GENTRY -- Eagle Watch Nature Area was a busy place Saturday morning with 60 or more members and guests from the Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society visiting and watching for bald eagles and other birds along the trail and lake and at the observation platform at the end of the quarter-mile walking trail.
Visitors brought cameras, spotting scopes and binoculars to scan the trees, skies and shoreline for birds, and a variety of birds were on hand even though eagle sightings were lower than in other years along SWEPCO Lake. A bald eagle did fly over the area as participants gathered in the parking lot and one or two more were seen there during the visit. Other birds viewed during the Audubon field trip included great blue herons, red-tailed hawks, white-breasted nuthatches, Carolina wrens, yellow-rumped warblers, wood ducks, as well as common cardinals and blue jays.
The Ozark witch hazel blooming along the trail got everyone's attention with its strong fragrance.
The field trip at Eagle Watch was led by Terry Stanfill, local wildlife photographer and caretaker of the Eagle Watch Nature Area which is owned by Southwest Electric Power Company in connection with its Flint Creek Power Plant. Joe Neal was the Audubon Society leader.
Stanfill provided visitors with a bag of swamp milkweed seeds to plant at their homes. The plant is closely connected with the survival of Monarch butterflies in the region and is becoming more rare as development around lakes and rivers continues.
Following the visit to Eagle Watch, Audubon Society members also visited other parts of western Benton County to observe area birds.
General News on 02/10/2016