Date: 3/6/25 11:21 am From: Carol Joan Patterson <0000003a0ccbe138-dmarc-request...> Subject: Re: My memory of possible Clark"s Grebe in Arkansas
My first sighting of a Western Grebe was with Kenny and LaDonna at Lake Dardanelle, perhaps at their property. Jacque Brown was there too. Kenny has been a big help for me with Dardanelle birds, especially gulls. Thanks, Kenny!
I love birding in Latin America! I've seen a Harpy Eagle, not wild, but at the Belize Zoo.
On Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 09:01:37 AM CST, Elizabeth Shores <efshores...> wrote:
Thanks for this story of Arkansas birders, Karen. Have fun in Guyana.
Elizabeth Shores
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 6, 2025, at 7:42 AM, Karen Holliday <ladyhawke1...> wrote:
Years ago, when I started doing serious birding, not just backyard birding, an alert went out that Kenny Nichols had a possible Clark's Grebe at Kiddie Pool Point, next to his cabin on Lake Dardanelle. Dottie and Doris Boyles and I jumped in the car and immediately drove to Lake Dardanelle because the Clark's Grebe would be a state record.
It is one of my favorite early birding memories. We got to the lake and were standing on the hillside in the snow that had fallen the day before at kiddie pool point watching the titans of the Arkansas birding community looking through their scopes at the grebe and discussing the pros and cons of it being a Clark's Grebe. The titans were Max and Helen Parker, Lois and Lacy Sterling, Charles Mills, Joe Neal, and of course Kenny Nichols. They thought it could be a Clark's Grebe and submitted it. Unfortunately, the Birds Record Committee determined that the bird was a Western Grebe. But, it was a fun and great learning experience listening to the titans that day discussing the pros and cons of the possible Clark's Grebe.
Several years later I was birding near Salt Lake City with the Salt Lake City Audubon group. We stopped at a lake that was packed with Western Grebes and Clark's Grebes, an enormous number of grebes. With the help of the local birders, they pointed out the differences of the two grebes. As I scanned with my scope I quickly picked up the different field marks of the two grebes. Fairly easy when you have them side by side by the dozens. But, not as easy when determining one loan grebe far out on Lake Maumelle.
Birding has brought so much joy to my life with good birds and great birding friends. I leave in a week for a birding trip to Guyana South America. New country for me. I've birded in several South American countries, but I will still pick up quite a few new species in Guyana. My target bird is the Harpy Eagle, which I've missed in other South American countries. Our tour company is keeping an eye on a Harpy Eagle nest that has a juvenile and adults. Fingers crossed the eagles are still there when we get there. Karen Holliday Maumelle
