Date: 4/11/24 5:57 am From: Joseph Neal <joeneal...> Subject: In so many ways (Maysville)
A PERFECT SPRING MIGRATION IN NWA CITY (Wednesday, April 10). In many respects you couldn’t ask for a more perfect day to see and hear northbound spring migrants passing through Northwest Arkansas City. Temp all day = 53 F. Modest N wind. 100% overcast.
These were my FOS Clay-coloreds. Up the graded county road, my FOS Lark Sparrows. Lots of Eastern Meadowlarks singing in that N wind.
Post Oaks have flowered and are starting to leaf out. Eastern Bluebirds were carrying food to a cavity somewhere among the oaks.
I heard a bunch of loud knocking coming from -- ??? There was a big cavity opening atop a wooden utility pole. I looked, saw nothing. Then from within, but still out-of-sight, calls from a Pileated Woodpecker.
Canada Geese families with young. I had good looks at two geese families escorting fuzzy yellow young around a farm pond.
Another smaller pond along State Line Road, near intersection with Highway 43, yielded Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, and my FOS Spotted Sandpiper.
On the way back to Fayetteville I stopped at Stump Prairie, along Highway 59 in Siloam Springs. Big blooming of Indian Paintbrush and Yellow Wood Betony. Chesney Prairie Natural Area is nearby. Wilson’s Snipe and my FOS Solitary Sandpiper were in a wetland immediately north of Chesney.
Occasional slight mist but never rain until I was getting home. At that time, around 4 PM, slightly heavier rain, with thunder, accompanied by a rousing chorus of White-throated Sparrows in my neighborhood, now heading north in earnest. I took it all as welcome home.
So many beautiful realities. Such a day of wonders. So worth protecting.
