Karen Holliday, ASCA Field Trip Coordinator
Yesterday, Saturday, was the April Audubon Society of Central Arkansas (ASCA) field trip to Bell Slough Wildlife Management Area (WMA) at Mayflower. Because of recent heavy rains, the boardwalk entrance was flooded. But, we were able to enter through the yellow gate at the shale quarry entrance.
We first went to the large open field with the levees. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) designates these structured areas as Moist Soil Units (MSU). It uses the same designation at all their WMAs that have the same structure.
The MSUs were very overgrown with tall weeds and the levees had deep grass. We opted not to walk out into the MSUs because snakes love to hide in the grass, especially Cottonmouths. None of us wanted to accidentally step on a snake. The Units contained several Great Egrets, a few Little Blue Herons, and a Great Blue Heron. Black-bellied Whistling Ducks did a flyover along with two groups of Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs. The few areas with some open water contained Blue-winged Teal, Wood Ducks, Canada Geese, and a single Solitary Sandpiper.
We were able to walk the trail to the overlook observation benches and to the photo blind. At the blind, our only Prothonotary Warbler made an up-close appearance delighting everyone.
We had seven species of warblers, three Swainson’s Thrush, one Gray-cheeked Thrush, a Catbird, and several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Blue-gray Gnatcathers were everywhere. We heard and saw White-eyed, Red-eye, and Yellow-throated Vireos. Final total was 45 species. It was great that the rain was a no-show, which meant we were able to keep birding until almost noon.
