Return from Arkansas
Got back recently from our trip and I know you all cannot wait to know if we saw the bird! Well, I would not be stupid enough to tell you if I did, unless I had a great photo. Let's leave it at that.

We did have many special moments including a lunch with our mystery guest, David Luneau, the person who took the video upon which Cornell based its argument supporting the existence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas. David is a very kind, intelligent, and interesting person and we all enjoyed our time with him over a meal of pulled-pork and catfish. We hope our paths will cross again.

The trip as always produced some great birds including multiple Henslow's Sparrow, Smith's Longspur, and thousands of ducks, Snow Geese and Ross's Geese. The evening sunsets with clouds of geese settling in for the night on the fields is always ethereal. Not to be missed!

The highlight for many on the trip was our encounter with an armadillo. I hope you enjoy this sequence of Heidi O. with the delightful critter.

Holiday Birding

Was lucky enough to spend the Christmas Bird Count with some friends where the highlight of the day was without doubt the Long-eared Owl we found being mobbed by chickadees, titmouses, and a mockingbird.