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ARBIRD-L for Thursday, May 8, 2008
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Subject: Black Throated Green Warbler
From: HAWK Center <hawkcenter(AT)EARTHLINK.NET>
Date: 8 May 2008 9:03am
<head><style>body{font-family:
Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:9pt;background-color: #ffffff;color:
black;}</style></head><body id="compText">Sitting at the breakfast table
feeding my daughter, I often gaze out the window to the trees. This
morning, I was excited to see a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black-throated
Green Warbler</span>. When I first saw it, my attention was seized because
I had never seen this beautiful little bird. I left my daughter to
feeding herself for a few moments so I could look it up. Right now,
it's 9 am...the bird has been here for at least 45 minutes that I've been
watching it. Lovely live entertainment!<br><br>Lynne Slater<br>London,
Arkansas<br></body>
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Subject: Migration count - May 10,11th a few final changes
From: Leif E Anderson <leanderson(AT)FS.FED.US>
Date: 8 May 2008 9:17am
Greetings all,
The 2008 Migration count is just around the corner. It is a great
opportunity to practice citizen science and get out and enjoy spring
migration.
It is much like a Christmas Bird Count, but on a county-wide level.
Mostly May 10th with a few counties counting on the 11th
Any skill level or amount of time would be helpful.
Keep track of hrs/ miles on foot, by car, ect.
Keep track of the number of birds by species.
The compilers send the data to me (preferably by mid June) and I add it to
the state database and do an article in AAS's newsletter, w/ copies to all
compilers.
You can enter your personal sightings into ebird and I'll enter each
counties totals into ebird, back through 1992.
Please try to give your compiler plenty of time by letting them know ahead
of time if you want to help.
Generally we try to get one person to compile a county on one day. The
compiler assigns search areas and everyone sends their data to the
compiler.
Sometimes a person cannot find any help and does a county by themselves.
You will find more birds with multiple people, but the statistics will be
ok because of "normalizing" the numbers by the hrs/miles completed.
Contact a compiler, or if you do not see your county listed let me know and
I will add you to the list.
Counties I've heard from so far:
county - date - compiler - contact info
Benton - 10th - Michael Mlodinow - mamlod(AT)hotmail.com
Boone - 10th - Sheree Rogers - sl-rogers(AT)hotmail.com 870-741-8412
Cleburne - 11th - Bo Verser - ozarkwildbird(AT)sbcglobal.net
Garland - ? - Marty Lynch - wlynch(AT)cablelynx.com
Faulkner - 10th - Martha Johnson - amjohnson(AT)conwaycorp.net 501-329-5214
Jefferson - ? - Delos McCauley - edelos(AT)cablelynx.com
Logan - 11th - Don Simon - don.simons(AT)arkansas.gov
Lonoke - 10th - Leslie Peacock - leslie_peacock(AT)sbcglobal.net
Newton - 10th - Tim Barr - barrfam(AT)eritter.net
Ouachita - 10th - Dick Taylor - raet(AT)arkansas.net
Phillips - 11th - Leif Anderson - Leanderson(AT)fs.fed.us - 479-284-3402h, -
479-284-3150w
Pope - 10th - John Andre - jandre(AT)fs.fed.us - 479-284-3150w
Pulaski - 10th - Dan Scheiman - birddan(AT)comcast.net
Washington - 10th - Michael Mlodinow - mamlod(AT)hotmail.com
I hope you can join us in a celebration of spring, the return of
neotropical migrants and hopefully the end of flooding. (for most, but
unfortunately not all.)
Again, Everyone is welcome to participate. If you have any questions
please give me a holler.
Cheers, Leif @ Caglesville, a suburb of Hector Leanderson(AT)fs.fed.us
479-284-3150w 479-284-3402h
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Subject: Birdiest month?
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?David_Ray?= <cardcards(AT)SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Date: 8 May 2008 9:17am
Which month of the year would you think that you have the greatest
possibility to spot the most birds in the state of Arkansas? Take a guess
before you read on. (You may or may not be surprised). After breaking down
the AAS 50th Anniversary Arkansas Bird List by month this is what I found:
April-299
October-288
May-262
September-257
November-238
March-230
April-215
December-211
January-195
February-190
July-185
June-183
Looks like we need to make the most of this month before the "summer
doldrums" set in.
For those of you new to ARBird I have made available an excel file that you
may download that lists birds by month in the state of Arkansas based on
the AAS 50th Anniversary Arkansas Bird List. You can also obtain a hard
copy of the taxonomic list from the Arkansas Audubon Society. If you would
like the files, you may contact me off the list.
David Ray
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Subject: Veery
From: Steve Duzan <sduzan(AT)FS.FED.US>
Date: 8 May 2008 9:22am
When I got home from work yesterday (between Russellville and Dover) there
was a Veery singing. This is one of my favorite bird songs. The swirling
notes are amazing. If you are not familiar with their song you can listen
at this web site. http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id=350
Steve Duzan
Planning Biologist
Ozark-St. Francis NFs
sduzan(AT)fs.fed.us
(479) 964-7282
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Subject: RBA-Arkansas-May 8,2008
From: DeLynn Hearn <delynnh(AT)IWON.COM>
Date: 8 May 2008 12:15pm
-RBA
*Arkansas
*Statewide
*May 8, 2008
*ARST08.05.08
-Species Mentioned
Sanderling
Whimbrel
Sanderling
Forster's Tern
Alder Flycatcher
Blackpoll
Painted Bunting
Rufous-Crowned Sparrows
Wilson’s Phalaropes
SWAINSON'S HAWK
Bobolink
CINNAMON TEAL x Blue-winged Teal hybrid
Black-billed Cuckoo
Common Ground-Dove
Veery
-Transcript
Welcome to the Arkansas Rare Bird Alert for May 8, 2008, sponsored by the
Audubon Society of Central Arkansas (ASCA). ASCA meets at 7:00pm the second
Thursday of each month at the John Gould Fletcher Library, located at 823
Buchanan St. on the corner of Buchanan and H Streets in Little Rock.
The ASCA will conduct a field trip May 10, 2008 to Allsopp and Murray Parks,
plus Terry Lock & Dam. The parks have great habitat for spring migrants. We
will meet at 7:30 a.m. at the lower entrance to Allsopp Park. To get there from
west Little Rock, take Cantrell Road to Cedar Hill Road, at the bottom of
Cantrell Hill. Turn right at the traffic light, go about 1 block and turn right
into the park. We will meet at the far end of the parking lot, closest to the
trail. From
Allsopp, we will travel to nearby Murray Park. Afterwards, we will meet for
lunch at Whole Hog Cafe, located at 2516 Cantrell Road. For those who wish to
continue birding after lunch, we will go on to Terry Lock & Dam. Our target bird
there is the Painted Bunting.
All birders are welcome to join us.
Spring migrants are being seen throughout the state—keep your eyes and ears
open!
From around the state recent sightings are:
At Centerton Fish Hatchery in the Northwest part of the state a Sanderling in
transistional plumage is present.
In the Southwest corner of the state at the Okay Levee on Lake Millwood,
Whimbrel, Sanderling-2, Forster's Tern, Alder Flycatcher- calling, Blackpoll,
and Painted Bunting have been seen. The Whimbrel is about halfway down the
levee just past an isolated strip of trees at its base.
One pair of Rufous-Crowned Sparrows are at Mt. Magazine directly below the
restaurant. A single bird has been seen at the hang glider’s launch site.
Two-hundred fifty Wilson’s Phalaropes were together in one small pond along HWY
155 west of Holla Bend NWR and another 43 were seen in Holla Bend. Also seen
along HWY 155 were 5 SWAINSON'S HAWKS. They were following a tractor as it
plowed a large field. There are still many hundreds of Bobolinks in Holla Bend.
Also at Holla Bend was a CINNAMON TEAL/ Blue-winged Teal hybrid. The head
looked pretty much like BWTE and the body was like CITE.
Bobolinks are also in the wheat fields of Arkansas County.
A Black-billed Cuckoo was seen in Gillam Park in Little Rock. From the parking
lot inside the park walk down the trail past the swinging gate several yards and
take the right fork. Approximately 300 feet along the trail there is a downed
oak tree on the right side. The cuckoo was in the trees above that.
A Common Ground-Dove was present 2mi North of Hector on Hwy 27, along the road
edge and a pasture.
Two Veery were at Craighead Forest Park in Northeast Arkansas.
Thanks for calling the Arkansas Rare Bird Alert. Your contributions make the
Rare Bird Alert possible. If you would like to leave a message, please wait for
the chirp. Good Birding!
Hotline: Arkansas
Date: May 8, 2008
Phone number: (501)753-5853
To Report: (501)753-5853, ARBird email discussion list, BRC forms available at
ARBirds.org
Compiler/Transcriber: DeLynn Hearn
Coverage: Statewide
-End transcript
DeLynn Hearn
Senior Consultant, Mary Kay Cosmetics
317 West K St.
N. Little Rock, AR 72116
(501)771-4686
www.marykay.com/dhearn1
_______________________________________________
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Subject: Recommended Daily Allowance of Birds?
From: "FENNELL, Ellen" <EFENNELL(AT)AUDUBON.ORG>
Date: 8 May 2008 3:37pm
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Subject: Nighthawks
From: Gail Miller <gail.miller(AT)CONWAYCORP.NET>
Date: 8 May 2008 5:45pm
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I saw my first nighthawk at work today. I often find it a lot more =
interesting to look out a window during meetings than to pay close =
attention to the meeting agenda.
Gail in Conway (Faulkner Co.) AR
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Subject: Life and State Bird
From: Sandy Berger <fsbirdlady(AT)YAHOO.COM>
Date: 8 May 2008 6:35pm
Thanks to Toka and Bill Beall, I have finally seen a Lazuli Bunting. They have
had one in their yard for the last week. Couldn't get over there till today.
Woohoo! It appears to be a 1st Spring male.
Mississippi Kites are back in town. Bill still has White-throated and
White-crowned Sparrows too.
Sandy B.
FS, AR
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Rh=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=F4ne,?= Warblers, and Sushi
From: Dennis Braddy <dmbraddy(AT)MAC.COM>
Date: 8 May 2008 7:07pm
A glass of '05 Côtes du Rhône in one hand and binocular in the other,
these intrepid birders braved the wilds of their patio early this
evening. (Skip doesn't drink wine. Well, except for the Dom Perignon
he had to celebrate the completion of Dennis's '07 Big Year.) First
warbler, an outlandishly gorgeous adult male Chestnut-sided. Next,
Tennessee Warbler. Finally, two, maybe three, Bay-breasted Warblers
including at least one male and one female. Bay-breasted is a life
bird for Pat and Skip and yard bird #111. Now for some sushi and hot
saki. Yeah, birding can be tough, but somebody's got to do it.
Dennis and Patricia Braddy and Skip
Little Rock, AR
http://www.arkansasbirder.net
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's
too dark to read." - Groucho Marx
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Subject: Rookery in Ouachita County
From: Kelly Chitwood <kchitwood(AT)CABLELYNX.COM>
Date: 8 May 2008 7:57pm
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This morning I had about a half hour to search for the rookery
mentioned in Terri Walker's post.
I turned West on County Road Ouachita 37 and drove almost two miles
until it came to a T
in the road.
Discouraged, but not giving up, I found a couple preparing to tend to
their cattle.
I stopped and asked them, and while they had not seen a large group
of nesting birds,
they had seen a large number of 'beautiful blue herons' (about 25) in
their backyard.
Encouraged, I turned and drove back with my windows rolled down and
bingo, I heard
the squawks. But not where I would have expected to find them. Not
that I am any
expert on rookerys. But I was expecting cypress trees, I guess.
The rookery is in a tight stand of planted pines. The trees look to
be about 15 years old.
The birds were in various stages of preparing their nests and from
what I could tell
about 300 - 500 birds. I found at least three species in order of
population:
Cattle Egret, Little Blue Heron and Great Egret. In addition, they
were not very
active except within the pines, which made it hard to see them. There
isn't
much of a place to park, but a lesser road just past the rookery on
the left.
I believe County Road 423.
The neighbor across the street is enthusiastic about the birds and
his mailbox,
which I am going to use as a landmark is #317. He said they were not
here
last year, but the year before.
I might add that the aroma from Japanese Honeysuckle that ladens the
fence
is a very nice addition.
The birds were more active this afternoon when I drove by, so you
shouldn't
have any problem, if you plan to see them.
Oh, and one more thing, I found Dickcissels in the pasture on the
east side of
79 just past Ouachita 37, so if you miss your turn like I did, you
can take the next exit,
loop under 79 and stay right, and find them in the pasture to the
left.
I've attempted to a link from google earth. If it doesn't work, email
off list, and I'll send
an image of the area.
Cheers!
Kelly Chitwood
Camden, AR
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Subject: Black Rails, SE Missouri
From: Richard Baxter <dickbaxter100(AT)GMAIL.COM>
Date: 8 May 2008 9:30pm
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From the Missouri RBA:
SOUTHEAST
The highlight of this report comes from Chris
Barrigar. Chris has had 1 to 2 calling BLACK RAILS
near his Stoddard County yard from Saturday, May 3, to
Tuesday, May 6. The rails have been beginning to call
around 9:30 PM. If interested in listening for these
birds, please contact Chris directly at
chrisbarrigar AT hotmail.com. Additionally, Chris and
others have heard BARN OWLS calling in the distance
while listening to the rails.
Stoddard County isn't far from Arkansas at all, so keep your ears on.
Good birding!
Dick Baxter
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Subject: Troubling Nature Observation
From: Barry Haas <bhaas(AT)SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Date: 8 May 2008 11:10pm
Dear ARBIRDers,
For those who are squeamish I suggest you not read this post. You are
forewarned.
This afternoon about 1:15 I was home for a brief time and decided to
look out back at our pond to see if there was any activity. The near
edge of the pond is no more than 40' from the back of our house. We
have nesting wood ducks, so any day we can expect to see Mom and her
youngsters on the water for awhile at least before they typically head
into the woods for parts unknown. Anyway, while looking toward the
pond I saw an adult female wood duck fly down and land on the pond
from the direction of the newest of our two nest boxes. I quickly saw
she was holding an egg in her bill. She took it to the near bank,
punched a hole in it and I thought she was partaking of liquid egg.
She then swam with the egg to another bank and continued her feeding,
with her swimming between the banks being a frenzied effort unlike her
normal smooth movements. Then she swam to what we call the 'party
barge', a floating wooden platform 2 by 4 feet, where she pulled the
entire unhatched chick from the shell! With that in mouth she
continued her frenzied swimming around the pond until she managed to
consume the chick in its entirety. The remnants of the egg shell were
left on the near bank, and were gone when I returned home some hours
later. This entire event took no more than two minutes, and I had to
keep telling myself I had really seen this happen, it was so
unbelievable.
At our Audubon chapter meeting tonight I told the story to everyone.
One theory is that food sources might be tight and the adult woodie
had to cannibalize her potential offspring to stay alive. We do put
cracked corn and milo in shallow water along the edge of the pond, but
it's possible an acorn shortage, a major part of the wood duck's diet,
may be in short supply or missing. You'll remember the late freeze on
Easter morning last spring that may be causing problems with this
year's mast crop.
Four weeks ago my wife found another wood duck egg, this one with a
cracked shell, but with the unhatched chick still inside. I had fed
the birds maybe 20 minutes before the egg was found, putting cracked
corn and milo mere feet from where the cracked egg was discovered. We
surmised tonight that a similar act was taking place then, but my wife
may have interrupted the process before the egg's contents could be
eaten.
Some years ago I had watched as an adult female wood duck had caught
and then eaten a fairly large frog. Bill Shepherd suggested then that
I report this first person account, as such observations were uncommon
and vertebrates are a rarely observed part of a wood duck's diet (hope
I've remembered that right, Bill). Like today's event, that frog was
large enough to cause the woodie trouble in finding a way to get it
down whole. After considerable effort and multiple attempts, it
finally softened up the frog's body enough by chomping all around the
edges to swallow it whole.
I've been saying for years that we need to mount cameras in our wood
duck nest boxes to get a better sense of what is going on. Guess I'm
going to have to follow through on that.
From the deep woods just west of Little Rock,
Barry Haas
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