Big Lake WMA and Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge IBA.....

On the way to Texas, we picked up a wonderful brochure entitled "Arkansas Birding & Watchable Wildlife".  We used it to choose two places to stop on the way down and on the way back we decided we had time to try one more and chose the Big Lake WMA area which also includes Mallard Lake.

 The description of this place read: "Cypress-tupelo swamp and bottomland hardwood forest provide excellent habitat for migrating songbirds, as well as wintering habitat for American Black Duck, Common Merganser, Bald Eagle and over 80,000 Mallards."  Sounded worth stopping! 

More than an hour later when we left, we realized that we had only driven around Mallard Lake....which is huge and full of birds with a gravel road all the way around it!  We never even got to the Big Lake....which is not quite as accessible, I don't think.  But we were out of time by then and needed to head on home.  

 I figured we were too early in the year for the 80,000 wintering Mallards, but we certainly saw plenty of ducks gliding around among the stumps and trees!  I believe that most of what we saw were Gadwalls, but there was a mix of other stuff.  I'm not good at identifying all the various female ducks and my photos aren't good enough to figure them all out.

 The distances were great and even with my 400mm built-in lens and sometimes the added extender lens, I still couldn't get good shots, but it was a wonderful place to be!

 Once in a while a few of the ducks came a bit closer.  Not sure what these are.

 I like the group of "duck butts" in the air near the big tree :-)

 There was one lone Grebe out there with these 3 Ruddy Ducks.

A Shoveler male.

 An even bigger surprise were the 100's of Cormorants in the trees!  I have never seen large numbers of Cormorants.....except at the other place we stopped on the way down.  I tried counting at one point and got up to about 125 and gave up.

 There were a few Egrets scattered among the other birds.

 ....and Heron

 ......and Pelicans!

 One egret peeking out behind the pelicans

 4-5 Sandpipers

And I can find a log of turtles anywhere!  LOL

What a wonderful place!  It is about a 4 hour drive from where I live.  Located in Arkansas, just over the border from Missouri.  I want to go back!  I want to see those 80,000 Mallards and whatever else might show up this winter.

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That is the last of my birding from our Arkansas and Texas trip, but I have a few more things to post eventually.

Texas butterflies at Mineola Nature Preserve....

It seemed weird to be photographing butterflies this late in the fall, but being several hundred miles further south makes a big difference!  We visited the Mineola Nature Preserve one day and there was a nice butterfly garden that was still attracting a few of the late butterflies for the year.

 A Buckeye.....I see these all the time at home in the late summer.

 This one I don't see very often....a Verigated Fritillary.

 This one looked a bit battered around the edges.

I haven't identified this little guy yet, but don't think it is anything uncommon.  It was very beat up.

 For me the biggest thrill were the Gulf Fritillaries.  I do not see these in Indiana.  they have such long wings!  Which explains why they are called "longwing" butterflies....duh!

 I chased several of them around the garden :-)

 The only shot I got of the underside of the wings.

 Not a good shot of this Sulphur, but I don't usually get them open at all, so I'm posting it anyway!

Not sure which Sulphur this is.....Little Yellow or Dainty?  Didn't get that good of photo.

 And just so you know you are in Texas....a herd of Longhorn cattle next door to the reserve.  The grass made it hard to get a good photo, but the horns show up at least!  

 We hiked a short way and there were several nice ponds.

 There is a trail that leads a long an old railroad bed.

 A nice day for walking, but my bad knee was hurting and we didn't spot any birds.  

This totem was at the edge of the park.

I didn't get to see the one bird that I really wanted to see....the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  Turns out it was the wrong time of year for it and they had moved on down to the gulf area.  I was told that a few were still around, but not easy to find.  My sister says she sees them in her yard, so I will have to keep that in mind when I decide what time of year to visit her next time!

At the top of the tree part 2....

More of the birds I saw in the pear tree in Texas

 At times the top of the tree got very crowded!  Here a flock of Bluebirds, a few sparrows and the Yellow-rumped Warbler all came to visit together.

 I saw lots of Bluebirds and my sister's lot would be perfect for Bluebird houses, so I will have to encourage her to put some up.

 A female Bluebird....not so brightly colored.

 You can see the Mockingbird on the left trying to "guard" the tree and he did not like this Blue Jay arriving in "his territory"!

 "It's my tree....go away!"   

"Ok....for now!"

 A pair of Cardinals stopped by each day....female here and male below.

 Chickadee

 A couple more photos of the Mockingbird in different light

 And more of that cute little Yellow-rumped Warbler!

 "Wait....don't take the photo yet!  I've got an itch!"

 "That's better!"

I wish I could take them home with me.

 An Eastern Phoebe?

 House Finch pair

House Sparrow on the left and a pair of Yellow-rumped Warblers that decided to fly at that moment.

 In another tree top, peeking over the top of the house....a Meadowlark!

 The Red-bellied Woodpecker wouldn't come to the house, but he liked the power pole.  Don't know what he has in his mouth.

 The sweet little Chipping Sparrow.

 Not at the top, but the Live Oak Tree was attractive to this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!  This tree is very dense with leaves and there were birds that stopped there, but it was hard to get their photos.

That's my Texas bird list on the home front!  What a very busy group of birds!  I kept picking out places where I would hang a bird feeder, if I was living there :-)