Date: 12/23/25 12:36 pm From: Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> Subject: Beaver Lake dam
I was at the dam on Beaver Lake for about 2-hours on December 21, 2025. I got there at noon, by which time the wind was up and parts of the big pools visible at the dam site were pretty choppy while others, protected from wind, were relatively smooth. My first lake view was looking west from Dam Site Park. Observed a raft of Mallards about 0.6 miles out. My first impression was about 45 birds, but a count from a grainy photo of birds bobbing up and down came to 29.
Still looking W beyond Mallards: several rafts of gulls, maybe 25 birds total, but too far and too fuzzy to determine species. From Dam Site Park I drove to the locked gate at entrance to Dam Site Campground. From this point I could see more of the western pool with its Mallards and also to the W and SW pools including the Indian Creek area.
Looking SW (towards Pine Log) at about 0.6 miles: a swirling mass of gulls, almost entirely Bonaparte’s, roughly 75-100, with a few Ring-bills. I associate this swirling and diving behavior with gulls following foraging Common Loons chasing small fish like shad. But there were no loons.
A foraging flock of Common Goldeneyes came to roughly 45 ducks, but this was at distance, with constant diving, wave action, and gulls swooping down apparently following the schools of small fish being pursued by ducks. I tried for photographs and got some, so was able to at least count gulls by species. The best photo is just gulls. I got several photos of ducks, but never the whole flock.
When I got home and looked at the photos, I realized one duck was a merganser. I saw and photographed a Red-breasted Merganser in same general area on December 6, 2025, leading me to assume at first this bird had lingered at Beaver Dam. But in a blow up of the terrible photo of December 21, the bird appears to have a white chin and a very rounded head. This would make it Common Merganser. I sought some opinions from others. General thought is Common Merganser. It’s a rare bird in Northwest Arkansas City.
I returned to Beaver Dam on December 22, hoping for a view of this merganser. There were just a few gulls, fewer goldeneyes, no Mallards, and … no merganser.
Still an interesting trip. While I was watching the water birds, one of the royalty of landbirds – Merlin – was in a tree near where I was parked, watching Eastern Bluebirds, I think. And probably me. Taiga Merlin. Bluebirds look magnificent in an Eastern Red Cedar where they were eating berries.
