October Bird Report

I haven't been keeping up with the local news, for some good and some stupid reasons. Here's a catch-up report from Lake Leatherwood and some other local bits, covering October 2007 when I got back to doing weekly counts. The migrants have all passed except for late travelers like geese, and some ducks. Some of the ducks will stay all winter unless the Lake freezes over completely (hasn't happened in a few years). Winter residents are arriving, and some summer birds are now completely gone. I've had some birds at home, ten miles south of Eureka, that I haven't seen at Leatherwood. Juncos and White-throated sparrows showed up a couple of weeks ago. I've had a nice flock of a dozen Purple Finches for about a week, which seems early, but is within the dates given in the official Arkansas checklist. Those are available for sale, $1.00, at the office at Lake Leatherwood. Notable is a Red-breasted Nuthatch seen in town last Sat 10/20. There have been quite a few reports from surrounding states so this might be a good year for them. It's been several years since they were at all common. The best news was a Clay-colored Sparrow on one of my feeders on 10/27, rarely seen in Arkansas during migration. It was a state first for me.

Here's an annotated list of all species seen at Leatherwood in October.

Snow Goose - one flock, 45, flyover
There have been several flocks moving at night in the area, also Canadas and White-fronts
Canada Goose - around thirty residents, and some birds from migrating flocks
Wood Duck - half a dozen still hanging on
Mallard - 3 found 10/28
Blue-winged Teal - 1 female 10/28
Redhead - a pair 10/28
Pied-billed Grebe - increasing, 6 plus now
Great Blue Heron - one seen irregularly
Green Heron - all gone, one on 9/27
Turkey Vulture - migrants and residents
Red-shouldered Hawk - resident,seen or heard irregularly
American Coot - numbers increasing, 25+ on 10/28
Mourning Dove - one seen
Eastern Screech-Owl - one heard 10/28
Belted Kingfisher - one seen most days, they had been absent for a long time
Red-bellied Woodpecker - a few resident
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - one or two on each trip
Downy Woodpecker - a few resident
Hairy Woodpecker - resident, but hard to find, one seen
Northern Flicker - flocks at beginning of month, 30+, now justa few
Pileated Woodpecker - easily heard and sometimes seen
Eastern Phoebe - usually one or two
White-eyed Vireo - one beginning month
Yellow-throated Vireo - one beginning month
Blue Jay - 4-6 most days
American Crow - around 6 resident
Fish Crow - There are still a few in town
Carolina Chickadee - resident, not common
Tufted Titmouse - resident, not common
White-breasted Nuthatch - usually 4-6
A Red-breasted was seen at Rosco's Coffeehouse mid month, this could be a good year for them
Brown Creeper - seen once
Carolina Wren - resident, seen and heard
House Wren - one heard 10/28
Winter Wren - seen several times
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - first seen 10/28, six
Eastern Bluebird - half a dozen resident
Hermit Thrush - first two on 10/28
American Robin - flocks, 50 plus
Brown Thrasher - resident, seen once
Yellow-rumped Warbler - many, mostly juneniles
Eastern Towhee - one seen
Chipping Sparrow - mostly gone
Field Sparrow - one on 10/28
Song Sparrow - two on 10/28
Lincoln's Sparrow - two on 10/28
White-throated Sparrow - arrived, small flocks
I've had Juncos at my house south of town for two weeks, but none at Leatherwood yet.
Northern Cardinal - many, forming winter flocks
Red-winged Blackbird - a few left
American Goldfinch

Number of Species: 48

Lightening struck tree

Lightening struck tree 2
Originally uploaded by Jettpakk1.

View of the tree struck by lightening at the top of Benton street Sunday morning 10/8/07. See post below for a detail.

Lightening struck tree

Lightening struck tree detail
Originally uploaded by Jettpakk1.

On Sunday morning as I started down Benton Street, there was a loud explosion. A thunderstorm was approaching so I presumed a lightening strike. Just down the hill, in the parking lot behind the Log Cabin Inn I found this. The tree was blown to shreds, I'm thinking a steam explosion in the wet rotted core of an already dead tree (there was no greenery). Shreds were blown around in a bout a fifty foot diameter circle, and into the street.