Listing Through Life

aimophila (from haima, blood-colored and philos, loving) aestivalis (summer)

Tuesday, May 3, 1983 — 3:00 pm

Conway, Arkansas — Happy Valley

I wandered up the hill to do some exploring. I eventually found myself in a power-line clearing that ran across the top of the ridge. The area was covered with tall grass, brambles, and scattered bushes. I saw the Bachman’s Sparrow singing in a low brier bush in the center of the clearing. Its song was a beautiful, clear whistle followed by a trill on a different pitch, somewhat like a Hermit Thrush.

A few days later, I was wandering in the same area when I flushed a Bachman’s Sparrow from the ground. I looked where it had flushed from and found a nest. It was a brush-covered “oven” on the ground in tall, thick grass. The opening was very well hidden and hard to find. There were two or three eggs inside.

protonotaria (in the Roman Catholic Church, a papal notary who wears a yellow hood) citrea (lemon color)

Tuesday, May 3, 1983 — 8:35 am

Mayflower, Arkansas — Bell Slough Wildlife Area

After I saw the Yellow-breasted Chats, I continued through the brushy area, still watching carefully for snakes. The track I was walking on ended at a swamp that was edged by a canal and causeway. I headed along this, through three-inch grass. I hadn’t gone too far when I spotted a bird (I don’t recall what kind). I stopped to look for it, and moved a step or two for a better view. When I looked down, I noticed a Cottonmouth laying in the grass not more than a foot in front of me. I froze, petrified. My heart dropped into my socks. After what seemed like an hour, but was really no more than a few seconds, I noticed that the snake’s head was missing, blown off with a shotgun. It was still scary looking, and I gave it a wide margin as I inched past. I kept thinking that if I could get that close to a dead one while being so careful, the same thing could happen with a live one. I surprised myself by continuing. I didn’t know I was that brave.

About 100 yards past the snake, the causeway disappeared under the water of the swamp. I could see where it started again, but I wasn’t brave enough to wade. I stood there for a few minutes looking around (and down). It paid off. A Prothonotary Warbler flew to a small bush in the swamp. It hopped around a bit, then flew off across the swamp into the woods and disappeared.

icteria (jaundice, yellowness) virens (becoming green)

Tuesday, May 3, 1983 — 7:50 am

Mayflower, Arkansas — Bell Slough Wildlife Area

This was a scary place. I parked along Lake Conway, crossed the dam and hiked a short way back through the trees into a large brushy area. The brushes, shrubs and small trees were thick and grew to about seven feet high. The area was crisscrossed by weedy, partly overgrown roads. It looked and felt like a good place for snakes, and I walked very, very, very carefully.

I spotted the Yellow-breasted Chat as it flew to the top of a small tree in the middle of the brushy area. It sang for a little while, then flew down into the tangle. I spotted another one singing in a nearby bush. Their flight was strange, fluttery, with both wings held up at right angles to the body much of the time.

The song was a weird mixture of calls, chirps and whistles in series or singly with spaces in between. At each note, their throats puffed up.

guiraca (South American name for some bird) caerulea (blue)

Sunday, May 1, 1983 — 8:30 am

Conway, Arkansas — Happy Valley

A Blue Grosbeak was perched in a small bush in a backyard. It flew to the ground, foraged around a bit, then flew off. Later I saw it on a wire in the backyard, singing.

dendroica (from dendron, tree, and oikein, to dwell) pinus (pine)

Saturday, April 23, 1983 — 8:45 am

Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center

The Pine Warbler was in the woods near Crabtree Lake. It flew to the small grove of pines and foraged around a little while near the tops of the branches about 15 feet above the ground. It then flew, branch to branch, through the oaks toward a nearby clearing, often walking lengthwise along the branches. It moved slowly for a warbler.