a photograph. But the dove sat calmly for a portrait. The still-unidentified elusive large wading bird or a similar one had also been seen by several men standing at the Hill Place entry from Eleventh Street and South Duncan a couple of hours earlier as it flew from the Town Branch westward over the World Peace Wetland Prairie. South Hill Avenue, Eleventh Street and South Duncan Avenue in that area all are a part of the Heritage Trail.

Sparrow 40 feet from World Peace Wetland Prairie on April 15, 2009

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of sparrow on April 15, 2009.

Joe Neal's woo woo moment with a Sora rail

woo woo moments with a very cool Sora‏
From: joeneal (joeneal@uark.edu)
Sent: Tue 4/14/09 9:15 PM
To: ARBIRD discussion list (ARBIRD-L@LISTSERV.uark.edu)
Cc: aubrey shepherd (aubreyshepherd@hotmail.com); Bruce Shackleford (bruceshackleford@aristotle.net); Burnetta Hintertheur (burhint@sbcglobal.net); Doug James (djames@uark.edu); Jacqueline Froelich (froelich@uark.edu); Joe Woolbright (joewoolbright@cox-internet.com); Joyce & (jhshed@CENTURYTEL.NET); Margaret Britain (margaret.britain@eds.com); Mary Bess Mulhollan (marybess@cox.net); Michelle Viney (mviney@audubon.org); Paige Mulhollan (paige123@cox.net); Ruth Ann Wisener (ruth.ann.wisener@tyson.com); Steve Erwin (serwin0419@sbcglobal.net); Terry Stanfill (tsstanfill@aep.com); Christie, Lynn (ChristieLynn@uams.edu)
I spent part of today birding with Lynn Christie from Little Rock. We
started out in the Vaughn area of Benton County. When we got up there
it looked like most of the 200+ American Golden-Plovers had continued
on their epochal 10,000 mile journey. We did find 6 of the original 9
in a flock of Upland Sandpipers. Just as I began making solemn
pronouncements about gone plovers & their amazing odyssey, and lots of
other miscellaneous stuff I've heard on PBS, here they came, in tight
flocks, making a fine display. Not yet gone, a few thousand miles
still left. I also pronounced 2 B-w Teal on a far pond, that Lynn
noticed were shovelers...

After Vaughn, we headed for Woolsey Wet Prairie at Fayetteville. I was
telling how Joyce Shedell just saw a Sora at the Centerton hatchery
(posted on ARBIRD), so I thought...well maybe we can see one today at
Woolsey. After the yellowlegs, after Wilson's Snipe, after the teal
(both), after avoiding a threatening Canada Goose, after a dramatic
Cooper's stoop on shorebirds, etc etc... a Sora--casually it
seemed--walked out of wet grass, right in front of us. It was so
dramatic I could barely breathe.

OK, Sora is not a rare transient in Arkansas, BUT this Sora appeared &
stopped. Didn't dodge back into cover. Didn't fly up and drop out of
sight. Didn't leave me wondering if it was a Virginia Rail. Remained
in plain sight & in perfect light, and stayed there for eternity. It
knew we wanted it (my friend Joy Fox would call this a woo-woo
moment): red eye, yellow beak, white under cocked tail, dove gray on
sides, rich whites/blacks/browns of wings & back. It turned this way,
then that. We got the whole thing. There's no way to have seen more.
Finally it sauntered into cover. That red eye among leaves of grass.

Now at home, thinking about it, I like Peterson's Sora best, of the
various bird book illustrators, but even with its high artistry,
Peterson looks pretty static compared to the gaudy remarkable beauty
that showed today. These are moments that made me a birder & keep me.
I don't need it every time. Once in a while will keep me under the
spell of a creature among us still.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Honeybees and all pollinators threatened by pesticides

Please click on images to ENLARGE view in top photo of honeybee on redbud and bumblebee in second photo on redbud in a chemical-free area around World Peace Wetland Prairie on April 8, 2009.



Honeybees in Danger
Sunday 12 April 2009
by: Evaggelos Vallianatos, t r u t h o u t | Perspective
When I was teaching at Humboldt State University in northern California 20 years ago, I invited a beekeeper to talk to my students. He said that each time he took his bees to southern California to pollinate other farmers' crops, he would lose a third of his bees to sprays. In 2009, the loss ranges all the way to 60 percent.
Honeybees have been in terrible straits.
A little history explains this tragedy.
For millennia, honeybees lived in symbiotic relationship with societies all over the world.
The Greeks loved them. In the eighth century BCE, the epic poet Hesiod considered them gifts of the gods to just farmers. And in the fourth century of our era, the Greek mathematician Pappos admired their hexagonal cells, crediting them with "geometrical forethought."\
However, industrialized agriculture is not friendly to honeybees.
In 1974, the US Environmental Protection Agency licensed the nerve gas parathion trapped into nylon bubbles the size of pollen particles.
What makes this microencapsulated formulation more dangerous to bees than the technical material is the very technology of the "time release" microcapsule.\
This acutely toxic insecticide, born of chemical warfare, would be on the surface of the flower for several days. The foraging bee, if alive after its visit to the beautiful white flowers of almonds, for example, laden with invisible spheres of asphyxiating gas, would be bringing back to its home pollen and nectar mixed with parathion.
It is possible that the nectar, which the bee makes into honey, and the pollen, might end up in some food store to be bought and eaten by human beings.
Beekeepers are well aware of what is happening to their bees, including the potential that their honey may not be fit for humans.
Moreover, many beekeepers do not throw away the honey, pollen and wax of colonies destroyed by encapsulated parathion or other poisons. They melt the wax for new combs: And they sell both honey and pollen to the public.
Government "regulators" know about this danger.
An academic expert, Carl Johansen, professor of entomology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, called the microencapsulated methyl parathion "the most destructive bee poisoning insecticide ever developed."
In 1976, the US Department of Agriculture published a report by one of its former employees, S. E. McGregor, a honeybee expert who documented that about a third of what we eat benefits from honeybee pollination. This includes vegetables, oilseeds and domesticated animals eating bee-pollinated hay.
In 2007, the value of food dependent on honeybees was $15 billion in the United States.
McGregor also pointed out that insect-pollinated legumes collect nitrogen from the air, storing it in their roots and enriching the soil. In addition, insect pollination makes the crops more wholesome and abundant. He advised the farmer he should never forget that "no cultural practice will cause fruit or seed to set if its pollination is neglected."\
In addition, McGregor blamed the chemical industry for seducing the farmers to its potent toxins. He said:
"[P]esticides are like dope drugs. The more they are used the more powerful the next one must be to give satisfaction" and therein develops the spiraling effect, the pesticide treadmill. The chemical salesman, in pressuring the grower to use his product, practically assumes the role of the "dope pusher." Once the victim, the grower, is "hooked," he becomes a steady and an ever-increasing user.
No government agency listened to McGregor.
The result of America's pesticide treadmill is that now, in 2009, honeybees and other pollinators are moving towards extinction.
In October 2006, the US National Research Council warned of the" "demonstrably downward" trends in the populations of pollinators. For the first time since 1922, American farmers are renting imported bees for their crops. They are even buying bees from Australia.
Honeybees, the National Academies report said, pollinate more than 90 crops in America, but have declined by 30 percent in the last 20 years alone. The scientists who wrote the report expressed alarm at the precipitous decline of the pollinators. Unfortunately, this made no difference to EPA, which failed to ban the microencapsulated parathion that is so deadly to honeybees.
Bee experts know that insecticides cause brain damage to the bees, disorienting them, making it often impossible for them to find their way home.
This is a consequence of decades of agribusiness warfare against nature and, in time, honeybees. In addition, beekeepers truck billions of bees all over the country for pollination, depriving them of good food, stressing them enormously, and, very possibly, injuring their health.

-------

Evaggelos Vallianatos, former EPA analyst, is the author of "This Land Is Their Land" and "The Passion of the Greeks.

Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association's green-infrastructure project report online

Green-infrastructure report from Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association project

Earth Day celebration on April 19, 2009, at World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on image to ENLARGE to read details of the poster.

Bird-watchers welcome every day from dawn to dusk!

Bird population good on former prairie adjacent to Fayetteville's Fifteenth Street, which is slated for widening by the Arkansas highway department,

Please click on image to ENLARGE photo from April 4, 2009.

Reagan family farm north of Arkansas 16 exemplifies the kind of land that must be protected in the cities of Northwest Arkansas to save Beaver Lake

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Bill Reagan pointing to the line of trees along the fence on the south edge of his family farm along the north edge of East Fifteenth Street.


The Reagan family has owned the land for many years and Bill said that he has bought it from his mother and will keep it in the family. The farm is prairie that has been used for cattle grazing and other agriculture over the decades. It is an example of a heritage farm of the sort identified in the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association's Green Infrastructure plan. Its rich soil captures water where falls and does not cause flooding downstream with its limited stormwater runoff entering the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River without causing siltation or pollution. See Google map with view of Fifteenth Street area in a preceding post on this subject.
Democrat-Gazette on widening of Arkansas 16


View Larger Map
Please use controls and cursor to move the image, zoom in or out and trace the whole route discussed at the meeting yesterday. The Reagan property is near the middle left part of the image above.
If you use your cursor to travel north of the open Reagan property between Washington Avenue and Wood Avenue from 11th Street up to near 9th Street you can see the 7 wooded wetland acres that the Partners for Better housing board is trying to buy to dredge and fill for a low-income housing development. Water drains from north of Jefferson School, all the way from north of MLK Boulevard (former 6th St.) down to 15th St. and into the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River and is slowed and purified by the moist-soil area where the tiny branch overflows.
This portion of the Beaver Lake watershed is under extreme threat. Thanks to the Reagan family and others for keeping a bit of green infrastructure intact and allowing a small part of the rainwater to stay it falls.

Public invited to view plan for widening portions of Huntsville Road and Fifteenth Street from 4 to 7 p.m. today

People interested in protecting Northwest Arkansas' two major watersheds, in this case, the watershed of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River and Beaver Lake, need to turn out and make sure that the planners are taking into account the potential affect of this project on water quality and the need for stormwater retention to avoid increasing the flooding and erosion threat downstream.

View Larger Map
Please use controls and cursor to move the image, zoom in or out and trace the whole route to be discussed this afternoon.

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department officials will reveal the first phase of design for widening a 2.7-mile stretch of Arkansas 16 between S. College Avenue and Stonebridge Road to four lanes and installing a traffic light at the Stonebridge intersection, east of Crossover Road from 4 to 7 p.m. in the activity center of Fayetteville First Assembly of God at 550 E. 15th St. There won't be a presentation; residents can look at displays, ask questions and give feedback verbally or on survey forms, The Northwest Arkansas Times reported in its March 31, 2009, edition.

Severed limb budding at end. Birds and squirrels and rabbits may eat them

Here is the caption with the photo of limbs burning in Benton County:
Up in smoke:
Benton County employee Harvey Johnson watched a fire at 10791 Stoney Point Road near Lowell on Thursday. The county is burning limbs and trees broken by this winter’s ice storm. Other burn sites are at 9900 Marchant Road in Elm Springs, 21447 Waukesha Road in Siloam Springs and 19941 Bettis Hill Road near War Eagle. Washington County is also burning ice-storm debris on North 40th Street in Springdale. DAVID FRANK DEMPSEY / Benton County Daily Record

If no one in either county had a fireplace or a wood stove, this might seem slightly less ridiculous.
I hope a lot of people who can use firewood or who would collect it and sell it will be at those sites before more is burned and load it up and take it away.
This wood would save people money, reduce air pollution now and save the carbon in these limbs for actual home heating and reduce global climate change (because people with wood stoves and fire places will be buying wood next fall and reducing the tree cover even more in Northwest Arkansas).
Additionally, birds and squirrels are eating buds on those limbs where they are lying. In fact, many large limbs or trunks lying separated from the main trunk for nearly two months are budding right now! So wildlife are having to search a bit more for food, which may be tough for birds facing nesting season.
Burning material with this much value is WRONG.
It is even worse than chipping it all. This is incredibly wasteful and inconsiderate of people and other living things. I am proud to live in Fayetteville where an effort is being made to separate potential firewood for sharing and where the rest is being chipped rather than burned.
This is an example of the need for cross-training and keeping all environmental enforcement under one big umbrella. Apparently, it would be the responsibility of the EPA to see that FEMA's requirements for subsidizing "cleanup" efforts meet environmental guidelines. But I would bet that the EPA has had no input in the cleanup efforts. Otherwise, they would have required sound environmental use of the downed trees and limbs.
And, if there were any budgetary control of FEMA, their pet contractors would be required to compact and compress the loads of loose limbs in their trailers and trucks before claiming a load is full and counting it on the basis of cubic yards.
If you take waste metal to a steel yard or aluminum-recycling facility, you will have your vehicle weighed and then weighed again after the workers pull off what can be recycled. They don't pay more for half-empty truckloads or uncrushed cans that fill a big bag. The scales tell the story.
Should the taxpayers support a system that rewards only selected contractors and ignores the value of the material being destroyed in the pretense of "cleaning up" after a disaster? And requires the hiring of "inspectors" or whatever from different pet companies to make sure the trucks aren't overfilled?
My questions aren't original. I have heard these questions from residents of Fayetteville who are offended by the appearance of poor management and waste.
The city can't ask these questions because the EPA MIGHT look into the problem and FEMA MIGHT delay reimbursement of the city for the work that took a big chunk out of the city's reserve fund.
But somebody has to ask why they don't just weigh the loads and pay and reimburse on the results. My neighbors have asked.

Severed limb budding at end. Birds and squirrels and rabbits may eat them

Here is the caption with the photo of limbs burning in Benton County:
Up in smoke:
Benton County employee Harvey Johnson watched a fire at 10791 Stoney Point Road near Lowell on Thursday. The county is burning limbs and trees broken by this winter’s ice storm. Other burn sites are at 9900 Marchant Road in Elm Springs, 21447 Waukesha Road in Siloam Springs and 19941 Bettis Hill Road near War Eagle. Washington County is also burning ice-storm debris on North 40th Street in Springdale. DAVID FRANK DEMPSEY / Benton County Daily Record

If no one in either county had a fireplace or a wood stove, this might seem slightly less ridiculous.
I hope a lot of people who can use firewood or who would collect it and sell it will be at those sites before more is burned and load it up and take it away.
This wood would save people money, reduce air pollution now and save the carbon in these limbs for actual home heating and reduce global climate change (because people with wood stoves and fire places will be buying wood next fall and reducing the tree cover even more in Northwest Arkansas).
Additionally, birds and squirrels are eating buds on those limbs where they are lying. In fact, many large limbs or trunks lying separated from the main trunk for nearly two months are budding right now! So wildlife are having to search a bit more for food, which may be tough for birds facing nesting season.
Burning material with this much value is WRONG.
It is even worse than chipping it all. This is incredibly wasteful and inconsiderate of people and other living things. I am proud to live in Fayetteville where an effort is being made to separate potential firewood for sharing and where the rest is being chipped rather than burned.
This is an example of the need for cross-training and keeping all environmental enforcement under one big umbrella. Apparently, it would be the responsibility of the EPA to see that FEMA's requirements for subsidizing "cleanup" efforts meet environmental guidelines. But I would bet that the EPA has had no input in the cleanup efforts. Otherwise, they would have required sound environmental use of the downed trees and limbs.
And, if there were any budgetary control of FEMA, their pet contractors would be required to compact and compress the loads of loose limbs in their trailers and trucks before claiming a load is full and counting it on the basis of cubic yards.
If you take waste metal to a steel yard or aluminum-recycling facility, you will have your vehicle weighed and then weighed again after the workers pull off what can be recycled. They don't pay more for half-empty truckloads or uncrushed cans that fill a big bag. The scales tell the story.
Should the taxpayers support a system that rewards only selected contractors and ignores the value of the material being destroyed in the pretense of "cleaning up" after a disaster? And requires the hiring of "inspectors" or whatever from different pet companies to make sure the trucks aren't overfilled?
My questions aren't original. I have heard these questions from residents of Fayetteville who are offended by the appearance of poor management and waste.
The city can't ask these questions because the EPA MIGHT look into the problem and FEMA MIGHT delay reimbursement of the city for the work that took a big chunk out of the city's reserve fund.
But somebody has to ask why they don't just weigh the loads and pay and reimburse on the results. My neighbors have asked.

Joe Neal finds Trillium pusillum variant ozarkanum at Cave Springs Natural Area on March 22, 2009

After seeing the trilliums in bloom at Ninestone Land Trust on March
20, I decided to head over to Cave Springs Cave Natural Area in Benton
Co., to visit the mother lode of Ozark Wake Robin (Trillium pusillum
var. ozarkanum). They were sure enough in bloom -- thousands on a
gentle north-facing slope above a cave that houses the rare Ozark Cave
Fish. I was also hoping to get my first spring hearing of
Black-and-white Warbler, an early parula or Yellow-throated Vireo, but
struck out. The trilliums alone were worth the effort. However, I
didn't go away feeling all that great about the visit...

Unfortunately, patches of these rare trilliums on Cave Springs Cave
Natural Area are in the process of being overwhelmed and smothered by
honeysuckle. The only cure for such a thing is mother nature's
favorite tool, fire. Repeated winter or early spring burns, before the
trilliums are up, would suppress/push back the honeysuckle and other
alien plants, leaving the cherty rubble free for the emergence of
trilliums and other botanicals adapted to open forest landscapes free
of smootherers & stranglers like honeysuckle. Some patches have
already been lost to honeysuckle.

I mention this in the context of rare trilliums, because the same
thing hugely impacts birds. Many among us in the conservation (in our
case, bird lovin/ Audubon community) still don't have the fire thing
figured out -- how historically fires shaped the natural landscape,
and how without deliberately using fire, it will be impossible to
reset the clock, even in those patches that we call preserves, natural
areas, national forests, etc.
Admittedly, my attitude about this is STRONGLY shaped by years of
working as a USDA Forest Service Wildlife Biologist with endangered
Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, which were headed for extinction before
biologists began to strongly push fire back into southern pine
forests. Bobwhite quail, Bachman's Sparrows, Prairie Warblers and many
other birds have rebounded in those habitats where fire is
reintroduced. I saw it for myself on the Ouachita National Forest in
west central Arkansas.

So, my friends in the conservation community with a worry about fire,
treat yourself to a good read. The bible in this case: Restoring North
American Birds, Lessons from Landscape Ecology, by Robert A. Askins (I
read the second edition). Unlike many environmental books, this one is
pure as a bedside reader, Aldo Leopoldish astride our fire-hungry
landscape.

We don't need to keep scratching our heads about this one. Just get
that drip torch and go to work!

JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Focus group to discuss plan for Beaver Lake

On Wednesday, March 25th, you are invited to a focus group meeting with Tetratech to discuss the status of the Beaver Lake Watershed Management Plan that they have been helping facilitate. This follow-up focus group meeting with conservation and environmental representatives will take place on Wednesday, March 25th at 3pm in the Chicago Room (room #220) at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale. They want to gather your feedback on some of the management options that they have been developing for the watershed.
I believe each of you participated in the first focus group meeting Tetratech convened a few months back. If you have suggestions for other folks who should be included in this focus group, please let me know or pass this invitation along to them.
Tetratech has put together a series of newsletters to update you and other focus group members on the status of the project. I will distribute some of the newsletters attached to this message and others attached to another message early next week.
Please let me know if you have any questions and whether you will be able to attend the meeting on Wednesday, March 25th at 3pm.
Thank you!
Mike Malone
387-5590 (cell)

Grackles 30 feet from World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on images and please comment below to confirm the species. Are these the common grackles?

Daylight-saving time means woodcock roosting will be later this week

(1) Well, as I do annually, I plum forgot about daylight savings time.
I will still be out there at 5:30, as announced, but the dancin' is
unlikely until near sunset, which is an hour later, as of today! But
there is other stuff to do, anyway. (2) When I set the trip up I
didn't know Forest Service road 1754 would be under reconstruction,
which it is. Therefore, I must assume we will have a short (but
interesting & birdy, etc etc) walk to the fields, rather than drive in
there with our bigtime gas guzzlers. (3) BRING A FLASHLIGHT. Jacque
Brown reminded me that it is a great idea to bring a flashlight, since
we have this unplanned walk (see #2) out. She & Mike found woodcocks
still going there yesterday (Saturday). (4) Just in case there is
comment that our Sunday field trip interfers with church: it is a kind
of church & hopefully we will have a big worshipful congregation at
our upcoming Wedington services.

JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Privit-berry bandits remain at World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on images to Enlarge view of cedar waxwing enjoying privit berries on March 5, 2009, at World Peace Wetland Prairie in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

February 2009 newsletter of the NWAS

Please click on images to read the pages of the newsletter.


Please click on images to view pages of the February 2009 Northwest Arkansas Audubon Newsletter.

Bewick's wren photographed by David Oakley on February 22, 2009

Please click on image of Bewick's wren to Enlarge photo made by G. David Oakley of Springdale on 2/22/09 when Mike Mlodinow, Jacque Brown, and Oakley identified the wren at Pea Ridge Military Park where Mike had found it a couple of weeks previously.



At the risk of showing just how poorly I function as a photographer of birds, I am displaying a different species photographed on March 2, 2009, near a hollow portion of a damaged maple tree in the hope that someone will identify its species by clicking on the "comments" link below and sharing the information. Please click on the image to ENLARGE. The photo will still be blurry but will likely made identification easy for those who recognize it.

Wedington woodcock on radar for March 15

American Woodcock field trip Sunday March 15. Sponsored by Northwest
Arkansas Audubon Society.

The 450-acre Wedington Small Game Area is on the northwest
corner of the Wedington Unit of the Ozark-St. Francis NF, approx. 16
miles west of Fayetteville & approx. 4 miles east of Siloam Springs.
The 15,000-acre Wedington Unit is designated as an Urban Forest. We
will listen for & hopefully observe woodcocks in the small game area.

From the intersection of HWY 412 and Interstate 540 in Springdale, go
west approx. 13.2 miles on HWY 412. Note that Kincheloe Road bisects
412, with turns north AND south. If you are driving from Springdale,
you will first pass Kincheloe Rd on your north at approx. 12.6-12.7
miles; don't turn. Keep going another 0.5 miles and turn left SOUTH
onto Kincheloe Road and travel WEST for approx. 1.3 miles to Forest
Service road 1754 (on the right). We will meet at this intersection
(Kincheloe and FS 1754) promptly at 5:30 PM. (if you arrive late,
drive 1754 & find us ? we will be less than a mile away on the road).
Bring a chair, since we will sit and wait for the woodcock displays to
begin near and shortly after sunset. LOTS of other birds are in the
area to enjoy during the wait. Mosquitoes could be out & about if the
weather is warm. Sunset is 7:25 PM.

View Larger Map
Overall, this should be a fairly easy trip for most folks, including
those with walking impairments. The woodcock displays should be
viewable/audible from where we park. Maps: if you use Google Earth,
type Kincheloe Road Siloam Springs, AR into the search. This will
produce a map of this area. There is also a map of the Wedington Unit
at:
http://www.agfc.com/!userfiles/pdfs/wma_lake_maps/Wedington%20WMA%20Map.pdf

JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Joe Neal visits Woolsey Wet Prairie after prescribed burn and snowfall to find birds active on March 1, 2009

I was out at Woolsey Wet Prairie in Fayetteville this morning, for
about as long as I could take it: temps in 20s, north wind, water
iced-over, and a thin crust of snow. Woolsey was prescribe burned on
February 20, so a lot of the tall grasses are short and black. But
there are many places too wet for fire to be effective, and vegetation
remained there. First thing I noticed -- more meadowlarks there than I
had seen before (35-40) -- no doubt, taking advantage of the good
foraging after the burn (I only heard Easterns). Also, maybe 15
Wilson's Snipe. Sedge Wren - 1 -- in sedges not much impacted. Then,
suddenly, an American Bittern lifted up in front of me out of some
dense vegetation between the prairie mounds, tried to go north, then
sort of drifted back low and right over me. Other than a bittern I
once saw & watched in a leisurely fashion while sitting in my car at
Centerton, this was one of the best looks ever. This bird clearly had
both legs and both feet. There were 15-20 Swamp Sparrows, ~10 Song
sparrows, 8 White-crowned Sparrows, and a seemingly endless flock of
Savannah Sparrows, which I counted up to 78.

Now for a couple of landscape comments: Behind Woolsey is NWA's newest
mountain -- it's called Mt Limb & Tree Trunk, child of the ice storm,
growing daily, and being returned to wood fiber by the planet's
biggest wood chipper. The prairie itself never looked more
interesting: with much of the vegetation burned-off, you can clearly
see the height & shape of the prairie mounds and the inter-moundal
playas.

JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas.