Date: 11/22/24 10:32 am From: Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> Subject: Sandy's scoters continue at Alma Wastewater
The BLACK SCOTERS originally reported a few days ago by Sandy Berger were still present at Alma Wastewater Treatment Facility this morning. I made the trip from Fayetteville with David Oakley.
My count is 25 to 27. They weren’t foraging much when we arrived around 9 AM. I counted them in a string when they were well separated from the few other diving duck species present this morning: a few Ruddy Ducks, a Redhead, and 3 scaups, of which one was an obvious Lesser. There were also 30 or so Northern Shovelers, but on a different pond.
These are not the first Black Scoters found at Alma Wastewater. And this relatively high count staggers the imagination for someone like me. When Doug James and I were working on “Arkansas Birds” (1986) we had a grand total of 5 records for the entire state for this species, all involving 1-2 birds.
We keep learning more and more about where Arkansas fits into the grand scheme of migration. And the grand scheme of reality about lives we share with others on this planet.
David and I are both retirees. A “practical” person might legitimately wonder why two old men who should probably be at home sitting by the stove or worrying about Social Security were instead barreling down I-49 in hopes Sandy’s scoters would still be present. I still wonder about this, too, even after 40 years. David was hoping for a good photo opportunity. I remember how rare they were while working on the book with Doug. So rare the species account in the book occupied a grand total of 3 column inches.
Alma Wastewater folks have been very accommodating to birders. I hope David and I didn’t mess things up today. When we drove in we looked for the red flag that signals the shooting range is in use and for safety reasons we are supposed to keep out.
Didn’t see the flag. Did see Black Scoters!
Of course we started firing off our cameras! Lots of “bullets” from our cameras. Only then, with scoters in decent camera range, we heard that other kind of firing -- on the shooting range, with real bullets, and the red flag. No bullets coming our way, but we were soon in reverse and headed home.
