Date: 5/5/25 6:31 am From: Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> Subject: Swainson's Thrush migration through Northwest Arkansas City
We are hitting the peak of SWAINSON’S THRUSH migration through forests and older neighborhoods with many mature trees in Northwest Arkansas City. We saw or heard at least 34 during yesterday’s 4-hour slow drive of the 6.6 mile tour route through Pea Ridge National Military Park near Rogers.
On the day before, May 4, I was at Devil’s Den State Park to help with a field trip that is part of the Den’s annual Birders Weekend. The trip started at 9. I was at the park’s entrance (coming from Winslow through Blackburn) at 7:24 and spent about 1.5 hours slow-driving from the park’s upper elevation forest to the bottom, at Lee Creek. I saw or heard at least 25 Swainson’s Thrushes during that time, too (also Gray-cheeked Thrushes).
During trips like these, I am always reminded of why we have these parks. We have Devil’s Den because of response by Federal government to 1930s Great Depression. Civilian Conservation Corp hired people, like members of my family, to work on projects in the public interest. Hundreds worked on Devil’s Den between 1933 and 1942. My mother’s father, Ernest Kennedy, worked on just such a project in building Lake Fort Smith. Our family is grateful for a government capable addressing a crisis like the Great Depression.
For Pea Ridge NMP, there is the pivotal Civil War battle, March 1862, including almost 4,000 soldiers (both sides) killed, wounded, or captured. The North’s victory kept Missouri in the Union. Over half of the Union soldiers were German immigrants -- something worth remembering in 2025 and our endless wrangling about the role of immigrants in American life.
The battlefield itself is not one endless connected subdivision like much of NWA City because civic activists. In the 1950s they waged a successful campaign to preserve the battlefield in its entirety.
And that brings us back to SWAINSON’S THRUSH migrating now among us and importance of public lands. It matters for Swainson’s Thrush and hundreds of other bird species.
