Date: 4/19/25 4:57 pm From: Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> Subject: The exuberance
After a tornado (or two);
After all night and half a day more with powerful sound winds, then 2 inches of rain;
After thunder that nearly bounces me from bed –
After all that: I wake this morning with a message on my phone that former prairie farmland north of campus here in Fayetteville has more ducks, more shorebirds (10 species), and at least a Franklin’s Gull –
Well you know all that means former Tallgrass Prairie fields around Northwest Arkansas City are likely flooded. And with wind having shifted back from the North, very likely these same flooded fields will be home briefly for exhausted northbound spring migrants. Having ridden strong South winds on their Northbound journeys – they are likely grounded ...
… Just waiting for birders (!). Now it is time for us, in our good ship HMS Beagle (circa 2025), to see what an April storm hath wrought … birdwise …
… So I and a couple of friends are about birding flooded fields around NWA. We head for the Siloam Springs area – the former Lindsley Prairie – including roads in and around Chesney Prairie Natural Area.
First big excitement: flooded pastures NE of Chesney: at least 4 UPLAND SANDPIPERS, plus yellowlegs, BLUE-WINGED TEAL and SOLITARY SANDPIPERS. Also lots of SAVANNAH SPARROWS here – there -- everywhere we go.
An extensive muddy field immediately north of Stump Prairie hosts 300 grounded, breeding season – elegant to say the least -- FRANKLIN’S GULLS. What a sight on an otherwise gray wet day.
Now rain is fully stopped. Air is filled with exuberance of EASTERN MEADOWLARKS.
A basic heart-stopping few moments comes just south of Chesney. Partially flooded field, with cows, and with a few CANADA GEESE, now takes on the adornments of shorebirds flocks. It’s so much dazzling:
… HUDSONIAN GODWITS (4), YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS (20), WILSON’S PHALAROPES (12), UPLAND SANDPIPER (1) and a longer list more ...
Divine has spoken.
Suddenly, they are on the move.
Earth flashes before our eyes.
Offers us chances to behold they who descended from last night’s storm clouds,
To alight among us, briefly …
… are beckoned North.
