Date: 10/12/25 10:19 am From: Karen Holliday <ladyhawke1...> Subject: ASCA October field trip report
Our Audubon Society of Central Arkansas's October field trip was Saturday October 11. Our first stop was the Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff. We birded the parking lot waiting for the Nature Center to open. We had flyovers of Greater White-fronted Geese and Double-crested Cormorants. The Nature Center is worth exploring. It has excellent exhibits featuring local wildlife and birds, many are live animals, reptiles, and birds. We walked the boardwalk to check the wooded areas. It's been very dry so most of the normally flooded areas were dirt, no mud. We did hear and see seven species of woodpeckers. Warblers were Nashville, Magnolia and Northern Parula. We got good looks at a male and two female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. The surprise was seeing a total of five Gray Catbirds. We then headed to the Pine Bluff water treatment plant to look for ducks. Numbers were low but still a nice mix of birds. Shovelers, Canada Geese, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Coots, and Cormorants were the most common. Best birds were 12 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, 4 Northern Pintails, 7 American Avocets, 22 Ruddy Ducks, and 12 Snowy Egrets. Shorebirds were 63 Killdeer, and several Spotted, Least, and Pectoral Sandpipers. Last was stop was Lake Saracen. There was a group of about 100 American White Pelicans resting on a sandbar across the lake. A smaller, closer sandbar had Snowy and Great Egrets, 7 Killdeer, and 30 Greater Yellowlegs. As we got to lunchtime, birders began spliting off and heading home. It was a lovely day to be out birding with sunny, mild temperatures, a nice mix of 62 bird species, and enthusiastic birders.Karen Holliday ASCA field trip coordinator
