But he doesn’t have to leave his yard to see good birds, and he says that’s true for everyone. Mel White has birded all over the world, thanks to a career freelancing for National Geographic and other publications (he’s also a past editor of the Arkansas Times). Cameron Rognan, Courtesy the Cornell Lab of Ornithology American redstart Song: A trumpet trying to sound like a flugelhorn.įavorite place to bird in Arkansas: Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge.įavorite bird: American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). Habitat: Mid-century brick, Hall High School neighborhood.įield marks: Bearded, near wine on territory, often seen in wrinkly blue jeans and in company with mate, Hope Coulter. Life history: Freelance writer, native to Conway, fled nest for Little Rock, author of “A Birder’s Guide to Arkansas” and “Angry Birds: 50 True Stories of the Fed Up, Feathered, and Furious.” Hope Coulter Mel White, in front of a poster advertising his book “Angry Birds.” Neal’s own bird guide was the late and much admired University of Arkansas biology professor Doug James, with whom Neal authored “Birds of Arkansas: Their Distribution and Abundance.” “He totally changed my life,” Neal said, and was responsible for turning hundreds of Arkansans on to the delight of birds.
The prairies are disappearing thanks to development but you can still find upland sandpipers in migration in the Arkansas River Valley, Chesney Prairie in Siloam Springs and in western Benton County. “Northwest Arkansas is mostly famous for the Hogs - they are a fairly recent addition,” Neal said, “and secondly famous for the Ozarks.” But it once had enough prairie that the upland sandpiper nested there. Lucky for Neal, he can hear them call as they fly over his Fayetteville home during their spring migration to North Dakota and Canada. The tall, skinny, big-eyed shorebird is the “ultimate grassland bird,” he said, and “very charismatic.” Its call has been described as a wolf whistle, and its trill is a sopranic rise and fall.
“You can’t beat an upland sandpiper,” Neal said. Favorite place to bird in Arkansas: Tallgrass Prairie in Oklahoma (it’s a mere 361 miles from Fort Smith, nothing if you want to see a prairie chicken).īest place to bird in spring after a downpour and when he’s short on time: Lake Fayetteville, Wilson Springs Preserve, Woolsey Wet Prairie Sanctuary (all 5 miles from his house).įavorite bird: Upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda).
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