Date: 8/21/25 7:10 am From: Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> Subject: Egret roost at Alma Wastewater
August 20 was circled on my calendar for a shorebird trip to Arkansas River Valley. Weather Underground prediction was for a good rain on the 19th. As many of you well know, August rain should equal shorebird fallout. It has in many previous Augusts.
You dream about these things on hot August nights. It makes 98 F livable.
So the rain came in to Northwest Arkansas City, as predicted – on evening of 19th, over 2 inches in some places. Deep inside reptilian sections of my brain I could just hear WIT IT WIT IT WIT IT from all those southbound Upland Sandpiper flocks.
From memory of shorebird expeditions past, I could see those tight, flocks of low-flying Buff-breasted Sandpipers weaving across WestArk Sod, followed by even bigger flocks of Pectoral Sandpipers.
Sadly, friends, it wasn’t to be. No flocks of anything, not even European Starlings.
First hint came on Westville Road that runs along west side of WestArk Sod. All dust just where pavement ends -unpaved begins. No flooded ditches. Soybeans brown coated in good ole river valley dust. Distant pickup coming from Gun Club Road spreading dust tornadoes.
I didn’t hear and Indigo Buntings, no Dickcissels, and for sure no WIT IT WIT WIT IT flight calls of migrating Upland Sandpipers. It was a while before I even saw a Killdeer even though WestArk Sod was running its sprinklers.
Finally one sod mower apparently flushed one Upland Sandpiper. What a relief! In a while I picked up 2 more in flight. But that was it for the sod farm.
Overall, Dogdays of August won.David Oakley was riding shotgun. He specializes in the Odonata. Didn’t see much to report, either.
A quick trip over to Alma Wastewater Treatment Facility, plus adjoining King Ranch and roads, did yield a few more migrants: Spotted Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper.
Still lots of young Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. Some are adult size now.
Biggest surprise was at least 112 Great Egrets at Alma Wastewater. According to Cornell’s Birds of the World, “Following breeding, individuals wander well outside their typical breeding range, occurring north to s. Canada -- including w. British Columbia, se. Alberta, Quebec, and Newfoundland … Northward dispersal of juveniles occurs Jun–Oct, with peak numbers in Aug and Sep; status of adults in these dispersals is unknown. These same birds move to wintering grounds Sep–Dec.”
Great Egret is the species killed almost to extinction more than a century ago. Its near demise spurred early day conservation efforts. I gave thanks for all the recovery work. Some photos of their descendants at Alma Wastewater are here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S268469496
