Hobbes State Park Natural Area on Beaver Lake great place for bird-watchers and conservation enthusiasts Jan. 21, 2012

The next Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society field trip is this
upcoming Saturday January 21, 2012, to Rocky Branch on Beaver Lake.
Meet at 9 AM at the Rocky Branch marina parking area. We will be
looking for species typical of the lake in winter (possibilities
include Pied-billed and Horned Grebes, Bonaparte's and Ring-billed
Gull, Common Goldeneye, Bald Eagle, and others). Depending on the
weather, we can also bird the cedar glade and upland shortleaf pine
areas for woodland birds. A program at Hobbes State Park-Conservation
Area visitor's center at 2 PM will be presented by Joe Neal on winter
birds. Both events are free and open to the public. More information
on the area at

http://media.tripod.lycos.com/2020453/1535379.pdf

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
"I loaf and invite my soul..." -- Walt Whitman

Mitchell Prewitt of Jonesboro, Arkansas, has a really big year seeing wild birds

News » Arkansas Reporter

A Big Year in Arkansas 

Jonesboro teen racks up 311 species.

by Leslie Newell Peacock @@eyecandypeacock

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• NO NEED FOR BINOCS: Pruitt holds a Swainson's warbler, caught for banding by ASU students.

Mitchell Pruitt is only 17, but he's No. 4 in the rankings of most birds seen in Arkansas during a Big Year.
Thanks to the movie, most everyone knows what a Big Year is now, but for folks who don't get out much, a Big Year is one in which a birder dedicates his every waking moment between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 to see as many species as possible. At dawn on Jan. 1, 2011, Mitchell Pruitt started his adventure with a northern flicker; he ended it Dec. 30, in the nick of time, with a golden eagle. In between he saw 309 other avian species, for a total of 311, just seven off Dick Baxter's 318 in 2008 ("a hurricane year," Pruitt noted, with five or six species blown up to Arkansas from the Gulf).
Pruitt is a senior at Valley View High School in Jonesboro who started birding seriously about two years ago. At 6'4" he can practically see into the canopy, a huge advantage for birders who must endure "warbler neck" every spring to see the tiny, high moving migrants. He got some of his 311 birds with the help of Arkansas's top birders, who alerted him to rare birds they were finding, and his parents' chauffeuring skills. His patient parents — who Mitchell said were "speechless" when he first told them he'd decided to do a Big Year — drove him all over Arkansas. His mother, Kathleen Pruitt, was en route to Texarkana one morning when Mitchell called from school and persuaded her to check him out and make a detour to Fayetteville to see a Bewick's wren that "Arkansas Birds" author Joe Neal had e-mailed him about. (Pruitt, an Eagle Scout described by his parents as a "good kid," confessed to consulting his e-mail at school to make sure he wasn't missing any rarities.) The Pruitts drove to Fayetteville, Mitchell saw the bird, and then all headed for Texarkana, "a long day," his mother said. Mitchell's father, Ken Pruitt, bootless and unable to accompany his son, waited a couple of hours in a mud-mired truck in Desha County so Mitchell could hike in to Dick Baxter's family's fish farm pond to pick up mottled duck, least bittern and fulvous whistling duck. Loaded down with scope, binoculars, camera and a healthy fear of cottonmouths, Mitchell made his way along the edge of a soybean field to get to an opening in the vegetation. A deer jumped up in front of him, which rattled him a bit, and a rustle of something scaly in the brush (turned out to be an armadillo) sent him running at one point, but he saw two of his target birds and heard the third, the whistle of the whistling duck.
In what is a common birder story, Mitchell braved 100-degree heat in July in Southwest Arkansas, walking three miles along the OK Levee on Millwood Lake with expert birder Charles Mills to see a tricolored heron, which, of course, they didn't see until they returned to their truck, where the bird was hanging out. (Mom and sis waited at a campground during this adventure.) He sank one leg up above the bootline in the muddy bed of Lake Enterprise in Southeast Arkansas trying to get a better look at an eagle. It takes perseverance to see 311 species in 365 days.
For the record, Mitchell's rarest birds: A Eurasian wigeon, which should have been off the coast of Great Britain or somewhere in south Asia, at Benwood Lake southwest of Turrell. A little Sabine's gull at the same lake. Cassin's sparrow near Foreman. A Barrow's goldeneye that was at Lake Dardanelle last January, except the one day Mitchell went there to see it, but which graciously returned Dec. 2. And one of the prettiest: A vermillion flycatcher, which should have been in Arizona but flew in to the Stuttgart Airport instead.
Mitchell plans to attend the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in fall. He'll probably major in biology — maybe to become an ornithologist.
No. 2, 3 and 5 in the top five Arkansas Big Year lists: Kenny Nichols (313), LaDonna Nichols (312) and Dennis Brady (307).

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Audubon Advisory January 12, 2012 Vol 2012 Issue 1   Roseate Spoonbills need a healthy Gulf.   Our Next, Best Chance to Pass the RESTORE Act for the Gulf of Mexico The RESTORE Act has been praised for its bipartisan support and commitment to restoring the environment and economies of the Gulf damaged by the BP oil disaster. Congress must act to ensure the fines owed by BP and other responsible parties are used for restoring the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem for the people and wildlife that live there.  Read more.   The Farm Bill preserves habitat for Western Meadowlarks and other grassland birds.    The 2012 Congress: A Look Ahead In addition to our number priority to pass the RESTORE Act, two big bills with big ramifications for the environment—the Farm Bill, which is the single, largest source of conservation funding, and the Water Resources Development Act, which is instrumental in restoring large ecosystems, are also slated for action. Read more.     The Ivory Gull, an Arctic-dependent species, spends its life on and around the sea ice. It feeds in open water and on the remains of marine mammals killed by polar bears and other predators.    Dangerous Offshore Drilling Proposed in the Arctic Ocean The federal government recently released a new proposed Five-Year Program (2012-2017) for offshore oil and gas leasing that could open up pristine new areas in the Arctic Ocean offshore of Alaska to oil drilling. If we've learned anything from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it's how unprepared the oil industry is to respond to a major oil spill. This is especially true in the Arctic Ocean. Read more.     The agreement will increase healthy habitat for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker.    Audubon and Sierra Club Win Major Environmental Benefits for Arkansas in Power Plant Settlement Audubon and Sierra Club recently announced a legal settlement that phases out one of the dirtiest coal plants located upwind of Arkansas, in Northeastern Texas. The settlement will mean clearer air, more clean energy and efficiency, and protections for Important Bird Areas and other sensitive habitats. Read more.     Audubon is seeking more robust protections for birds like the Piping Plover, whose habitat would be impacted by the pipeline.    Audubon Weighs in on 15,000 Mile Habitat Conservation Plan Audubon responded to a request from a major pipeline company for authorization to impact habitat needed by 43 imperiled species. Audubon seeks more robust protections for the threatened interior Least Tern, Piping Plover, and Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and asks for avoidance of Important Bird Areas in subsequent phases of permitting. Read more.   News from Our State Network Over 1500 New Yorkers push for stronger environmental protections from hydrofracking.   January Mystery Bird Congratulations to Andrew S. of Arcata, CA, who was randomly chosen from the entries that correctly identified last month's Savannah Sparrow, at right. Good luck with this month's challenge, Poking Around, below. HINT: Over 10% of my global population can be found in the California Bay Delta, an ecosystem that is being restored with help from the Water Resources Development Act. The winner will receive a plush Audubon singing bird and will be chosen at random from all entries received that correctly identify the species (NAS employees can play but not win). One entry per person please. Please email us your entry, being sure the words "Mystery Bird" appear in the subject line. Deadline for entering is Sunday, February 5. Photo credits: Western Meadowlark - John and Karen Hollingsworth/USFWS, Roseate Spoonbill - Rebecca Field, Ivory Gull - jomilo75/Flickr Creative Commons, Red-cockaded Woodpecker - Julio Mulero/Flickr Creative Commons, Piping Plover - Gene Nieminen/USFWS, Savannah Sparrow - Amanda Boyd/USFWS, Mystery Bird - Greg Thomson/USFWS

The Audubon Advisory is published monthly by Audubon's Public Policy Program.
1150 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 861-2242 | audubonaction@audubon.org

Joe Neal and friends visit White Rock

White Rock is way, way out in the middle of the Ozark National Forest
and the Boston Mountains. Yesterday, there were Hermit Thrushes and
Golden-crowned Kinglets in a stand of native shortleaf pines. Male
Purple Finches (4) were enjoying coral berries and tree buds right
alongside Forest Service Road 1505. Flocks in scattered weedy openings
also included juncos, goldfinches, cardinals, and many White-throated
Sparrows. Field Sparrows decorated twigs poking out of an old rock
wall in the ridgetop farming community of Bidville. An adult Bald
Eagle soared over, too.

Despite a record-breaking ice storm, a forest-decimating outbreak of
borer beetles, and relentless cutting of the Federal budget, the
Forest Service has managed to keep difficult, mountainous, winding
roads to White Rock safe, open and even improved in places, including
attractive road signs that, at least as of yesterday, vandals hadn't
yet destroyed.

From Fayetteville I usually go out highway 16 to Combs, in Madison
County, then turn south along Mill Creek, where yesterday Hamamelis
vernalis, Ozark Witch Hazel was covered with rather elegant reddish
blooms. Unfortunately, off-road vehicles are damaging Mill Creek
bottomlands. Freshly eroded tracks and huge mudholes are visible
without effort, and this, despite the fact that ORVs have been
provided their own special ride nearby. Fresh nobby tracks go right
past "Road closed" signs.

From Mill Creek the forest road ascends toward White Rock. Along some
of those high ridges we found another Hamamelis species, American
Witch Hazel with cheery yellow flowers. We were enjoying Fox Sparrows,
all handsome browns and grays, in thickets of greenbriar and grape
vines. Well below us, and out-of-sight, we heard a steady rustling of
dry leaves, like deer (?) or maybe a bear (?) was walking. An
investigation by Joan Reynolds showed sparrows, mostly white-throats,
working the leaves, but in another place we spotted a fresh bear
track. There was also an Eastern Towhee in the mix.

The Ozark National Forest is full of dead and dying trees, a legacy of
ice, insects, and a natural turning over. My old friend Eleanor
Johnson used to say, "It's an ill wind that doesn't blow someone some
good," and it's good now to be a woodpecker. I gather also a logger or
a fire wood cutter. Without special effort we heard and saw most of
the expected woodpecker species and a sawmill full of hardwood logs
and a mountain of sawdust.

What we see today -- cabins built from native stone, hiking trails,
and winding mountain roads -- recalls a different era. White Rock,
Devil's Den, many schools, courthouses, and lakes were all visions
that grew from the challenges of the 1930s Great Depression. The view
from that time was that government was not the enemy. Government by
the people and for the people should help the people with useful jobs,
conservation that saved productivity of land and soil, and affordable
recreation. The builders of forest roads and fire-fighting
capabilities were Arkansans out of work and down on their luck -- our
parents and relatives from a different era -- and they and their
families survived in part due to a then generous view of the purposes
of government.

--

December 20, 2011, meeting of Fayetteville AR city council draws comment on several important local issues on a 3-hour, 37-minute video

Christmas Bird Count in Northwest Arkansas 2011

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE.

 Snow Goose    1                                 (1 white  --blue   )
Cackling Goose --
Canada Goose 563
Wood Duck (Count Week – 2)
Gadwall 262
American Wigeon 17
Mallard 298
Northern Shoveler 27
Am Green-winged Teal 15
Canvasback --
Redhead --
Ring-necked Duck 40
Greater Scaup --
Lesser Scaup 36
Bufflehead 39
Common Goldeneye (Count Week)
Hooded Merganser 4
Ruddy Duck 29
Wild Turkey --
Northern Bobwhite --
Pied-billed Grebe 29
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 19
Black Vulture 21
Turkey Vulture 77
Bald Eagle  8                           (mature 5  ; immature 3  )
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3
Cooper's Hawk  5                          (Accipiter  species --)
Red-shouldered Hawk 20
Red-t Hawk:  67                   (1 harlani --calurus --kriderii)
American Kestrel 26
American Coot 31
Killdeer 57
Least Sandpiper --
Wilson’s Snipe 10
Ring-billed Gull 204
Rock Pigeon 350
Eurasian Collared-Dove 25
Mourning Dove 204
Greater Roadrunner 1
Eastern Screech-Owl 2
Great Horned Owl 5
Barred Owl 2
Belted Kingfisher 10
Red-headed Woodpecker 7
Red-bellied Woodpecker 67
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 33
Downy Woodpecker 62
Hairy Woodpecker 5
Northern Flicker 27
Pileated Woodpecker 19
Eastern Phoebe 4
Loggerhead Shrike --
Blue Jay 188
American Crow 391
Horned Lark --
Carolina Chickadee 131


Tufted Titmouse 78
Red-breasted Nuthatch --
White-breasted Nuthatch 28
Brown Creeper 8
Carolina Wren 51
Winter Wren 3
Sedge Wren --
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Count Week)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 178
Hermit Thrush 12
American Robin 561
Northern Mockingbird 98
Brown Thrasher 2
European Starling12,000
American Pipit --
Cedar Waxwing 80
Orange-crowned Warbler --
Yellow-rumped Warbler 52
Pine Warbler 1
Spotted Towhee--
Eastern Towhee 14
American Tree Sparrow --
Chipping Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 27
Savannah Sparrow 199
Le Conte's Sparrow 5
Fox Sparrow 14
Song Sparrow 109
Lincoln’s Sparrow 4
Swamp Sparrow 25
White-throated Sparrow 454
Harris's Sparrow 5
White-crowned Sparrow 187
Dark-eyed Junco 966
Lapland Longspur --
Northern Cardinal 342
Red-winged Blackbird 530
Eastern Meadowlark 200
Western Meadowlark 2
Rusty Blackbird 33
Brewer's Blackbird --
Common Grackle 23,000
Great-tailed Grackle --
Brown-headed Cowbird 25
Purple Finch 2
House Finch 171
Pine Siskin 1
American Goldfinch 289
House Sparrow 118
blackbird species 312
OTHER: Greater White-fronted Goose 1; Northern Pintail 1; Inca Dove 1; Vesper Sparrow 1; Vulture species 150; Horned Grebe-count week

THE NEAL REPORT CHRISTMAS DAY 2011 and from Dec. 22, 2011

It's hard not to visit Oklahoma when we make our Maysville birding  
rounds. Most stops are in Arkansas fit and proper, but we like to  
drive an Oklahoma county road a brief mile as a falcon flies WEST of  
State Line Road. On Christmas Day we had a small flock (4-5 birds) of  
Harris's Sparrows just EAST of the state line, and a couple of  
America's Favorite Tree Sparrows along State Line Road, but on the  
Arkansas side. Mike Mlodinow and I both distinctly heard a Purple  
Finch while we were standing in the middle of State Line Road, but in  
terms of state boundaries where it began and ended overhead flight is  
mystery. We are very sure we had impressive (50+) flocks of Savannah  
Sparrows and meadowlark species in both Arkansas and Oklahoma,  
including Western Meadowlarks in both states. We saw scores of Bald  
Eagles during the day, including 20+ on the Arkansas side and at least  
15 in Oklahoma. At one point Joanie Patterson and I heard this  
wonderful bubbling chorus ahead and we eventually tracked down  
meadowlarks, in trees. At least a few were Westerns, and maybe 20  
birds flew away. How many Westerns? How many Easterns? They headed  
toward Arkansas. On the same walk, we heard then spotted a flicker,  
and Jacque Brown was soon in full blown picture-taking stalk, because  
this one was the western form of the Northern Flicker. A red-shafted  
flicker it was, in almost (but not quite) Arkansas.
 
In case all of this worry about the location of the state line seems  
silly, it is ... in a way. But since Joanie puts field data into  
ebird, assigning this bird to Arkansas, and that bird to Oklahoma, is  
required. You can't have a bird, even a good one like red-shafted  
flicker, in what amounts to almost Arkansas. In our strange world,  
it's all about formal state lines and there's no such place as say,  
calling all of this Beatie Prairie, which it is and was before there  
was either an Arkansas or an Oklahoma. But I digress. The flicker was  
cooperative and that's good enough gift for Christmas Day.
 
-- 
Common Goldeneyes tend to be the most numerous of the ducks present on  
Beaver Lake in winter, but they are never really common. I spent a  
long day on Beaver December 22. Duck-wise, the day amounted to 33  
goldeneyes in one far away flock (more than 0.6 of a mile!) visible  
from Lost Bridge North park. But the sun was bright and I could  
plainly see both males and females vigorously diving in that hungry  
sort of way.
 
I have no idea what foods they seek, but Birds of North America  
indicates they probably aren't catching fish, since most diet studies  
indicate they consume aquatic invertebrates including insects,  
mollusks, and crustaceans. Combining data from a variety of studies,  
their groceries appear to be crustaceans (32% by volume), insects  
(28%) and mollusks (10%). Whatever it is the ducks find, Bonaparte's  
and Ring-billed Gulls know what's up, because when goldeneyes dive on  
Beaver, gulls are often attendant and soon focus where ducks swim and  
dive. I assume the ducks dislodge food then made available for gull  
picking.
 
Watching through my spotting scope, I see them suddenly rise and race  
low over the water, coming my way. I hear the distinctive whistling  
produced by wing beats. They plop down less than a tenth of a mile  
out, with an illuminating sun behind. The effect is electric.
 
There is no white that compares to that on flanks and chest of a male  
goldeneye, no contrast so striking as that big roundish white spot on  
the face set as it is midst a deep, rich blackish-green head. No deep  
chestnut-reddish pattern more distinctive than the female's. No eyes  
so brilliantly yellow, so golden, as those within backgrounds of deep  
black-green and chestnut, illuminated like cathedral glass in a  
brilliant afternoon winter sun: birds stirring water with their dives,  
gulls fluttering and settling, ducks paddling forward across the  
lake's winter quiet expanse.
 
-- 
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
"I loaf and invite my soul..." -- Walt Whitman
 
 

Park Board approves accepting money in lieu of land that will result in destruction of all habitat on Hollywood Prairie despite plea to preserve bit of wetland

Joe Neal's presentation with slide show based on his new book, 'In the Province of Birds: A Memoir from Western Arkansas,' draws full house at Night Bird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville on December 9, 2011

Please click on images to enlarge.

Susan Young of the Shiloh Museum was among the several writers on hand for Joe Neal''s 'In the Province of Birds.' She wrote  a wonderful book on Tontitown that was published about a year ago.

Joe Neal previews 'In the Province of Birds at 7 p.m. December 9, 2011, at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville AR

Hi Aubrey -- just wanted to let you know that Half Acre Press has a new book out from Joe Neal, In the Province of Birds, in case you'd like to mention it on your blog. There will be a booksigning and slideshow/bird talk by Joe at Nightbird Books on Friday, December 9 at 7 pm. Hope to see you there!

Thanks,
Liz

---------------------------------------------------
Liz Lester
479-236-0992
Liz Lester Design
lizlesterdesign@yahoo.com
www.lizlesterdesign.com

Half Acre Press
liz@halfacrepress.com

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Bald Eagles' restoration occurred only because of wise federal scientists and politicians who listened to them

We saw 10 Bald Eagles and perhaps as many as 15, including
white-headed adults and younger birds, during the Arkansas Audubon
Society field trip to Maysville November 19. They were listed an
Endangered Species because by the 1950s widespread nesting failures
due mainly to impacts of agricultural chemicals, especially DDT, had
caused near total nest failure in Arkansas and throughout the lower 48
states. Their comeback is one of our proudest achievements.

At their great size and prestigious status as national bird, Bald
Eagles are poster children for the the Endangered Species Act and
public will productively at work through government. It is because of
the ESA we still have eagles throughout Arkansas. Because of ESA,
Whooping Cranes did not go extinct. I saw 6 of them in central
Oklahoma during fall migration two years ago.

It has become hugely fashionable to condemn anything public or
governmental. Watching debates among Republicans, it appears they hold
common contempt for government, even though they have little in common
about their religious faith or life experiences. It was private,
corporate interests that caused the near extinction of Bald Eagles. It
was we citizens acting through our government who said we wouldn't
accept extinction. I'm not saying here that a Republican president
might not act responsibly when it comes to endangered species, but it
is now difficult to see one in this political climate defending the
ESA and the Bald Eagles it saved. This is just an observation: I don't
mean it as an endorsement of Democrats.

I find it difficult to look at Bald Eagles on a field trip and realize
many people of national stature, any one of whom could wind as
president, express contempt for regulatory laws like the Endangered
Species Act. On a field trip Thanksgiving Day we saw eagles everywhere
we stopped: two adults in a nest tree at Sequoyah NWR and a nest below
Tenkiller dam, both in eastern Oklahoma (and both areas are government
projects). These are things for which I give thanks for sure. I
consider it dangerous to deliberately ignore or conveniently forget
why it is that we can now find eagles so easily. There is a reason for
it, and you don't have to be a genius or a loud-mouthed radio or TV
talker to grasp it.

I am looking for government, private corporations, and small
businesses to recognize that we voters and American citizens are OF
the earth, not THE reason for the earth. The earth is not privately
and solely OURS. I would like the current president and the wanna-bes
to step up and let us know he or she will not sacrifice every piece of
life's puzzle on the altar of political purity and ideology convenient
for the moment. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying our national bird, in the
field, and thankful that citizens, through government, have made it
possible.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
"I loaf and invite my soul..." -- Walt Whitman

Joe Neal's invitation to a slide show on birds and the release of IN THE PROVINCE of BIRD, a memoir from western Arkansas by Neal, with a few words from Louise Mann

  Hey Neighbors...Fayetteville's favorite birder, Joe Neal has written another book. He will present it with a slide show at Nightbird Books. If you've not attended one of Joe's presentations you are in for a treat. His knowledge and dry sense of humor will keep you chuckling and learning  at the same time. He'll also have information about the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count.  So, come have a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy the birds!   Louise Mann    Joe's note below....

COME TO THE PROVINCE,
Nightbird Books in Fayetteville,
Friday December 9    7:00 PM
   
       Y'ALL ARE INVITED to a field trip to Nightbird Books in Fayetteville, Fri. night, Dec. 9, at 7 PM.
The occasion is the  release by Half Acre Press of IN THE PROVINCE OF BIRDS, A MEMOIR FROM  WESTERN ARKANSAS by Joe Neal.

      Yellow-billed Loons and lesser relatives, the World's Champion Hoot Owler, Birds and Baptists,
etchings and Africans, the bigtime woodpecker business, raising Ariel midst migration fall-out: this is the stuff of my PROVINCE and these new essays.

      When I stand to deliver the PROVINCE slide show December  9, it will be a field trip, though in Nightbird it will be warm and foody, rather than rainy, cold and windy as on so many Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society field trips. The program includes hither-to-for unseen selections from my much-coveted collection of yard flamingos, wooden chickens, and junk cars as well as a few birds rare and not-so-rare.

       Since an independent, local bookstore is such a great asset -- and because my publisher is way, way out on the limb in bringing this book out -- PROVINCE will be available for a price similar to an all-you-can-eat catfish dinner (includes drink, tip extra). As in the case of all our field trips, you do not have to be a member to come. ALL are welcome, with or without investing in PROVINCE. And finally, as they say in trash collection, "Satisfaction guaranteed or DOUBLE your garbage back."


JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
"I loaf and invite my soul..." -- Walt Whitman

Windy Maysville on November 19, 2011, exciting to Joe Neal and Audubon Arkansans

Rose Ann Barnhill showed up at my house in Fayetteville yesterday
morning at 6:40, but not before a stop at Rick's Bakery for cake
donuts (2 flavors) and a sticky bun. It proved just the fuel needed
along a mid-day country lane southwest of Maysville. Kim Smith has
referred to such food as starch bombs, and for good reason. This was
the start of the Maysville, former Beatie Prairie, field trip, part of
the Arkansas Audubon Society meeting in Rogers this weekend.

Have I said VERY WINDY yet? At times you could barely stand. Maysville
is just north of the broad valley of Spavinaw Creek, and a strong
south wind creates considerable updrafting of air. So one of the first
birds we see is a Bald Eagle, hanging in the breeze, no flaps. Then
two Red-tailed Hawks with an American kestrel chasing. At one point we
have meadowlarks in front. The birds flush, kind of, just dangling in
the wind. Used to Arctic breezery, White-crowned Sparrows loaf in
thickets and on the ground, earth calm, a great place to sing. Five or
six of singing flocks include Harris's Sparrows, to our delight.

Mitchell Pruitt is with us and we are hoping, really hoping, that one
of those White-crowned flocks will produce an American Tree Sparrow.
This would be species number 300 for his year of great quest.
Maysville is the stage and we are in a play. Mitchell has the lead, we
are the Greek chorus. We start working the White-crowned flocks, but
no tree sparrow. Then comes a cell call from Chesney Prairie Natural
Area, where Joan Reynolds and Jacque Brown are leading another AAS
meeting field trip. An interesting owl has flushed from a big cedar. A
Long-eared Owl, as some think? For Mitchell THIS would be 300, so off
he goes, with one-third of the Maysville field trip. Further west on
Loux road, we are birding in Carol Loux's yard with Carol, and nicely
protected from the wind -- protected enough to clearly hear the chuck
chucks of Western Meadowlarks on the lawn. Now comes another cell
call. The owl can't be relocated, but 300 is an American Tree Sparrow!
At Chesney! It's windy there, too, but wind has no chance in the face
of desire.

I have yet to share four Bald Eagles in one tree -- huge birds once
nearly extinct in the Lower 48 and saved by the intelligence,
outcries, and resolution of just such people as on today's many
Arkansas Audubon Society field trips. We are the young and
precociously nimble, the old and slowed, and whatever our place in
life, whatever bone or muscle that works or doesn't work, we have a
full tank of desire pushing us into the old prairie field -- damn
those 30 MPH winds, full speed ahead -- looking for a tiny sparrow (in
this case, Lapland Longspurs) in vast short, waving green. There,
there! Horned Larks, black masks between waving tiny blades.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
"I loaf and invite my soul..." -- Walt Whitman

Did you feel the earthquake in Fayetteville at 10:50 or shortly thereafter Saturday, October 5, 2011?

Christmas bird count set for December 18, 2011

The Fayetteville CBC will be conducted on Sunday December 18, 2011. We  
go on Sunday, not to avoid church, but to avoid heavy traffic  
associated with Saturdays. The count will be conducted as in the past  
few years, and we will tally up at the end of the day at Doug James  
and Liz Adam's place, as usual. Party leaders please organize your  
groups and everyone please contact your party leaders and start  
finding all the good rare birds!
 
-- 
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
"I loaf and invite my soul..." -- Walt Whitman
 

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A kettle of Franklin's gulls and bald eagles: The Halloween 2011 report from Joe Neal with Don Nelms aboard

Don Nelms and I went for big birds today in former prairies of western
Benton County. We saw 7-9 Bald Eagles in what is still opening stages
of their migration. An immaculate adult, white-black-white, soared
among 25 vultures (mostly Turkey) at the SWEPCO plant. At Maysville 4
(2 adults, 2 subadults) stood in a pasture along State Line Road. We
began seeing Franklin's Gulls along highway 12 west of Gentry:
graceful, buoyant, white with snappy black trim, floating in the high
blue. I was thrilled to see the first 7 soaring over a pasture and
assumed then I'd had my day. As we turned north on 43, we had 15 right
over us. In the distance a compact spiraling white cloud COULD have
been 100 more--desire and distance play the cello of imagination. A
few gulls, plus vultures and a Red-tailed Hawk, surfed updrafts
created by a south breeze and rising warm air above Spavinaw Creek
bluffs. Then sky turned all gull on the old Beatie Prairie
chicken-farm country south of Maysville. In a very rough square mile
or so I came up with a variety of counts; maybe "around 200" is
reasonable. I have seen a kettle of 200 Franklin's Gulls in northwest
Arkansas in past migrations, but always at distance, and briefly.
Today, Don and I were in the middle, gulls wheeling back-and-forth
eyelevel over a big weedy soybean field. What were they after? There
are warm days when the sun is just right and you see shiny wings of
millions of insects. We didn't have that light, but as Franklin's
Gulls are fond of chironmids (midges), they must have seen them or
something like them in the migration hunger. For our part, Don and I
soon had the option of the Maysville HandiStop into which, after
eagles and gulls, we wheeled.
--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
"I loaf and invite my soul..." -- Walt Whitman

Migrating birds often disappointed with land they fly to when it no longer meets winter-habitat criteria they ancestors enjoyed

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Joe Neal's photo of a Virginia rail.

WHAT RAILS REMEMBER October 17, 2011

Birds remember landscapes fundamentally invisible to us non-birds. I am reminded of this by a telephone call on Saturday night from a gentleman who lives at Garfield north of Beaver Lake. He is an experienced outdoors person, but near his home he has encountered a stranger: in size and general coloration, reminds him of quail, but the bill is longish and pointed; dark eyes large, short awkward flights. Nothing pops up for me while we talk. But then I remember Doug James’ wife Elizabeth Adam finding a Viriginia Rail in a parking lot at Northwest Arkansas Mall (1987), Bruce Roberts finding one at a storage unit in Centerton (2005), and Calvin Bay’s strawberry patch bird in Fayetteville (2008).

Virginia Rail is today exceedingly rare in northwestern Arkansas, though I suspect the rarity is recent and entirely artificial. Habitat-wise, northwest Arkansas is divided between Ozark forest in the east and former tallgrass prairie in the west. Rails have been flying through our former prairies for eons, from nesting areas to our north, to wintering south. They have many thousands of years of experience with our grasslands that can be suitably wet and marshy in season. In their genes, they “remember.” When in migration they come down, they do so in “belief” of suitable wet grassland. Nothing prepares them for what genetically-speaking, is a mere twinkling of an eye: urban sprawl, asphalt parking lots, big boxes, empires of chicken and cattle, all so very recently consuming our seasonal wetlands.

A rail in a parking lot is the dramatic crash between what has taken so long to prepare in an evolutionary sense, bird migration, and exploitation driven by the self-defeating idea that our self-interest is all that matters. Lucky rails, like the one I saw in a spring-fed marshy patch at the state fish hatchery in Centerton (2006), still find suitable mid-journey respite.

Lost rail with genetic memory of a different land seems a good fit for Garfield. When I pass this on to my caller, and he has a chance to see Virginia Rails on the internet, he agrees.

Vultures, condors, buzzards and whatever require DNA studies for clarification of family associations

It depends on what DNA analysis you want to believe.  The folks who study
avian anatormy were happy when the first DNA finding appeared because bsed 
on anatomical evdence they were trying for ears to convince the 
ornithologists that the condors were storks.
 
Douglas A. James                          tel:  479-575-6364
Department of Biological Sciences         fax:  479-575-4010
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201, U.S.A.       e-mail:  djames@uark.edu
 
 
On Thu, 13 Oct 2011, Neil Nodelman wrote:
 
> I thought I read that recent DNA analysis put them back into the hawk
> world??
>
> Neil
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Douglas A. James [mailto:djames@uark.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 10:33 AM
> To: joeneal
> Cc: ARBIRD-L@LISTSERV.uark.edu, ARBIRD-L@LISTSERV.uark.edu; Armstrong,
> Lynn; Barnhill, Rosie; Barr, stephanie; Beall, Bill; Edie, Amy; Erwin,
> Steve; Fields, Warren; Froelich, Jacqueline; geddessylvia@yahoo.com,
> geddessylvia@yahoo.com; Harris, Nancy; Jones, Carole; Liz, Susan And;
> Lowrey, Beth; MADDOX, BEVERLY; mlodinow, michael; Mulhollan, Paige;
> Mulhollan, Kelly; Mulhollan, Mary Bess; Nodelman, Neil; riley, lisa;
> Schmidt, Brandon; Shepherd, Aubrey; STANFILL, TERRY; Stauffacher, Richard;
> tsweston; Turner, Ellen; VINEY, Michelle; Wisener, Ruth Ann; Woolbright,
> Joe; Young, Susan
> Subject: Re: vulture roost at Lake Sequoyah
>
> It is known that vultures drop their body temperature at night presumably
> to save energy.  That is why the roosts usually face east so the birds can
>
> spread eagle at sunrise and catch the first rays of the sun to regain
> normal body temperature.  Besides their food source is not going to run
> away after daybreak.  And they depend on the thermals that are produced as
>
> the day gets warmer.  Then they can glide effortlessly in search of a
> carcass.  Between carcasses they gain energy by consuming a lot if grass.
> Only the Turkey Vulture has a good sense of smell and finds the carcasses
> first.  The Black Vulture does not have a keen sense of small.  Black
> Vultures watch the activity of Turkey Vultures and gang up on them in
> groups chasing them away.  And I guess you all know that DNA evidence
> tells us that the Condors (which includes the Turkey and Black) are short
> legged storks.
>
>
> Douglas A. James                          tel:  479-575-6364
> Department of Biological Sciences         fax:  479-575-4010
> University of Arkansas
> Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201, U.S.A.       e-mail:  djames@uark.edu
>
>
> On Thu, 13 Oct 2011, joeneal wrote:
>
>> Both Turkey and Black Vultures were going into a roost at Lake Sequoyah
> Park
>> in Fayetteville yesterday, with some birds already perched in the roost
> by at
>> least 6 PM. The roost site is on the northwest side of the lake, on a
>> forested slope facing due east. While some birds were in the roost,
> others
>> soared nearby, above and along a forested slope just northeast,
> apparently
>> using thermal updrafts produced by a modest southerly breeze pushed
> upward by
>> the mountain slope, giving the big birds a lift. This roost site has
> been in
>> use for years. We often see both vulture species there during the
>> Fayetteville Christmas Bird Count.
>>
>> Lake Sequoyah was formed by damming the White River. The pre-dam White
> flowed
>> against a relatively low limestone bluff. The birds perch in trees along
> a
>> shallow and now completely forested holler running down the old bluff.
> This
>> affords them a fair amount of protection from wind chill out of the
> north and
>> northwest. Since the bluff faces east, it tends to warm up early in the
> day,
>> another good thing if you are a big creature that soars for a living.
>>
>> A good spot to observe the vultures without disturbing them is an old
>> concrete bridge that once spanned the White River. Now a fishing pier,
> the
>> old bridge is a few hundred yards north of the roost site and provides a
> fine
>> view of the lake's dam end plus the surrounding forested hills. You
> reach
>> this part of the park on Lake Sequoyah Spur. Unfortunately, the forested
>
>> habitat between Lake Sequoyah Spur and the lake edge, including the
> roost, is
>> thin, and quite prone to disturbance, casual and deliberate.
>>
>> --
>> JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas
>>

Joe Neal on the paradox of disturbed and permanently flooded land providing bird-watching opportunity

Beaver Lake is one of the more beautiful settings in northwest
Arkansas. Extensive open water is one of the best places to find
winter waterfowl like loons, goldeneyes, and Bonaparte's Gulls. But I
feel paradox when I come here. Beaver was formed by drowning the
stunning, high bluff-lined valley of the upper White River. I was
thinking about all of this yesterday, at Prairie Creek, on Beaver east
of Rogers, when Joan Reynolds and I spotted a mature Bald Eagle near
the marina, plus a Summer Tanager, Yellow-throated Warbler, and
several Yellow-rumped Warblers in the picnic area. An immaculate
Osprey perched in a snag near the highway 12 boat launch.

Further east, towards Hobbes State Park-Conservation Area, we turned
down Key Road for good looks at Pine Warblers, Yellow-billed Cuckoo,
and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. At the end of Key Road is Arkansas Game
and Fish Commission's Beaver Lake Nursery Pond, constructed in a
picturesque bend overlooking the lake. Near the gate we saw Nashville
Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, and a Yellow-throated Vireo that was
tearing apart a huge green caterpillar, juice flying. The pond has a
dramatic view of open water, bluffs, and sky. About 20 bird boxes line
a circular drive. Several years ago Joan was down here and noticed
that Tree Swallows were nesting in the boxes. Biologist Ron Moore from
Arkansas Game and Fish and his tech Jacob drove up. He said he would
welcome an established, appropriate group that wanted to monitor and
maintain the boxes. As far as I know, this potentially makes the
nursery pond our best place for nesting Tree Swallows.

At Rocky Branch, an adult Bald Eagle was perched in a snag way, way
across one of the widest part of Beaver, white head distinct against a
greenish blue background. Five birds flew across and far away. They
were unidentified duck species until two Wood Ducks flew much closer,
jogging my memory. For me it is an eco-sin to drown a river, and
probably to drive 60 miles to see an eagle, but today there is much
public land here because of the lake, whereas there would have been
very little without the lake. As a birding exploration unfolds, I save
my paradox sorting for a different day.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Joe Neal report from September 24, 2011

Please click on Joe Neal's photo of caterpillar to ENLARGE and click on enlargement for closer view.

Jacque Brown and I birded the upper Buffalo River in Newton County on
Saturday September 24. Jacque had seen a small thrush flock, probably
Swainson's, in Lost Valley on the 23rd. We did not refind this flock,
but did get close looks at a Wood Thrush. At one point at least three
Barred Owls were singing back-and-forth, always a pleasure, especially
so in the highly acoustic confines of a narrow Ozark "holler". On Cave
Mountain we had one each of Philadelphia Vireo, Hooded and Magnolia
warblers, an American Redstart, and another Barred Owl. Jacque found
what I assume is the last ripe pawpaw of the season, then spotted on
another pawpaw tree a singular caterpillar composed entirely of long
lime-green hairs; reminded me of a wig my daughter Ariel wore for
Halloween years ago. I sent an image to entomologist Don Steinkraus
who identified it as a spotted apatelodes (Apatelodes torrefacta), a
species of moth in the Bombycidae, the same family that contains
silkworms. He said it produces an attractive gray-colored moth. I
counted at least 10 hummingbirds visiting flowering jewelweed
alongside Boxley millpond.

--
JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Joe Neal welcomes 'our own Dirty Hairy, defender of the Ozark undergound'

Click on images to ENLARGE. Click again for closer look.

Photo by David Oakley

WELCOME, DEFENDER OF THE OZARK UNDERGROUND
During Thursday’s cool rain I had a totally, completely unexpected visitor at my front door, one of those “What the…” moments… Mr. Aubrey Shepherd, with a plastic critter cage in hand, come visiting. He lives in south Fayetteville, adjacent the World Peace Wetland Prairie, which he led the fight to save and protect. I first met him three decades ago, when we worked on the same newspaper. He’d come today on account of the rain.

In the little cage was what, when I was a kid, we called crawdads. This one was unique, an Osage Burrowing Crayfish that occurs ONLY in our Ozarks part of the universe, and only in places that used to be part of our tallgrass prairies. I’d told him five years ago I’d like to see one when it was raining and they were out crawling around the prairie. I couldn’t believe he’d remembered.

Photo by David Oakley

Just dismissing them as “mudbugs” completely misses their extraordinary beauty. The business end features pincers, and these are formidable on our Osage Burrowing Crawfish. They are blue, with yellow at the sharp clasping ends. The eyes dark, the antennae long, most of the body an earthy combination of greenish browns and muted yellow-oranges.

By the way, in case you and your family have lived here since pioneer times, I wouldn’t get too smug about your precious nativity. Osage Burrowing Crawfish got here way, way first. Their lineage here is measured not in a few hundred years, but in many thousands. Most of the towns and cities in northwest Arkansas are built where these crawfish live in burrows underground, even in areas that seem dry. Maybe you’ve run over their mud chimneys – soil structures made from excavating their underground burrows -- with your lawn mower. They also survive in ditches and other wet spots.

Photo by David Oakley

Aubrey’s crawfish wasn’t by herself, either. This was big momma, with scores of little ones under her protecting tail. Naturally, I wanted to see her closer and get a peek at the babes. If she was the least bit intimidated by Aubrey capturing her (with the plan to take her right back after we were done looking and release her), she showed no signs of fear. She reared up, blue claws ready to fire like some Dirty Hairy, defender of the Ozark underground. When I ignored her warning, she got me sharply by my poker, drawing blood. “Go ahead and make my day,” according to Clint Eastwood, and maybe this offended crawfish.

Over the past decade, the Osage Burrowing Crawfish has become something of a signpost for me. How much of the current economic and ecological mess in which we find ourselves in 2011 is traceable to ignoring signposts like this crawfish? Its presence tells us critical things about our natural heritage. How many unique natural creatures can we destroy, how much habitat can we pave, without bringing down direct negative consequences upon ourselves?

Photo by David Oakley

For more photos of this and other burrowing crayfish photographed by Aubrey James Shepherd on September 22, 2011, at World Peace Wetland Prairie and along the Fayetteville paved trail through Pinnacle Foods Inc. wet prairie west of WPWP, please see World Peace Wetland Prairie blog.