Author Archive
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‘I Don’t Like People Taking Pictures of My Cows’
0December 10, 2011 by Joseph C. Neal
Common Grackles and European Starlings appear to be the main components of large blackbird roosts developing in my Fayetteville neighborhood. This is an annual event, as soon as we begin to have nighttime freezing. The birds roost together for various reasons, but a key one is that they are warmer in mass than individually.
Read More...Category Bird Notes, Outdoors | Tags: bird notes, Joseph Neal
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The Eagle Has … Returned
0November 24, 2011 by Joseph C. Neal
We have Bald Eagles every year in Arkansas, including nesting birds. But there was a time, 25 years ago, when Bald Eagles were all but extinct in the state. Just to remind everybody: these eagles plus many other kinds of large birds, including many hawks and pelicans, were hard hit by the widespread use of certain chemicals on crops. The most infamous was DDT. When DDT began to show up in human mother’s milk, protective laws were finally enacted. What was designed to protect mother also protected big birds, like Bald Eagles. They bounced back from a single nest in the entire state in the early 1980s, to over 100 now. There are at least three known nests around Beaver Lake. The take home message: sensible laws that protect our health and well-being can also protect the health and well-being of creatures with whom we share earth. Well, this is a long-winded introduction to the arrival in Northwest Arkansas of eagles that nested up north. They have come south for winter. Folks who spend a fair amount of time watching water birds in Arkansas know that as American Coots begin arriving here in big numbers, eagles come in on about …
Read More...Category Bird Notes, Outdoors | Tags: bird notes, eagles, Joseph Neal
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‘Ducks on the Pond’
0November 12, 2011 by Joseph C. Neal
The above is a phrase that Arkansas native – and in past days, an extremely famous and highly successful St. Louis Cardinal pitcher – Dizzy Dean employed in reference to runners on the base. He also stated, among other things, “The Good Lord was good to me. He gave me a strong right arm, a good body, and a weak mind.” Ole Diz is long gone, but there are still ducks on the pond, especially this month, when the feathered type that nested up north are now migrating through western Arkansas. There are now ducks on every large pond and lake in western Arkansas. Of course, green head Mallards are everywhere. They must be out on your pond, even now as you read. So too perhaps are the less famous but also numerous Gadwalls, Green-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers. These are all referred to as dabbling ducks, because they feed in shallow waters by tipping bottom up for food in the shallows. As we begin to have colder weather – which means much colder weather north of us – it’s like November’s heavens have suddenly opened. Claiming for avian royalty a new land as young-of-the-year ducks make their first trip south. Masses of Polar air add …
Read More...Category Bird Notes, Outdoors | Tags: bird notes, Ducks, Joseph Neal
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What Rails Remember
0October 30, 2011 by Joseph C. Neal
Birds remember landscapes fundamentally invisible to us non-birds. I am reminded of this by a telephone call on Saturday night from a gentleman who lives at Garfield north of Beaver Lake. He is an experienced outdoors person, but near his home he has encountered a stranger: in size and general coloration, reminds him of the Northern Bobwhite, or quail, but the bill is longish and pointed rather than short and conical. The eyes are dark and large. When he walks toward the bird it doesn’t just fly away like a quail, but sort of pops up and then down with short awkward flights.
Read More...Category Bird Notes, Columns, Outdoors | Tags: Joseph C. Neal, rails
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Birding the Wheel of Fortune
0October 15, 2011 by Joseph C. Neal
If you’re going birding, you’ll have to turn off the TV and today’s Wheel of Fortune rerun. I play it every day myself, planning out my bird watching adventures. This involves one of my most jealously guarded secrets. How do I decide where to go birding today? This is something I only started asking myself seriously about three years ago when the U.S. Forest Service and I parted company after many years of mostly happy marriage. I have devised a foolproof system for figuring out my days. It begins with a checklist. Should I go birding today? Possible answers: (1) YES, and (2) YES.
Read More...Category Bird Notes, Columns, Outdoors | Tags: bird notes, Joseph Neil
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