Date: 12/28/24 5:12 am From: Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> Subject: Strangers in a strange land
Ran into fisherman and birder Jay Walko yesterday at Beaver Lake Dam. A guy with fishing gear in one hand, spotting scope in the other. Boundless and infectious enthusiasm for both.
I got the impression of Ultimate fish (below dam). Ultimate bird (dam pool). Only Beaver dam that backs up the White River stands in adventure’s way. He was prepping for taking a young family member on a holiday trout adventure in Beaver’s cold tail water. Stopped for more views of our rare and very welcome visitor, Long-tailed duck.
We talked through car doors for a few minutes. Then a crack of sun briefly illuminated the dam pool. We stood outside as sunlight that poked through dense fuggy clouds briefly highlighted the arctic duck -- the duck of the far away Aleutian Islands and Russia – and Greenland --- and -- rare Ozark visitor. As Birds of the World puts, it, “This midsize sea duck is a true arctic species, breeding in tundra and taiga regions around the globe…”
Same sun, and too brief respite from fog and mist, dipped deeper into reds of a Red-breasted Merganser. Fairly common in migration through Northwest Arkansas City, but always a rarity at mid-winter.
Long-tailed Duck and Red-breasted Merganser have been sticking together. Since we first saw them a week ago, they have always been together. Maybe like the way immigrants must work together for survival. And a thrill to all of us who’ve had privilege to observe them.
Aren’t we all, after all, Strangers in a strange land? Aren’t we all just passing through, just on different schedules?
In same general dam pool area -- more cold weather visitors -- brilliant male and female Common Goldeneyes. Males are always a big stand out because of that white round patch on a big dark head. But in good winter sun -- female’s chestnut feathers and yellow-tipped bill astound.
Streaking across the way, Bonaparte’s Gulls. Flapping patterns of light, music-like, against dark water.
Making this particular post-Christmas Day trip was not originally in my personal forecast. But a dose of real arctic – brought so close in this way – and our’s just for the observing -- good tonic for the soul.
