More Christmas Bird Counts

I participated in the Fort Smith CBC, and also the one located in Russellville, but named for Holla Bend, the National Wildlife Refuge. I spent the day in Fort Smith with Sandy Berger and Ann Gordon. We covered a lot of ground on the east side of town mostly, and were rewarded with 78 species seen or heard. Some of the more notable were a Virginia Rail and a Sora, both secretive marsh critters, not ususally found in the winter this far north. We had a Marsh Wren at the same site. Send an e-mail if you want directions. They all required the use of recordings to get them to call back and then appear briefly.

At Holla Bend I worked with Bill Shepherd, formarly from Arkansas Natural Heritage. We had over sixty species, the most unexpected being a Great Egret and a Palm Warbler (way lost). Other good sightings were a flock of Lapland Longspurs which gave us great long close-up views, and a gang of Bald Eagles at tree-top height screaming like banshees as they swooped toward us, then flared off when they found primates on their playground.