November 18, 2017
The November 18 field trip was a joint excursion sponsored by the Audubon Society of Central Arkansas (ASCA) and the Arkansas Audubon Society (AAS). That weekend was the AAS fall conference being held at the Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center in west Pulaski County. Fourteen members of ASCA and AAS caravanned from Little Rock to Lake DeGray Resort State Park. We spent the day coping with high winds and gusts of up to 30 miles per hour, not favorable when scanning the lake. Mercifully, the temperature was mild so no frozen fingers or toes. Sighting through jiggling scopes, we were able to pick out a few species bobbing on the surface of the lake. Best birds were Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Loons, Buffleheads, Horned Grebes, Gadwalls, and Scaup. Birds in the air battling the wind were Ring-billed Gulls, Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, American and Fish Crows, and Turkey Vultures.
We drove to below the dam to the Caddo River hoping to get out of the wind and find Red-breasted and Brown-headed Nuthatches in the pine trees along the river. We briefly heard Brown-headed Nuthatches and Pine Warblers, but no Red-breasted Nuthatches. We did have a flyover of Greater White-fronted Geese, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a Kingfisher. We finished the trip with a late lunch at the Park’s Lodge. Being inside was very welcome because we were all quite windblown at that point. We totaled 32 species for the trip.
Karen Holliday
ASCA Field Trip Coordinator