GENTRY -- Close to 40 people visited the Eagle Watch Nature Trail Saturday morning with one purpose, to watch the birds. The group was part of a Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society field trip to the nature area.
Temperatures were cool, in the 70-degree range, and the rains which fell just before the field trip stopped, making viewing conditions ideal.
Lots of birds were on hand too, for viewing. The list included the neotropic cormorant and several sandpiper species, great views of the green feathers on green herons and numerous egrets in the shallows of SWEPCO Lake. An eastern king bird was also on the list and photographed during the field trip. Others viewed hawks, bluebirds and mockingbirds.
Gorgeous flowers, attended by bees, butterflies and a ruby-throated hummingbird that dive-bombed an eastern tiger swallowtail were also seen, according to the Facebook post of Joe Neal, an expert on birds in the region and a local advocate of conserving natural areas and native prairies in Arkansas.
Terry Stanfill, manager of the Eagle Watch Nature Area for SWEPCO, collaborated with Neal to lead the bird-watching field trip on Saturday.
Though the group came out to view the birds, Neal commented: "I also enjoyed a five-lined skink exhibiting the bright blue tail of a juvenile."
Thousands of people visit the Eagle Watch Nature Trail each year to view eagles and other wildlife and to just enjoy the outdoors. The quarter-mile trail has two viewing pavilions along the lake's edge and provides viewing opportunities year round.
General News on 08/09/2017