Birding trek visits routine, odd stops near Arkansas River

 David Oakley of Springdale (left) and Joe Neal of Fayetteville stop Sept. 16 2016 at Frog Bayou Wildlife Management Area near Alma to look for birds. Neal has a birding route in the Arkansas River Valley that includes several stops to see birds on land and water. Oakley is an expert on dragonflies and enjoys photographing them, as well as birds.
David Oakley of Springdale (left) and Joe Neal of Fayetteville stop Sept. 16 2016 at Frog Bayou Wildlife Management Area near Alma to look for birds. Neal has a birding route in the Arkansas River Valley that includes several stops to see birds on land and water. Oakley is an expert on dragonflies and enjoys photographing them, as well as birds.

Most people think of destinations other than a sewage treatment plant when it comes to a bird watching trip, yet one birder's quest for feathers makes a the network of ponds at one facility a regular stop.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

A sandpiper takes wing at the Alma wastewater treatment plant. Joe Neal explained the ponds contain a lot of aquatic insects that attract birds.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

David Oakley (left) and Joe Neal look for dragonflies and birds Sept. 16 at Frog Bayou Wildlife Managment Area near Alma.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Dragonflies are seen on vegetation at the Alma wastewater treatment plant. Ponds at the plant are habitat for a variety of birds and dragonflies.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

David Oakley touches a dragonfly while photographing it. He’ll drive hundreds of miles to get a shot of a dragonfly he’s never photographed.

Lots of birds head south during fall. Joe Neal of Fayetteville does the same, migrating to the Arkansas River to drive the highways and back roads around Alma.

Visit Frog Bayou

Frog Bayou Wildlife Management Areas is one of Arkansas’ newest. It was established in 2005 by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in partnership with Ducks Unlimited.

The 812-acre area is along Frog Bayou (also called Clear Creek), south of Dyer in Crawford County near the Arkansas River. Army Corps of Engineers land adjoins the area.

Waterfowl hunting is a main activity at Frog Bayou. Seven moist soil units with low levees are operated as shallow-water impoundments during late fall and winter when waterfowl seasons are open.

Rabbit and squirrel hunting can be good. Archery deer hunting is also allowed.

Frog Bayou is popular for birding, with water and land species plentiful.

Information: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission regional office, Fort Smith, 877-478-1043.

Source: Staff report

Neal sets up his spotting scope on the river bank to look for waterfowl. He stops to bird on dusty gravel roads at Frog Bayou Wildlife Management Area. Nothing unusual there.

On trips to the river, Neal wheels into the Alma wastewater treatment plant to look for shore birds next to square-shaped lagoons at the plant, as he did on Sept. 16. This visit, David Oakley of Springdale rode shotgun with Neal. Only Oakley's search was more for dragonflies, not birds.

Neal touted the virtues of birding at the sewer plant.

"There's a lot of aquatic insects in these ponds, and they don't get a lot of disturbance," he said. "There's dry land next to them where birds can walk. Sandpipers like this riprap around the ponds. I think we've seen eight of them already."

Neal first asked permission to bird at the plant years ago. He checked in at the office on this visit and was obviously a familiar face to the plant operator. Neal and Oakley strolled among the ponds. Oakley trained his camera lens on dragonflies while Neal peered through binoculars at birds.

"These ponds all have different levels of water clarity and different oxygen levels, different degrees of dissolved solids. All these things change the insect community," Neal explained. Birds come in to eat the bugs.

Ardent birders keep life lists of the species they've seen. Oakley does the same with dragonflies. He'll drive hundreds of miles to get a shot of a dragonfly he's never photographed. Here at the sewer plant, the photo safari was excellent for bugs and birds. An eastern amber wing dragonfly caught Oakley's eye.

"It's one of the smallest dragonflies. They're about an inch long," he said. The largest kinds run about four inches in length."

Oakley clicked away at dragonflies and damselflies.

"Damselflies always perch with their wings shut (above their backs). Dragonflies always perch with their wings open," in the shape of an airplane, Oakley coached.

Neal had good luck with birds early while Oakley struck out on dragonflies. Dragonfly numbers grew once the sun climbed and the weather warmed.

"They don't like to fly much until it warms up," Oakley said. "Dragonflies are like birds. Some like streams. Some like grass. They all like their own little habitats."

Frog Bayou Wildlife Management Area was a short drive east of the treatment plant and a more conventional birding and bugging destination. The 812-acre tract has forests, fields and wetlands, which are home to all kinds of birds and insects.

"It's also right on the Arkansas River," Neal said. "And not the least, it's public land. Anybody can come here."

Neal and Oakley stopped at several spots on gravel roads inside the area. They didn't see another vehicle during their hour of exploring. Neal set up his spotting scope on the river bank for their last stop.

"Hey, look who's flying across the water," Neal hollered. "Pelicans!"

A flock of 11 flew over an island near the river channel. Neal later watched a flock of 60 pelicans. They look like flocks of geese, but don't honk.

Neal and Oakley headed back to Fayetteville, but their Tour De Sewer wasn't over. The pair stopped at the Paul R. Noland Wastewater Treatment Facility back in town for a look at birds at the big pond on the property. Neal bounded into the lobby and signed the guest book. A clerk remotely opened the gate. They zigged and zagged through the plant to the pond, more the size of a small lake.

This stop was a bust. Nary a bird or dragonfly was seen.

A sod farm near the Arkansas River is another odd spot where Neal has permission to bird watch.

"It has that short grass that certain birds like," he said.

He and Oakley skipped it this trip. A stop will be in order on their next journey, migrating south like birds during autumn.

Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip

Sports on 10/11/2016

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