Horseshoe Lake in Arkansas

   We loaded up on Saturday and drove across the bridge and birded the Horseshoe Lake area in eastern Arkansas. The lake is right next to the Mississippi River. The whole area is riddled with standing water and cypress trees. We birded between the levee and the highway. The southern side of the lake was more verdant and prettier.

   In the past, Robert's sailing club sailed at this lake, so we stopped at the boat ramp where we mused about the lily pads there now. As the road curved back around to the north, we saw the Bird of the Day, a pair of Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) in the tall grass on the side of the road.

   The still water and the tall weeds made this area a hotspot for Swallows. We saw three kinds of this bird. The Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia), the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) and the Purple Martin (Progne subis). The weather was unusually cool for the middle of July and we enjoyed a quiet, relaxing Saturday afternoon driving around the lake in eastern Arkansas.

Trip List

• Northern Mockingbird
• European Starling
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Killdeer
• Red Winged Blackbird
• American Robin
• Bluejay
• Purple Martin
• Mourning Dove
• Indigo Bunting
• Great Egret
• Great Blue Heron
• Northern Cardinal
• Eastern Bluebird
• Red Tailed Hawk
• Common Tern
• Bank Swallow
• Northern Bobwhite

   Berry wanted me to mention that we saw a female Mule Deer, but that is not a bird.

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of wikipedia

Sandhill Crane Proposal

There is a proposal before the State of Tennessee Wildlife Management Division to open up hunting of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) in eastern Tennessee. The identity of the drunken hunter who first proposed shooting at defenseless Sandhill Cranes is not known. Sandhill Cranes nibble helplessly at the ground. What a shameless passtime, shooting at Cranes.

Here is the link to the Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival in January.

If you are against such outrages, and we applaud here any movement toward sanity, please join us in pushing back against the madness.

Email your comments to the bureaucrats in Nashville here. Send Mail

The State bureaucrats need "Feedback", they say, until August 2013. This bird massacre is not a done deal, so do fire off an angry email.

If you want to use snail mail, here is the street address:

TWRA Wildlife Management Division
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville TN 37204

"Government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master." -- George Washington

Robert

photo courtesy of wikipedia

A Week in New Orleans

   Berry and I traveled south to bird the city of New Orleans and the swamps around it. We bought train tickets and took Amtrak. You've never seen America till you've seen it from a train. We suggest getting a sleeper car, with privacy and meals included. We rented a car in the Big Easy and we were done. Fantastic food, amazing birding. Birding New Orleans was a great idea.

   Almost immediately upon arriving, we noticed the catastrophic damage from hurricane Katrina in 2005. But the people have worked hard. Some parts of the city were filled with new construction. There is still the old French charm along St. Charles and alligators in the Jean LaFitte swamp. I took a picture of this one.

   We found two Life Birds, we'd never identified before. In the Bayou Sauvage, we saw the Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus Carolinus) and in a canal inside the city, the White Rumped Falcon (Polihierax insignis), both which we added to our Life List on the right. Below is the Trip List of all the birds we saw in New Orleans.

Trip List

• Yellow Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)
• Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)
• Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
• Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
• Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
• White Rumped Falcon (Polihierax insignis)
• Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
• American White Ibis ((Eudocimus albus)
• American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
• Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
• Bluejay (Cyanocitta cristata)
• Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
• Black Bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
• Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus)
• Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)
• Purple Martin (Progne subi)
• Red Winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
• Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
• Great Egret (Ardea alba)
• Broad Winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)
• Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis)
• Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)
• Barred Owl (Strix varia)
• American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
• Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)
• Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea)
• Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
• Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
• Green Heron (Butorides virescens)
• Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)
• Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia)
• Red Shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus)
• Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
• Northern Rough Winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis)
• Black Necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
• Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor)
• Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)
• Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens)
• Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
• Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
• House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)
• Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
• Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
• Ring Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
• Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
• Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides)
• Muscovy (Cairina moschata)
• Masked Duck (Nomonyx dominicus)
• Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens)

   There is always a contest for the "Bird of the Trip". A vigorous discussion among serious birders to determine the pecking order. Berry might nominate the Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) which seemed to graze in every open field. They are smallish white birds, tinged with gold, in the ibis family. The "bird of the trip" might also be the Yellow Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) which was almost ubiquitous on this trip. This is a distinctive gray egret with a black and white head. We saw it in puddly city parks and tangled jungle swamps.

   If the bird of the trip should be the most unique bird we saw, then maybe the Masked Duck (Nomonyx dominicus) or the non-domestic, "true wild" version of the Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata) we saw at the pond in La Freniere Park in Metairie.

  

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of bshelton, rfowler

Links to our Iceland and Yucatan Trip Reports

Here is a link to our Birding Trip to Iceland

http://birding123.blogspot.com/

Here is the link to our Yucatan Birding Trip

http://birdingtheyucatan.blogspot.com/

Robert

Falcons over Shelby Farms

   After a few morning chores, we drove to Shelby Farms, which is a huge city park in Memphis, Tennessee. Near the prison complex there we saw an Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus Tyrannus) perched on a metal pole at the edge of the bog. It flicked its white-tipped tail.

   In a small outflow from Patriot Lake, we spotted a beautiful Green Heron (Butorides Virescens) looking down into the water.

Gardener Road Area

• Dickcissel
• Common Grackle
• European Starling
• Red Winged Blackbird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Mallard
• Canada Goose
• Brown Headed Cowbird
• Purple Martin

Patriot Lake Area

• Bluejay
• Killdeer
• Muscovy (domestic)
• Snow Goose
• Swan Goose (domestic)
• Great Blue Heron
• Peregrine Falcon
• Turkey Vulture
• Bank Swallow
• Green Heron

   Right before lunch, the storm clouds gathered and picnics were abandoned. We saw three Peregrine Falcon (Falco Peregrinus) dive-bombing at things above the trees. These are powerful slate blue predators. When they pull in their wings, they drop out of the sky like a rock, making lightning fast attacks on insects, rodents or small birds.

Peregrine Falcon

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of wikipedia

Black-Necked Stilts at Riverport

   When we drove across the Nonconnah Creek bridge, heading to Riverport Road, the air under the bridge was swarming with Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon Pyrrhonota). They have dark necks and orange rumps and they never stop flying in lazy elipses. Berry wanted me to use the word, "circles"; I wanted to describe what happened.

   All through the Riverport area, we heard the waxy squirting whistle of the Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) in the trees. We never actually saw this bird, yet we heard it clearly. We know this bird because we have experienced it many times. We know its distinctive call. On our birding trip list, when we hear a bird and can identify it from the sound, yet cannot or choose not to spend lots of time looking for it with the binoculars, we indicate this bird with an eighth note on our birding list.

Indigo Bunting♪

   We put an eighth note on the List for the Northern Parula (Parula americana), which we did not see either. We call it the zipper-bird, due to its zipper-like song.

   At the large Tailing Pond near the Allen Steam Plant, we saw an Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) seeming to hover in the updraft. This bird does not hover, but in the same way that seagulls hang above a crashing wave, these birds carefully ride the wind current. He seemed to be having fun.

   The only ducks we spotted were Mallards (Anas Platyrhynchos). I guess they have all gone to Canada for their Summer vacation. There were a pair of Pied-Billed Grebes (Podilymbus Podiceps) sitting in the middle of a wet area.

   On the right side of the road, in a slowly flowing ditch, there were two beautiful Black-Necked Stilts (Himantopus Mexicanus). These we usually see in the Maynerd Stiles Treatment Plant north of downtown. Nice choice for the "Bird of the Day".

   Other than these mentioned, we also saw the usual cast of characters. Nice little birding trip.

   Robert and Berry    Photo courtesy of wikipedia

Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge

   Peeling off the beaten path at Exit 52 on I-40 in Tennessee, Berry and I visited the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge, a handsomely maintained shallow lake surrounded by swamps. The weather was perfect for birding.

• American Coot
• Pied Billed Grebe
• Blue Winged Teal
• Black Vulture
• Turkey Vulture
• Yellow Rumped Warbler
• Barn Swallow
• Red Tailed Hawk
• Eastern Bluebird
• Red Winged Blackbird (Typical)
• Common Grackle
• Double Crested Cormorant
• English Sparrow
• Purple Martin
• Great Blue Heron
• American Robin

Blue Winged Teal

Robert

photo courtesy of kkarlson

Birding Hot Springs, Arkansas

   We got up early, put our dog Cosmo in the kennel and set off to bird Hot Springs, Arkansas. We stopped at a little store because we needed a pad to write down our trip list, the list of birds we see on a birding trip. It is raining today so I wanted a handkerchief. And maybe some drinks for the cooler. We went up to the door of the store and the clerks were just opening up. They thought we were the "Breakfast Crew", there to bring them breakfast.

   We spotted a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in flight on our way out of Memphis. This large bird flies with its long neck coiled tightly under its chin. It is so distinctive that identification for us is easy.

   The drive to Little Rock was made difficult by the rain. We found fish farms just south of I-40 near Little Rock. Blue Winged Teal (Anas discors), Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), Pied Billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), and Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis) were some of the highlights. Berry thinks the Double Crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) ought to be a highlight too.

   We made it to Hot Springs and the rain stopped. Delightful! At a golf course Berry found American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). These are perfectly white pelicans, but easy to identify in flight with the back edge of their wings being black. The fellow at the golf course guided us to a dam where we saw the Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor), Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis), the Dark Eyed Slate Colored Junco (Junco hyemalis) and a family of Chipping Sparrows (Spizella passerina).

Arlington Hotel

   Having birded after lunch we stopped at a Starbucks to get something warm to drink and to fiddle with our blog. In Hot Springs we stayed at the historic Arlington Resort Hotel on the same floor as Al Capone had when he was here.

   For dinner, Berry had the Red Snapper. I had the "Lamb Lollipops". Very nice. Berry relaxed doing the whole bath house experience with a mineral bath and then a nice massage. I chickened out, relaxing instead in the room, surfing the internet, planning tomorrow's birding adventure.

Robert and Berry

The House Finches Move In

   This morning we were looking out our den window. I spotted a moving van pulled up to the English ivy growing on one of our Pine Trees. It was moving day and here came our new neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. House Finch (Carpodacus Mexicanus). He was dressed smartly in a crimson and gray suit. She was more demure in her brownish gray striped jumpsuit.

Mr. House Finch

   Mr. House Finch busied himself gathering nesting materials from around our roses. Mrs. Finch just supervised the operation from our grapevine trellis. We thought we heard them remark to each other what a prime location their new home was. Within sight of tall trees for cover, near enough to a handy suet feeder and not three feet from a birdbath full of fresh water. The couple had thought ahead. The grapevines would bear fruit in season. The privet bushes would provide berries in the fall. They will need hook-ups and change-of-address cards. There was so much to be done.

   The friendly American Robin (Turdus Migratorius) perched on the fence and watched them move in. Later a carpenter Red Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes Carolinus) started pounding on the side of the Pine Tree. It is nice to have helpful neighbors.

Mrs. House Finch

   The Finches appeared not to have any children. We feel certain they will be blessed with baby Finches in the coming months. We welcome our new neighbors and hope to see a lot of them.

Berry

photos courtesy of dmckenzie

Riverport Road in Memphis

   One of the best places to bird in the Memphis area is Riverport Road. To get there is difficult since they closed the main road in. From the 240 Expressway you can take Third Street going north, turn left on Mallory Road, then left again on Horn Lake Road and look for the right turn into the railroad yard area and Riverport Road. We exited the Expressway, taking Third Street heading south, turned right on Peebles Road and right again on Horn Lake Road. Coming up from the south we turned left on the road heading to the railroad.

Riverport Road

   We drove slowly along Riverport Road. In the small ponds to the side of Riverport Road, adjacent to the now closed T.H.Fuller Golf Course, we observed lots of birds. It was fun getting our spotting scope focused on the "pied bill" of the Pied Billed Grebe (Podilymbus Podiceps). The Wood Duck (Aix Sponsa) has a characteristic white bridle on its neck, even in its winter coloring. We saw more than a thousand Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis) in the tailing ponds of the Allen Steam Plant. In the back, behind the huge flock of Scaup, we spotted five or six Double Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax Auritus) who submarine for tiny fish, then come to shore, spread their wings and hold them out to dry them. One of the drawbacks for us as far as this bird-rich area would be the nasty smell of the local Waste Treatment Plant, but we endure.

   Berry and I think the Northern Shoveler (Anas Clypeata) is dressed in clothes from the Gap (store). It is covered attractively in patches of brown, white, green and red. Hiding in the tall reeds was the green headed Mallard (Anas Platyrhynchos). Mallards are usually plentiful and common in Memphis, but today we only saw one hiding in the back. There were hundreds of Gadwall (Anas Strepera), almost camouflaged in drab olive gray with a black spot on its rump. The American Coot (Fulica Americana) is easy to differentiate from ducks because it is not a duck. It is shaped more like a Moorhen or Purple Gallinule. We saw two large Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis) munching grass on the side of the levee of Riverport Road.

   There were Mourning Doves (Zenaida Macroura) on every manmade structure on Riverport Road. On power line towers, on railroad tracks, on telephone lines, on fences and on the edges of buildings. Berry found two Great Blue Herons (Ardea Herodias) but it is still a little early in the season for the large waders. We saw a large flock of American Robins (Turdus Migratorius) on the side of the levee. The local Robins do not migrate away from Memphis in the wintertime, but this flock may have been cold weather visitors from Canada or the northern states. European Starlings (Sturnus Vulgaris) are an introduced species, originally from Europe. We twist our faces when we see them, because they are pest-like.

   We saw only a handful of Red Winged Blackbirds (Agelaius Phoeniceus) singing "Conk-a-ree" in the swampy areas. We will see lots more of these in the summertime. In the bottomland between Riverport Road and McKellar Lake we looked at a Pine Warbler (Dendroica Pinus) in the top of a tree next to a Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) complaining in the same tree. There, under that tree, we reminisced about Ol' Coot with whom we had birded.

   The Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella Magna) has a characteristic four note call which drew our attention. We saw plenty of them in the open fields of Ensley Bottoms next to Paul Lowery Road. We spotted a bright red male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in the tops of the small trees. On the struts of a power line tower, we saw two Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis phoebe), twirling their tails diagnostically. Further down Paul Lowery Road, heading south past several factories we were looking for the Bobolink (Dolichonyx Oryzivorus) which migrates through the Memphis area about this time. We did not see it but we did see the Dickcissel (Spiza Americana) and it became the bird of the day. This handsome visitor resembles the Eastern Meadowlark in color but has the shape of a sparrow and is about the size of a Northern Cardinal.

Dickcissel

   As the sunlight was fading in the west, we drove down a gravel road toward the line of trees. In the soybean stubble of the fallow field next to a steel plant, we saw a pair of handsome Horned Larks (Eremophila Alpestris). We have seen these birds at the same place several years in a row. Very nice day of birding!

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of rebelat and googlemaps