Karen Rowe has seen a lot as the head of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s nongame migratory bird program, but nothing prepared her a recent sighting.
Jami Linder, a local nurse and avid turkey hunter turned wildlife photographer, took Rowe to some private land in Ashley County that was nothing short of Rowe’s “field of dreams.” The two met from a Facebook group posting to confirm two, never before seen occurrences in Arkansas.
“For the first time ever, we’ve been able to document roseate spoonbills and white-faced ibis successfully nesting in Arkansas,” Rowe said. “To have something like this happen is rare, but, after seeing the location where the birds were found, I’m just in awe of the multitudes and variety of birds using this area as a nesting ground.”
Linder said she was invited to take photographs on the area after her father and a friend, both of whom were trappers, had been asked to help control a beaver population on the property. The tract is managed with the Wetland Reserve Program as waterfowl habitat. Ashley County is on the Louisiana border.
“They mentioned to the owner about me being a photographer,” Linder said. “He told them to have me come out to take pictures of his birds if I was interested. Daddy said he had roseate spoonbills, and I asked if he was sure.”
Roseate spoonbills often are found in coastal marshes and wetlands and usually are only found in the southernmost reaches of Arkansas for a few months of the year before heading back to tropical locations further south. People sometimes confuse them with flamingos from afar, but their distinctive spoon-shaped bills give them away quickly as something different.
They have never been documented nesting and raising young in Arkansas, until now.
After another trip to the marsh, Linder came back with photos of not only nesting birds, but young spoonbills that had already hatched. Other photos she has shot since that trip include images of white-faced ibis, another Arkansas rarity.
In addition to the spoonbills, about 60 white-faced ibis were spotted, including some that were, in fact, nesting.
“I’ve been at Game and Fish for 37 years, and people can be pretty prone to exaggeration,” Rowe said. “But I don’t think there are words to explain the sight we witnessed last night. There were at least 11 different species of wading birds filling the sky. They were coming in to roost so tightly that you had herons, egrets, ibis and anhingas all roosting right next to and almost on top of each other. ‘Awe-inspiring’ doesn’t begin to do it justice.”
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August 18, 2020 at 08:04PM
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Trip confirms rare bird sightings - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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