Berryhill Park - Searcy, AR (May 25, 2009)

About Berryhill Park:

http://www.searcy.com/city/parks-and-rec/parks

May 25th Stroll:

We arrived at the Berryhill parking area at around 8:45 am. Instead of walking south into the park we followed the paved trail north along Gin Creek.

I must admit that much of my time during this outing was spent photographing the various plants and wildflowers growing along the trails. The last few days off had been rainy or overcast, so I had very few opportunities to take pictures, thus I took full advantage of the sunshine on Monday.

The first thing I noticed was the small groups of Barn Swallows soaring near the creek and above the field in search of insects. These little acrobats were gliding and swooping all over the area, their forked tails a good identifier to help distinguish between Barn and Cliff Swallows (Cliff Swallows tend to have more of a squared tail).

As I strolled along Gin Creek I could hear an incessant call coming from the peak of one of the larger nearby trees. After several minutes of sleuthing I spied the source: a male Eastern Towhee, his black and orange plumage a dead giveaway. The Eastern Towhee song is often described as drink-your-tea! , a decent translation considering the interesting trill at the end. I was able to point the bird out to both my father and grandmother, who, like me, were amazed at the volume of the song coming from such a tiny source. I first spotted an Eastern Towhee this winter in the North Woods of Oxley Nature Center and first heard the song while in Pawnee County near Lake Keystone.

While photographing some flowers I noticed a large form flying overhead. I looked up, watched the form land on a tree, and identified it as a Mississippi Kite. The small raptor then glided out from the tree, drifting on the breeze in search of insects to feast upon. In the past 3 weeks I have seen a large number of Mississippi Kites gliding about over the Tulsa metro area, some in surprising locales (a couple were spotted above a dilapidated industrial lot in Midtown Tulsa). Unfortunately, the MK did not hang around long enough for me to point him out to my father and grandmother.

As we walked back to our vehicle we spotted a small group of European Starlings vocalizing from their perch on an electric line.

Location: Berryhill Park - Searcy, AR

Observation date: 5/25/09 Number of species: 8

Mississippi Kite - Ictinia mississippiensis 1

Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata 1

American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 2

Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica 10

European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris 3

Eastern Towhee - Pipilo erythrophthalmus 1

Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 3

Common Grackle - Quiscalus quiscula 2

Photos (Numbered from top to bottom):

1) A photo of some dew-covered Yucca blossoms found along Gin Creek.

2) An (as-of-yet) unidentified purple wildflower.

3) A developing blackberry.

4) A photo of the towering tree in which we spotted the singing Eastern Towhee.

5) A small white flower known as Daisy Fleabane. (From Kansas State Wildflower Website): Ancient Europeans believed that the odor of this genus repelled fleas, thus the name fleabane. This seems to have no basis in fact.

6) Another photo of a dew-covered Yucca blossom.

7) A small insect crawling along one of the petals of a Yucca blossom.

8) A grouping of some (as-of-yet) unidentified yellow wildflowers.

-SPQ 5/28/2009